Rubbing alcohol dumped in tank

[youronlysin]

You read it correctly. Lets not discuss how it happened, but how to fix it if we could, please

I have a 15T freshwater tank with a Betta, a big ol snail, 2 corys and a handfull of guppies...both male and female. Almost a full bottle of Isopropyl alcohol was dumped into their nice little home. All of the fish were removed within a couple of minutes and placed in a bucket of clean water, then transfered again to a clean unused tank with freshwater, a new filter and a little salt. So far, no casualties but its been less than an hour since the accident.

I guess at this point I need to completely drain and flush out the big tank and start over. Anyone have any advice or tips, besides not to leave the alcohol laying around?

 

[Menagerie]

The alcohol will evaporate. I would lay out all the items that were in the tank overnight. Tomorrow, rinse, rinse, rinse. The bacteria in the filter may have died, I would throw away the filter media and start fresh.

I discussed how to fix it, let's now discuss how it happened!!

 

[youronlysin]

So should I turn off the filter and let it sit so the alcohol and water can seperate? I was more concerned with the fish...hopefully they arent too drunk to live Not sure whqat IPA will do to a fish. Ok Ill start soaking the plants and lay out the rocks and hardware. Thanks!

 

[Menagerie]

So should I turn off the filter and let it sit so the alcohol and water can seperate?

I would toss the media. When EVERYTHING is dry, rinse, rinse, rinse!!

You pulled the fish out right away, there's nothing else I can offer. Give them a 25% PWC before going to bed and again in the morning.
How are the fish behaving?

 

[TankGirl]

OMG! How horrible! I agree the alcohol will evaporate, and I am glad you got the fish out. The worst thing will be the cycle, but if you can pop over to Fin and Feather you can get some Bio-Spira to help with that.

 

[youronlysin]

Well, if the bacteria are dead, the fish are out, why wait for it to evaporate? Im gonna completely empty the tank and start over. My poor fish are going to have to endure a cycle, but at least they arent swimming in 70% IPA.

My three year old has unmistakeably seen me add food and what not to my tanks. She loves to feed the fish as well. My mistake is that my fish tanks are in my computer room...just last night I was cleaning up a computer and had a bottle of rubbing alcohol sitting on my desk. Im just glad she didnt drink it herself..Im so disgusted with myself I could die. All is well. I didnt have any three hundred dollar fish in the tank, but they are alive, none the less. The three year old was not reprimanded for her action either...she didnt know any better.

 

[TankGirl]

Maybe you have not seen my old thread about the 2-1/2 year old and a ball peen hammer.... oh, just as well

You are right, of course, time to just start over. I'm glad it was a relatively small tank, I suppose. When the girls were tiny I used to let them feed my fish, under my supervision, but I soon learned the folly in this practice and put child-proof locking devices on my cabinet doors, or I keep the food up high beyond their reach (even with a stool). I have since enforced the rule that Mommy is the only one allowed to feed the fish. I seem to remember a thread about a child dumping chocolate milk into a tank, come to think of it!

Hope everything turns out okay - do you have another tank that you can get some seed material from?

 

[youronlysin]

Well, I know I wouldnt want to drink any rubbing alcohol, but the fish seem to be doing fine thus far. The alcohol smell has subsided in the big tank and I did notice one guppy fry still swimming in it about 4 hours after I had removed the rest of the fish. Crazy little guy was exploring his new found freedom I guess...I didnt even know one of the females had downloaded. Only found the one baby...hopefully I can save the next "litter".
I didnt have time to clean up the big tank yet, but have removed some water and left the filter running. As Isopropyl Alcohol is supposedly lighter than water, I guess it just floats up to the top and evaporates. Im sure my filter is prolonging the process, but it doesnt seem to have done any harm to the fish. They are a bit cramped now in the small 5 gallon tank I relocated them to, but it was all I had cleaned and ready to go. I'll finish up the big tank and get them transfered in the next few days. In the mean time Im going to keep changing the water in the small tank as it is uncycled. Hopefully they'll make it through....I cant imagine it would be worse than living in Alcohol. Im also contemplating changing the substrate to sand now, instead of the natural gravel thats in there. Nows a good a time as any I guess. Poor little guys....hopefully they wont hate me forever

 

[youronlysin]

Recovered from Rubbing Alcohol in tank

I got the big tank all cleaned up and and put back together. Did a little re-decorating while I was at it; should be a bit more hospitable for the fish...added lots more hiding places (rocks/caves) and plants. Some of the plants are fake, but I plan to replace them with live plants as I can; I have a couple of large anachris bunches already.

The fish seem to be doing well...Im appaled at the fact that I have to force them to endure a complete cycle, but they've all survived the transfer to the tiny 5 gallon tank (uncycled) and have been living in that for a week. The plus side is, they all seem to be happier with the larger tank. I'll keep up with the water changes and try to minimize the impact. I learned a lesson here, Im going to set up another tank with a lot of plants and maybe a few small fish, just so that I have another cycled tank on hand in case something unforeseen ever happens again. Before I moved across the states (only 4 months ago) I had several tanks setup, so moving fish around was a lot less traumatic for them.

I am quite happy that I didnt lose a single fish in this. Even after 7 days of sitting still, the main tank still smelled of rubbing alcohol..I would say that there was almost a litre of alcohol dumped into a 15 gallon tank. Funny thing is, even after 7 days of sitting with alcohol in the water, the snails(unwanted) lived just fine! In fact, they multiplied. There were tiny snails everywhere before I cleaned the tank out. I almost hated to get rid of a lot of them, but I had to. I know they'll be back.

Lesson learned: If your innocent children pour a full bottle of rubbing alcohol into your fish tank, all hope is not lost! If you remove the fish quickly, they should be just fine! I even had one guppy fry survive after being in the contaminated water for more than one complete day. Amazing.

 

[rubysoho]

congrats! You'll know how the water conditions are by the way your fish are acting. If they all survived the 5 gallon, you shouldn't have any problems with the 15 gallon.

 

[Menagerie]

Wow, glad to hear the fish are doing well.