The Day I Nearly Killed All My Fish...

[Maroonostrich]

I didn't tell you about this one..! Happened a couple of months back.

I was really stupid, cleaning the tank when I was ill and foolishly deciding on putting in some treatment because two of the neons had damaged fins and I thought I saw signs of fin rot. Anyway, I got the medication totally wrong and overdosed. I only realised in the morning that most of my fish looked dead. The golden eyed cichlid was pale and drooping in corner, the cories were lodged on their sides under a log and the neons were mostly on their sides gasping at the surface. A horrible sight.

I realised what I'd done and frantically water changed, but it was certainly too late for the cories. One was upside down, one on its side. I did what I could and then just left it. That evening I realised that the cories were gone, they hadn't moved in over 24 hours and were still on their back and side. I couldn't bring myself to fish them out and left the tank alone convinced of disaster and too depressed to remove the little corpses.

The following day I removed a dead neon, but realised that the cories were gone. I couldn't see them but convinced myself that the cichlid must have dragged them off to eat- he was looking perkier and the other neons were swimming around gingerly and a bit wobbly, but at least more normally!

The day after that was like a miracle. My tank was normal again! The fish fed... and best of all the cories appeared and were fine.

Total death count, one neon, who had looked poor before the incident anyway.

I've now stuck labels on all my medicines to tell me what to dose if I need them and have vowed never to mess with the tank if I feel that ill as I just won't be paying proper attention.

I was so lucky wasn't I? You don't need to tell me I'm dumb, I know.

 

[*Lucifer*]

that was lucky, it jus shows how stupid some people can be when ill themselves, but congrats to u for saving all bar one fishie!!!! well done

Lucifer

 

[prankster705]

Lucky you, here is what happened to me once (not happy):
This summer when we went on vacation (3 weeks), my grandma fed the fish (no water changes). The pump of the filter broke down, a day after we left, and grandma didn't know about it... You can't emagine to what I came home: the glass was so green I couldn't see through, and the water was green, nitrates were 80+, but amonia and nitrates were amazingly at zero... I did a 80% water change, vacumed the gravel, scraped off algea (there was so much it took me three and a half hours), changed the filter wool... Many fish survived but my center school of fish died: 12 glass catfish (they alltogether cost about 40$) but all the others survived... At least I had a lot of fun restocking...


I wish I had your luck...

 

[cujoho78]

Hi. I think even intelligent people can do some silly things when they haven't thought it through or simply aren't paying attention. I know i've done some dumb things before in relation to my fish, and otherwise. At least you didn't lose a bunch of fish, you've learned from it and have taken steps to make sure it doesn't happen again! You are brave for admitting it in public! Glad to hear you didn't lose too many fish.

 

[fishing4exotics]

Hi Maroonostrich, I'm glad things turned out better than they could have. Sometimes we panic and jump for meds when our fish are not looking good. Then, the cure kills the fish. Meds should be the last resort when curing some fish ailments.

There are some diseases, if caught early, can be cured without meds or with mild natural chemicals. For the fin splits and early stages of fin rot I would raise temp ( 86* f if your fish can tolerate high temps ) and add salt to the tank. Salt might not have been an option in your case because of the corys you keep. There are also natural remedies such as Melafix that is not toxic to your fish or filter system. You might want to try the above before putting strong meds in your tank.