Your Worst Fish Story.
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All of my horror stories happened when I was too little to know better, and my parents surprisingly let me have fish.
First there was Tina the goldfish, who I had when I was about 4. I was a pretty responsible kid, and had an array of little pets such as hamsters and the like which I took care of. Tina lived in a bowl, (
) and this might explain why she didn't live long at all. My parents were always the ones to find her belly up, and instead of breaking it to me, would replace the fish. (without changing the water...) and I went through several Tinas...
Then there was Ray. The red betta. My sister had him in her room, and when my mother found him, (long since forgotton) he was surprisingly still living, in one inch of slime green water and skeleton thin. We nursed him back to health and he lived a year longer, and died of SWD.
Then, my dad's fishtank, which turned into a giant icecickle in the ice storm. We lost power for 2 or 3 weeks, and it was in the negatives. My dad wrapped the tanks, did water changes every day, and floated baggies of hot water and filled it with warm water, and they lived for over a week, then my dad couldn't come back to the house for a while, and the tank froze.
EDIT: forgot a story. My sister had some aquababies and a snail in a bowl, and kept finding the aquababies dead with missing centers...
The snail was climbing up the bowl and dropping onto them and eating them! We witnessed him do it. The LFS had never seen anything like it, and replaced the snail with the ADF we still have, LaFitte.
First there was Tina the goldfish, who I had when I was about 4. I was a pretty responsible kid, and had an array of little pets such as hamsters and the like which I took care of. Tina lived in a bowl, (
) and this might explain why she didn't live long at all. My parents were always the ones to find her belly up, and instead of breaking it to me, would replace the fish. (without changing the water...) and I went through several Tinas...Then there was Ray. The red betta. My sister had him in her room, and when my mother found him, (long since forgotton) he was surprisingly still living, in one inch of slime green water and skeleton thin. We nursed him back to health and he lived a year longer, and died of SWD.
Then, my dad's fishtank, which turned into a giant icecickle in the ice storm. We lost power for 2 or 3 weeks, and it was in the negatives. My dad wrapped the tanks, did water changes every day, and floated baggies of hot water and filled it with warm water, and they lived for over a week, then my dad couldn't come back to the house for a while, and the tank froze.
EDIT: forgot a story. My sister had some aquababies and a snail in a bowl, and kept finding the aquababies dead with missing centers...
The snail was climbing up the bowl and dropping onto them and eating them! We witnessed him do it. The LFS had never seen anything like it, and replaced the snail with the ADF we still have, LaFitte.
Synirr
"No one is a failure unless you try"
I bought a few female bettas for my 10 gallon a few weeks ago and didn't quarantine them like I should have because I've never had a betta bring disease into my tanks before... turns out one of them had ich, and since all the new bettas were weak, it killed them all off 
I still feel terrible about that... A few platies I was planning to give to a friend were in that tank too, and they're still in there getting treated for ich. I dare not give them away until I'm 100% sure they're healthy again.
I still feel terrible about that... A few platies I was planning to give to a friend were in that tank too, and they're still in there getting treated for ich. I dare not give them away until I'm 100% sure they're healthy again.
Iron Man
Fish Addict
I have a couple stories and you figure which one is worse.
First, I had an african cichlid tank that I wanted to change the substrate on. I was going from black gravel to sand. Luckily, I had only started that tank and only had a few baby mbunas in there. I put them in plastic cups (supersized fast food cups) and covered them with something...and most of them did fine.....accept one.
I opened the top of one of the cups and there was no fish in there. Where did he go? We looked everywhere....and when I say everywhere....I mean EVERYWHERE. The fish disappeared. We never did find him....but I have a theory. He jumped (somehow) out of the cup while it was covered so fast that it didn't knock the cover off....just kinda fell back on top of the cup....leaped into the side of the kitchen sink where the garbage disposal was.....and down the drain he went.
Second, I had one of those half whiskey barrels with a couple of comet goldfish in there. They did fine for a while until I went out one summer night to find one of them (the oldest and biggest) had jumped out and landed where I couldn't find him. When I finally found him between the wall and the barrel up under the filter....he was so dried up that he must have been out there all evening long after I had fed them. I placed him back into the pond water and pushed him back and forth to try and revive him but it was too late. I placed him into my 5 gal emergency/hospital tank with some of the pond water and he breathed for a while, but like I said....he was too far gone and by morning he was dead.
First, I had an african cichlid tank that I wanted to change the substrate on. I was going from black gravel to sand. Luckily, I had only started that tank and only had a few baby mbunas in there. I put them in plastic cups (supersized fast food cups) and covered them with something...and most of them did fine.....accept one.
I opened the top of one of the cups and there was no fish in there. Where did he go? We looked everywhere....and when I say everywhere....I mean EVERYWHERE. The fish disappeared. We never did find him....but I have a theory. He jumped (somehow) out of the cup while it was covered so fast that it didn't knock the cover off....just kinda fell back on top of the cup....leaped into the side of the kitchen sink where the garbage disposal was.....and down the drain he went.
