worst accident you've had

[tropicfishman]

so whats the worst accident you've had with your tank?? mine was prolly the time I forgot to plug my filter back in after cleaning it, I didn't catch my mistake until I noticed the tank turning greenish brown, jsut really nasty, that was a week later LOL

 

[Gillie]

I knocked a light into one of mine a few years ago it electrocuted all of the poor guys.

 

[coldmachineUK]

I did filter maintenance on one of my canister filters once without turning it off :S
Needless to say I got soaked and so did the carpet!

 

[helicopter]

Too many

well I have only owned an aquarium for a few months but....

When I first got a 2.5 gal bowfront, I had prepared very thoroughly to set the tank up so that it would be ok while I was away for a week. I bought an automatic feeder which I tested for a few days prior, had everything set up. Well when I got back from vacation I noticed that I had forgotten to put the battery back into the feeder so they had no food for a week, plus for some reason half the water was missing. Something must have gone wrong with the heater. I don't know, luckily there were no casualties, just very angry fish.

Also, I have a small tank set up to breed snails for my DP. I have airline tubing taping on the side which is always submerged in the 1 gallow of water that I have for them so that I can change the water every day. Well somehow it must have just spontaneously started a syphon in the middle of the night and i woke up to a huge puddle on my carpet.

This actually happened twice... Don't ask...

 

[SparKy697]

Mine is more one of total devastation and happened 20 or so years ago. I had one of those old fashioned 20g long tanks with the stainless steel frames. I had gone to work in the morning and got a phone call from a frantic wife telling me that I had to hurry home. I arrived to find water, fish, rocks, and everything else that used to be in the tank all over the floor. The odd thing was that there was a large knuckle bone that the dog loved to chew on inside the fish tank! It seems that the wife had accidently stepped on the bone and hurt her foot. In a moment of anger picked it up and whipped it out of her way....
I couldn't even be angry about it because she was freaked out and felt so bad.

That was the last tank I had until now.

 

[7Enigma]

Hmm, I've been relatively lucky so far but here's what I got:

When I first setup the tank I wanted to practice with my gravel vac to make sure I wouldn't do something stupid (like move the hose out of the bucket when looking at the gravel in the tank). I thought it through carefully and had the plan perfect in my mind. When I went to start, the FIRST pump of the bulb on the vac got the water started, but it also was at the perfect angle that the bulb itself came off the tubing. I was left holding a syphoning line that was now outside of the bucket, and in the 1/2 second it took to realize I dumped about 1/2 gallon or so water on the hardwood floor and carpet. That one really peeved me.

The other time I was using my diatom filter for the first time. Surprisingly it did it without fault. About 1/2 way through the run I accidentally lifted the intake out of the water for a second which sucked up a lot of air. It doesn't work so well when air is in the filter so, not thinking, I shut off the filter and turned it upside down as the directions say to prime the filter before use (it creates a vacuum that forces all the air out). Well guess what? When the filter isn't keeping suction, the powder that acts as the filter no longer stays on the mesh bag. I basically syphoned 2 cups of diatom powder right into the tank after it was basically done filtering. I spent the next HOUR blasting the powder off the leaves (it looked like Christmas in there). Not fun.

Where I think my big problems will come in the future:

-I do 5 gallon water changes with a bucket and have to walk back and forth between the bathroom and the office where the tanks are. I have yet to drop the bucket or bump it really bad (a cup or 2 here and there occasionally), but I know its bound to happen at some point. I honestly think the bucket itself might break which would REALLY tick me off since it wouldn't technically be my fault.

-My 8-month old daughter LOVES the fishtanks and can be very quick and powerful. I like to hold her in front of the tank and she gets all excited and bounces around. One time I was holding her around her hips and thinking she was far enough away, but she bent in 1/2 (with her head through her legs) and slapped the tank with both hands. The whole thing rocked back and forth and I was sure it was going to come down. This is my 20 gallon high tank that is on a metal stand btw, so its not as stable as a desk setup where the weight is supported along the entire base. I wish I would have gotten one like that!

 

[Marconis]

Mine (so far) was using ammonia with surfactant in it .

 

[DepotFish]

Only not paying attention to the gravel vac hose and gettin water all over the floor.

 

[wickeded]

Some years ago my friend gave me a water test kit. The kit looked a little old but the packets were all intact (those little pill ones) so I just used it as I started a new tank. Water quality pretty good (actually too good!) as I cycled the tank with a few fish, then when I bought a new test kit and wow the numbers were off the chart. It was a miracle that the fish were still alive!

Then a while ago I read a post here - buying a 20 or 30 gal used aquarium, setting it up on the second floor, and overnight it failed and made serious floor damage in her house, dad being crazy mad and all. I think that was one of the worst stories I've heard.

