My fish tank gave me pneumonia

[OliveFish05]

Oh man, that’s rough. Feel better

 

[StevenF]

Isn’t bottled water treated and full of chlorine and chloramine ?

Maybe, maybe not. Chlorine and chloramine are typically used to sterilize the water but they it is not the only way to do that. Heat, UV light, and ozone can also be used. If you fill and then seal the bottle you can serilize it with heat or ozone. and it will keep indefinitely until it is opened. With UV light the water must be sterilized before it is place in the bottle ( many plastics and some glass block UV). Another option is to get lab grade DI water. With no nutrients in the water bacteria cannot grow.

 

[gilpi]

As I just finished syphoning my tank into the sink... (I have a long hose from tank to sink and to fill up, right from sink, tap, to the tank) I started to read this! The water has a long way to go so one quick suck does it but now Im thinking how to get the syphon started after reading this. Sorry this happened to you, I'm surprised more people in the hobby don't get sick from sucking the tube, not a good thing having dirty water going into your lungs! Hope you feel better soon.

 

[AmyKieran]

As I just finished syphoning my tank into the sink... (I have a long hose from tank to sink and to fill up, right from sink, tap, to the tank) I started to read this! The water has a long way to go so one quick suck does it but now Im thinking how to get the syphon started after reading this. Sorry this happened to you, I'm surprised more people in the hobby don't get sick from sucking the tube, not a good thing having dirty water going into your lungs! Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks yeah I’m on day 4 of antibiotics and awaiting results of my x ray but I’m feeling better

 

[Wills]

Thanks yeah I’m on day 4 of antibiotics and awaiting results of my x ray but I’m feeling better

Now you are feeling better I feel I can tell you that this is the right of passage for fish keeping. Your fish will now respect you more, you now get staff discounts at any LFS and your YouTube channel will go through the roof. Other accolade's to get you this status include being bitten or poisoned by your own fish, tank explosions or syphoning/ over filling your tank so it spills over 200 litres into your house.

But seriously I've never heard of this before its so crazy!

 

[AmyKieran]

Now you are feeling better I feel I can tell you that this is the right of passage for fish keeping. Your fish will now respect you more, you now get staff discounts at any LFS and your YouTube channel will go through the roof. Other accolade's to get you this status include being bitten or poisoned by your own fish, tank explosions or syphoning/ over filling your tank so it spills over 200 litres into your house.

But seriously I've never heard of this before its so crazy!

Haha yeah well I guess it’s self inflicted to some percentage.

The hospital have told me if I had just inhaled the water then it wouldn’t be an issue and ide be on with my day. But because I’ve inhaled all of the chemicals that I put in during water changes (5 different chemicals I believe) that’s what caused pneumonia instead.

Blame me for keeping cichlids I guess because if I just kept something like lives in soft water I would have been fine lol

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Glad you're feeling better.....

The art of sucking without breathing is an art that requires alot of skill and should be practiced often to avoid mistakes....

....just not when dealing with aquariums...or swimming pools...or that annoying blockage in the u-bend under the kitchen sink....

In furture I would leave the sucking to the vacuum cleaner...its safer and easier on the body

 

[AmyKieran]

Glad you're feeling better.....

The art of sucking without breathing is an art that requires alot of skill and should be practiced often to avoid mistakes....

....just not when dealing with aquariums...or swimming pools...or that annoying blockage in the u-bend under the kitchen sink....

In furture I would leave the sucking to the vacuum cleaner...its safer and easier on the body

I know lol I’ve learnt my lesson now haha

 

[gilpi]

Good to see you’re doing better. I keep all cichlids as well, just wondering what chemicals you use And why?

 

[AmyKieran]

Good to see you’re doing better. I keep all cichlids as well, just wondering what chemicals you use And why?

Aquarium salt - prevent disease etc
Rift lake cichlid salt - raise gh
Seachem prime - dechlorination
Filter boost - extra nitrifying bacteria top up
Tetra nitrate minus - just trying this one out to see if it works
Seachem Malawi / Victoria buffer - raise ph & kh

6 chemicals lol wow and I was wondering why I got pneumonia haha

 

[GaryE]

When I kept Malawis with medium soft tap, the only one of those I used was a homemade ersion of Rift Lake salts. They needed the hard water, but not the aquarium salt (which is just ordinary salt and included in the mix), or the buffers (in the mix). Why nitrate remover or filter boost stuff? Water changes and well tended filtration do that. Save the money to spend on a python type water changing hose...

I just bought a bottle of Prime. It's my first in 55 years of fish keeping. Thought I'd try it out, because the store didn't have the stuff I wanted. I keep forgetting to use it - I don't have chloramines here.

So, fewer chemical products, no more sucking on hoses and take the full course of antibiotics. I'm not an anti-chemicals person, after all, what are we? But there's no need to buy a lot of the products that are pushed at us as useful.

 

[gilpi]

Aquarium salt - prevent disease etc
Rift lake cichlid salt - raise gh
Seachem prime - dechlorination
Filter boost - extra nitrifying bacteria top up
Tetra nitrate minus - just trying this one out to see if it works
Seachem Malawi / Victoria buffer - raise ph & kh

6 chemicals lol wow and I was wondering why I got pneumonia haha

I have been keeping African cichlids as well, I guess the water here in this neck of the woods is fine for them, pH is always in the 8.2 range. I haven't had the need to use anything yet other than prime when doing water changes. Only once I had a pH crash and that was when I got a little too aggressive with the amount of water changed, so now I do around half a tank water change and I use multiple canisters for the tank, just in case. Wishing you a speedy recovery!

 

[AmyKieran]

When I kept Malawis with medium soft tap, the only one of those I used was a homemade ersion of Rift Lake salts. They needed the hard water, but not the aquarium salt (which is just ordinary salt and included in the mix), or the buffers (in the mix). Why nitrate remover or filter boost stuff? Water changes and well tended filtration do that. Save the money to spend on a python type water changing hose...

I just bought a bottle of Prime. It's my first in 55 years of fish keeping. Thought I'd try it out, because the store didn't have the stuff I wanted. I keep forgetting to use it - I don't have chloramines here.

So, fewer chemical products, no more sucking on hoses and take the full course of antibiotics. I'm not an anti-chemicals person, after all, what are we? But there's no need to buy a lot of the products that are pushed at us as useful.

The nitrate remover I’m just giving a go and see how it goes, the filter boost I just use about 2ml a week of beneficial bacteria, always have I guess haha

 

[gilpi]

Hmm, I'm thinking we'll let you get better first, then we'll pounce on you for using some of those chemicals

 

[Beastije]

As I just finished syphoning my tank into the sink... (I have a long hose from tank to sink and to fill up, right from sink, tap, to the tank) I started to read this! The water has a long way to go so one quick suck does it but now Im thinking how to get the syphon started after reading this. Sorry this happened to you, I'm surprised more people in the hobby don't get sick from sucking the tube, not a good thing having dirty water going into your lungs! Hope you feel better soon.

I have the same setup and do it the following way:
first connect the hose to the tap and place above the tank water. Turn on until water starts flowing out of the hose to the fishtank. Lower the hose end to the fishtank so it is underwater, stop the water from tap, remove hose from the tap, place your finger on it, move to the place where you are depositing your fishtank water (which let me be frank, should be to a retention place, not down the drain, cause hello, droughts and water shortage ). By filling the hose first, the water movement will start automatically.