Some horrible accidents you have had happen...

[GodOSoot]

Well I'll start, just this last night I bought 2 female guppys to replace the one that died within days from the petstore. I could not return her because my snails took about half the evidence away. 8O

So I have the bag they came in open, propped up in a container and was adding a little tank water to slowy aclimate them. As soon as I turned my back, the bag fell over and drained the two poor things behind my 40 gal. stand. I can't move it with the tank full and even then it's quite a task. I tried grabbing one but she flopped under the stand and out of my reach. So I did all I could and they died. I can't get to them to remove the bodies either. I'm sure I will start smelling them shortly. Completely my fault and all, it sucks.

Then while the 40 was down before all this I dropped my one-eyed telescope when moving him to another tank. As if he doesn't have enough problems already with just one eye.

I don't use nets unless they are really tiny and fast movers so I was just holding him over a towel.

Ugh...

 

[fishplay]

You should of seen me and my husband try to move my pleco. LOL, if that wasn't ever funny, I don't know what was. My pleco is still mad at me. I didn't mean to, but I hit his head on the tank top when putting him in his new home. We first had to chase him into a pitcher then I went to dump it in the other tank and didn't have enough clearance to dump him in. It's a double stand. So, I picked him up by the tail and flopped him in the tank. I was kind of panicked cause he didn't have water covering all of him in the pitcher. So, I didn't want to waste time.

 

[flipz]

Not an accident that I caused, but my Columbian Catfish has jumped out of her tank twice. This is with keeping the water level far below normal, and 100% of the tank being covered. She was able to jump over the HOB filter (up the stream of water)!

Both times thankfully I just happened to be home. I don't know how I got so lucky. The problem is that it's a 30 gallon tank, 50 lbs of sand, sitting on a 4.5 foot tall solid wood dresser. So... moving it would literally be impossible. Also the opening between the bottom of the dresser and the floor is only about 1.5 inches. Both times I was able to retrieve her with a spatula and get her back into the tank within about a minute of her jumping out.

Now the tank is FULLY secured as the HOB filter is no longer used in the tank. But I just wanted to suggest to you trying to use a spatula or something similar to retrieve your fish. Sorry to hear about your loss.

-brent

 

[GodOSoot]

Well were going for 2 more tonight...and I will try to retrieve their bodies.

Mine is basically this way...

10 sitting on top of the stand for the 40 the stand alone is close to 100 pounds, now add 450+ from the 40 and ya you see how moving it is a pain. I will just make sure I don't put them on the stand anymore. I'll use the desk next to it.

 

[Mazdaman]

about a year ago once my 75gal was set up I was transfering my fish from a 20gal to the new 75. Anyways i had transfered all the fish but my shark. He looked really stressed so I left him in the 20 for awhile untill he calmed. I quickly went out to the store and came home to find him dried up on the floor, he must have jumped out in fear that something bad was about to happen as he was left all alone. I felt so bad and to this day miss the first fish I EVER got...

 

[lovemybarbs]

did anyone see webjunk (I think that is the name of it) on VH1 this weekend. It showed a guy videotaping himself lifting weights and the end of the barbell went through the tank and it shattered. It showed the fish spilling out all over the place. He totally flipped out. I would have too. Wild stuff.

 

[dskidmore]

Last weekend I bought 6 more otocats for my 75 gallon. It was near closing time so someone volunteered to "help" out. The person working there assured me that the volunteer knew what she was doing. She dropped one of the fish between the bag and the specimin container! Of course, being an oto, he hung on when she tried to pour him out. I had to pull him off and put him in the bag. Some helper! I would have been better off doing it myself!

My other big disaster was the first time I kept otos. I replaced the filter for repair, and all my otos died from the filter shock. All the other fish were fine, but the otos are too sensitive.

 

[willowthepoet]

i've never had anything really bad happen *crosses fingers* but one time when i was doing a PWC in my dwarf puffer tank i (stupidly) jumped up to grab the phone while the gravel vac was siphoning.... once i got off the phone i come back to see one of my DPs just swimming around in the bucket like he was supposed to be there. it was cute, but it scared the bejeezus out of me when i couldn't find him in the tank at first.

 

[DeFeKt]

sad stories....not good to hear..
I've only had one jumper, but my biggest incident would be after moving a 10" oscar into a new tank. Of course the oscar HAS to splash water everywhere..the walls, the ceiling, me, worst of all the floor.
So with the new 55gallon setup next to the 120 gall where oscar was destined to go. I was boiling water to fill the trickle filter setup full so the water wasn't icey cold.
anyway, long story short, wet floor tiles ended up with me on the floor, burnt from the boiled water, and not to mention that i took down and landed on one of the lids that consequently shattered and cut down the underside of my upper arm.
I'm the only person I know that can turn fish keeping into a bloodsport.

Matty

 

[Andos99]

I usually always pay attention when I'm siphoning water during a PWC and one time I stepped away and paid the price. I was doing a water change on my 10 gal and decided to just leave it for a few minutes while I checked my email. When I came back, it had sucked 3 neons through the tubing and into the bucket and all three died. I felt like such a moron.

 

[krap101]

how strong is the siphon? i didnt think siphons were capable of getting grown fish?