 

[WaterPond]

using full full dosages of melafix and pimafix when i had scaless fish in the tank.

I lost about 35 dollars worth of panda cories and a dojo loach.

 

[Sidi]

It involved an overflow and sump setup on a saltwater tank. Ten or twenty gallons of saltwater on the carpet. In an upstairs apartment.

I don't think my landlord was happy when I moved out.

Edit: oh, and the accident that got me out of saltwater. I've moved almost every year (still young). I'd moved my saltwater tank a couple times without incident, by saving most of the water. One year the drum with most of my water broke, and most of my fish died when I desperately tried to set up the tank again. The corals were mostly ok, but I decided that I needed to abandon the hobby entirely after that. I've gone back, since, but freshwater only.

 

[MyCatsDrool]

1.) Had a 40 gal SW tank spontaneously crack from top to bottom on the back pane of glass. In my efforts to move everything as quickly as possible to the sump in efforts to save it, it imploded, dumping about 10 gallons from the top floor of my loft down the stairs. Fortunately the tank was relatively new. It's subsequent replacement was fine for 2 years until i took a weekend vacation to come home to a completely dead tank. I believe a powerhead shorted out and fried everything.

2.) Filling my 60 gal after a 50% water change and forgot I was filling it (using a python) until I heard water hitting the floor. 5 gallons on the floor that time, fortunately fresh.

3.) Cats + Fishtank = Not good. One knocked over an ornament in that 60 gal which hit the glass, cracking it. Moved the residents into a 30 gal where they are still living.

4.) Tried to tighten a bulkhead in a full 20 gal SW tank, broke the glass.

5.) Dropped a lighting fixture in a tank. Killed everything.

6.) Have had several glass heaters explode.

7.) Bred my female betta with the make before she was ready. He killed her.

8.) planted my tank with Hygrophilia. It is now overtaking the land.

 

[DeFeKt]

Slipped on wet floor, fell on glass lid, broke glass lid and severed the underside of my arm.

Learnt the first time.

 

[tropicfishman]

I thought of another one of mine, I was boiling very large pieces of driftwood, only problem was they wouldn't fit in my big pot I had. So clever me thinks, well I just keep dumping boiling water on it out back on the concrete patio!!! WRONG!! like a true genious I walk outside barefoot in shorts and proceed to dump 5 gallons o fboiling water on the concrete. As soon as it hits the ground it just splashes all over my legs, runs down under my feet. now picture a young man, 6'3, covered in tattoos, dancing frantically adn shouting like a maniac in his back yard while wearing pot holders and holding alarge metal pot lol Thats me!!! LOL no serious injury though!

 

[squawkbert]

I've siphoned water onto floor, broken 2 tank lids w/ HOT lightbulbs.

My dad once had a chunk of his thumb removed by a RBP that jumped out of the tank during a PWC (mistake: he picked it up by the tail instead of grabbing the body).

 

[Devilishturtles]

Delaying maintence on my HOB filter before realizing that the water level was getting high in the HOB filter, slowly trickly out the top, and all the way down the drywall in my bedroom, through the floor, and making a nice large wet spot in the ceiling of the formal dining room.

Was Mom and Dad happy? Not one bit.

 

[Mosaic]

I had my DIY CO2 system siphon water out of the tank overnight... twice. On my third attempt, the CO2 mix actually went into the tank and killed my fish. I gave up on the DIY.

Also, there was a point where duckweed was just about the only plant I could keep alive, so I bought a bunch of it. It soon clogged up my filter intake, so I tied a piece of yarn so it laid across the surface and herded all the duckweed to the non-filter half of the tank. Duckweed is a floating plant so it couldn't get around the yarn. Brilliant, right? Well, the end of yarn got knocked out of place and hung down the back of the tank and slowly dripped for who knows how long. The floor bowed up in a huge bubble. We had to move the tank and cut a square in the carpet to get rid of the mold. There's a potted plant on the bare spot now.

 

[shayfish]

now picture a young man, 6'3, covered in tattoos, dancing frantically adn shouting like a maniac in his back yard while wearing pot holders and holding alarge metal pot

I wish you were my neighbour!

I have not had any major accidents. More like little mistakes made due to lack of knowledge. Like putting 2 gold fish in with 3 adult acfs. Fortunately the half eaten tail grew back once they were separated....

 

[blazeyreef]

accidently dropped the rag in which I was cleaning the glass with in the tank....it had windex on it......lost all my african cichlids........

 

[Sidi]

accidently dropped the rag in which I was cleaning the glass with in the tank....it had windex on it......lost all my african cichlids........

Ouch. I've always used vinegar to clean the glass on my tanks because I was scared of that (or accidentally spraying some into the tank). I think there are commercial glass cleaners based upon vinegar rather than ammonia as well that may be safe.