Whole Tank Destoyed.

[andy334]

Came in from work a while ago and, as usual after tea, went and checked on my fish. Everything is dead and the tank is an awful colour blue. My red tip ruby which I have been nursing for months and have just got to show standard is amongst the 30 casualites and I am profoundly gutted.

Took a while to work out what had happened but here goes:

I always like to get the kids involved with the fish and recently I took them through tank maintenance. When I did so I used some TetraAqua which is a nice colour blue. Anyway, my young daughter decided today some time that the tank needed some more TetraAqua, as I keep it locked away from the kids she looked around for the next best thing, which just happened to be my wife's Midnight Blue Calligraphy ink.

Added the whole 300ml bottle to the tank and Bob's your uncle - total annihilation.

It's going to be a while until I get over this I am sure. The wife is now disposing of the fish as I just can't bring myself to do it.

Totally and utterly devestated.

 

[Genie]

ah no!! thats so sad. Its scary some of the things kids do without thinking, or thinking they're doing a good thing.
RIP

 

[andy334]

Yeah it's sad but I know she was only trying to help so I need to keep it all in perspective. It happens (probably not very often though - LOL) so I need to sit down and start again.

Trouble is it has taken around 2 years to get to where I was happy with the tanks condition and how the fish were fairing so, at the moment, I feel like packing it all away and having a break.

Have to see how I feel tomorrow.

 

[lilfishie]

oh no, sorry for your losses, don't pack it in though we all have ups and downs but always bounce back better than before, at least now you know to lock the ink away too or anything else blue. again sorry for your losses

 

[stuhyde]

Fair play for keeping it in perspective, I guess a few people would have hit the roof.

Can imagine it wasnt particularly pleasant to come home to after work!

As they say, build it again, but build it bigger and better! Oh and maybe get a lockable lid!

 

[andy334]

Thanks all.

Wife just suggested that next time we need to get some Blue Tetras. Oh it's a laugh a minute in my house!

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Wow, I am so sorry for your losses. It is so gutting and sucks that there isn't anything you can do.
The same thing happened to me back in February... I did partial water changes in 4 of my tanks, went to the oral surgeon, came home to find most of fish dead or dieing. I lost 22 that day, couldn't figure out what happened as I did everything correctly. I went up to my LFS a couple days later and they said they had lost over a third of their stock the same day I had. I tried getting in touch w/ the city to see if anything wierd had happened but got transferred from person to person til I hung up.
I really hope you don't give up. Take a break, grieve awhile and see if the fishy side still calls to you, hopefully you'll have the tank up and running smoothly in no time. Best of luck to you!

 

[kpintheshed]

thats children i remember someone telling me that he put milk in the tank because the fish looked thirsty

 

[Zanziba]

You could try feeding your kids AquaSafe and see the result???

 

[adamgreen240]

sorry about ur losses

 

[gilaesther]

My brother used to take my fish and squish them in between two large legos (he was trying to see if they could swim in there... he was really little at the time) and then he would put them back in the bowl... it was so sad!

Don't give up, just babyproof/lock the lid, then there will be no tampering in the future.

 

[Darkehorse]

I can empathasize. My two year old likes to hit the master power switch to my tank. So far nothing bad has happened but it's never been more than a few hours without power so I count myself lucky. Sorry for your losses. Look on the bright side, all those times you said "If I had to do it over, I'd do such and such differently", now you can. Probably not the way you had wished starting over would happen, but it has happened so try and make the best of it.

-Darke

 

[Gill]

Sorry for your loss,

 

[andy334]

LOL - some really good ones there - cheered me up no end.

As darkehorse rightly points out I can now consider what to do differently next time around.

Suppose I should count my blessings because when I spoke to my daughter she said she had been looking "for the blue thingy in the toilet" - my wife and I think she was after the BrovatBlue block!!!!

Anyway, finished clearing everything away. Have already destroyed all of the equipment as it is beyond repair and probably infected with all sorts of gunk so I think it is back to the drawing board.

Wife has asked me to wait until after the holidays before trying again so I will give it a go in September and see how I do.

Thank you to all for your kind words and other experiences. As the saying goes "tomorrow is another day - so lets go to the pet shop".

Regards - Andy

 

[Watersprite]

So sorry about your huge loss, difficult to imagine how you must feel.
Good luck with your next tank.