 

[Meredith]

Years ago I was doing a water change and I had a zebra danio that would jump at any given chance. I rescued him so many times from the sink, the stove, the floor. During a water change one day I didn't notice that he had jumped out of the tank onto the floor and I stepped on him Needless to say he did not survive.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I've only had 1 fish that jumped (or rather pushed). I was on my way out and fed the fish, a cochu was eating at the surface when a congo came up to get some food and it blew him out of the water at me. I picked him up off the floor despite his wishes to flop around and got him back in the tank. sadly he died within 2 days.. (it's a 5' drop to the floor and he was hit in the process)..

DeFeKt: That's a bizarre set of events.. I don't even know what to suggest to you as a "safe" hobby

 

[dskidmore]

DeFeKt: That's a bizarre set of events.. I don't even know what to suggest to you as a "safe" hobby

I suggest reading; but you might want someone else to take books off the top shelf for you.

 

[bigmac1878]

i've only lost 1 fish and he jumped. about 3 hours after buying him he decided to dry out and landed on a small table. fortunatley he was spotted and promptly replaced(it was at this point i named him willy). i never thought anything else of it until much later that evening. after a 'few' beers, halfway through the film 'SWAT', i heard a wet flapping sound. light on, 3 quick counts and then a panic to move furniture, only to find the fluffiest fish i've ever seen. i bought a condesation cover the next day and i've never watched 'SWAT' all the way through.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

DeFeKt: That's a bizarre set of events.. I don't even know what to suggest to you as a "safe" hobby

I suggest reading; but you might want someone else to take books off the top shelf for you.

And someone to hold the book and turn the pages..

 

[Guest]

I was doing a WC on my 40g Bichir breding tank one time. The phone rang so I stoped he holes as went to answer the phne. When I came back about 15 mins. later. I finished the WC and never gave a secound thought to the Gary Bichirs in the tank. I put all my stuff up and was setting there whatching TV. about 45mins to an hour. When I noticed something clrawling accross the floor in the kitchen.
I went to see what it was. My eyes bout fell out of my head. There on the kitchen floor was not 1 but 3 of my Bichirs. I hadn't even noticed they where missing from the tank. So About a week later when I done the next water change. I made sure they where all there. When I got done. But again 30mins later there they where again clrawing accross the floor. So I put them back in the tank.
I got to whatching them and what was happening they where pushing the top of the tank aside and going out throw a whole in it about the size of a penny. So I thought I'd get them a bigger tank and they'd not be able to get to the top as good. SO I got them a 110g tank about 3 months ago. I was doing another waterchange and noticed one trying to make his move for freedom. { this was about 1 month ago } So I turned real fast to stop him. When I did I hit a rock on the bottom of the tank and knocked it into the front side of the tank.
This happened so freaking fast I had no time to react. Right before my eyes I seen the front glass of the tank. Expoled into a milloin peices. Water went every where fish every where. Plants disinagrated from the froce. That was the most helpless I had every felt before in my life. NOTE= Only lost 2 fish to the disasster.

 

[7Enigma]

Wow,

I have to stop reading this thread, its scaring the heck out of me. I've been pretty lucky so far, but have only been in the hobby since Jan06 so my time is probably going to come.

My only stupid/funny story is the first time I ever did a gravel vac. I wanted to practice (thankfully I did this without fishwater!), and so attached my gravel vac to the hand bulb that you pump to build a vacuum. RIGHT as the water makes it over the apex of the tubing the bulb in my left hand disconnects from the tubing. Now the gravel vac I had bought was the large one and in the 1/2 second it took for me to realize what was happening I had dumped a good 1/2 gallon of water on my hardwood floor and carpet. This was at 11:30pm on a worknight and I spent the next 45 minutes cleaning up the mess. Not fun, but definately can't compete with some of these stories.

Oh and yes I saw the previews for that show on VH1 where the guy working out smashed his tank. I laughed...

 

[Devilishturtles]

I went on vacation for a month, last summer. I left the care of my tanks in my sister's hand. She is only a year younger than me! 18 at the time. I cleaned my tanks the day before I left and told her not to worry about cleaning them, that I'd do it when I got back home.

She never rinsed out my HOB filter pads at all, which I didn't tell her to do. But in the mean time, she fed my fish massive amounts of food a day. It of course went into the HOB, clogging the filters, backing up the water like mad. When I got home, after doing a water change because my water was so cloudy, I had noticed that water was overflowing behind the HOB. I looked down to see my entire wall warping, including the base board...everything. A few days later, I noticed a water spot in the ceiling of our "formal" dining room, which is directly below my tank. The 'rents were not happy!

Lesson I learned:Always make sure you show the person you are leaving the fish with, physically how much to feed the fish, and not just by saying "just a little"

 

[7Enigma]

Devilishturtles,

After hearing all of the horror stories of overfeeding when "fishsitting" I put a weeks worth of fish food in a small dixie cup (I was gone 6 days). I then told my wife who was going to take care of them that this is all the food they get for the week. I came home and there was still about 20% of the food left, so I think this method works REALLY well. As long as they don't cheat, or throw it all in 1 day, there is no way they can overfeed.

I really don't think showing them physically how much to feed will work. The difference between a small pinch and a large pinch is so small that I could see it really easy to overfeed. Just set out how much food they should feed for the entire time your gone and all is well.

At least all of your fish were fine!