Second, I had one of those half whiskey barrels with a couple of comet goldfish in there. They did fine for a while until I went out one summer night to find one of them (the oldest and biggest) had jumped out and landed where I couldn't find him. When I finally found him between the wall and the barrel up under the filter....he was so dried up that he must have been out there all evening long after I had fed them. I placed him back into the pond water and pushed him back and forth to try and revive him but it was too late. I placed him into my 5 gal emergency/hospital tank with some of the pond water and he breathed for a while, but like I said....he was too far gone and by morning he was dead.
My betta Charlie used to live in a lovely little 2g bowl, with some floating plant (unsure of species) and a ceramic tree stump.
This stump was very realistic... when I got it home I realised it had a very jagged top. But since this was above the surface of the water, I figured I'd be safe. Then, Charlie developed the habit of swimming up through the stump, jumping over the jagged top and into the main water on the other side.
Horrified he'd hurt himself, I removed the stump but Charlie sulked. I felt sorry for him and replaced it and dropped the water level 2" or so. One day last year I came home from school to find my mum holding a little matchbox with a sad expression on her face.
'Charlie had an accident..' she said. He'd tried to pull the jump-over-the-log stunt again, but hit the jagged top and fatally gashed himself.
Charles.
This stump was very realistic... when I got it home I realised it had a very jagged top. But since this was above the surface of the water, I figured I'd be safe. Then, Charlie developed the habit of swimming up through the stump, jumping over the jagged top and into the main water on the other side.
Horrified he'd hurt himself, I removed the stump but Charlie sulked. I felt sorry for him and replaced it and dropped the water level 2" or so. One day last year I came home from school to find my mum holding a little matchbox with a sad expression on her face.
'Charlie had an accident..' she said. He'd tried to pull the jump-over-the-log stunt again, but hit the jagged top and fatally gashed himself.
Charles. xanthianacid
Fish Crazy
When I was a naiive fish keeper...I went and got some girl bettas as I was slowly stocking my tank 10 gallon at the time. I love bettas and gouramis. So went to the LFS that has the best selection (I have learnt to live without now). Anyways, I picked a girl who looked large I assumed she was just a big girl. She was a snakeskin half moon, and quite a looker. I also brought another girl as well, a smaller emerald quite like my larger emerald. Both Delta tails. SO the woman tells me "look, she's full of eggs you have boys at home make sure you get her to breed with them." So I assume that she's right almost had second thoughts but she seemed well enough and was absolutely beautiful so I brought her anyways...
So, I put her in the tank with my new girl and my two old girls, there was also cory pandas a bn and a platinum gourami. The girls were all out and nipping each other sorting out pecking order, Emerald and Snake were the worst affected (the other's hid very well). So I put my male Betta in the tank and Emerald (also full of eggs) and he spawned. I later took him out as there was no point, the eggs had no chance to develop with so many hungry fishes, I just wanted healthy bettas, not start breeding. He was tired from defence, and I like my fishes happy so he went back home. Snake continued to grow bigger, but she didn't look the same as other's full of eggs (as now I had seen a healthy roe filled female (Emerald), who had a white look to her belly. I assumed that she was constipated then, so I fed her peas, she pooed fine and lots of it but she kept getting bigger. I decided to hospitalise her at that point. She lived in a seperate tank, I gave her a general med, salted it, gave her some heat etc. She kept getting bigger believe it or not, still eating etc but she kept losing her balance, swimming on her side, staying at the top.
So I ring the LFS up and tell them I've done all I can she seems to have swim bladder disease, and they tell me what to do to treat it. No improvement at all. She kept getting worse, her gills/breathing was far more laboured. I then rang them back and asked them if they would take her back, as she was still alive and I'd done everything I knew to make her better. THEY SAID YES!!!
So I took her back the kids were going psycho, and I wanted support from my hubby. she was simply at this stage floating on top of the water slowly breathing. Her growth was humungous. I mean triple her normal body size. They then tried to sell me more medication and take her home, but at this stage I had just given up, she wasn't going to live, even the woman who sold her to me said she wasn't going to live. I told them I wanted them to do something about it then, as they'd told me on the phone. They told me that I'd have to talk to the manager. He refused to do anything about it besides euthanise her. I was super angry as they had told me on the phone they would considering that she was sold to me in the beginning like that. The kids were really going nuts now. I'll never go back there. They lost two very good customers that day. I just couldn't believe their attitude! Now we know more about fish keeping we realise she actually had dropsy, and had it all along, according to the research we have done.
I will never ever forgive them. We've started breeding somewhat of rare varieties of fishes here now, choc gourami's, sparklers, cockatoo chiclids etc, and they'll never see our stock in our store, or any money. And the cheek that they wanted to sell me a bottle of meds that cost $20 and take her home when she was near on dead!!!!! We learn to be discerning I guess. BIG learning curve for me and my hubby.
So, I put her in the tank with my new girl and my two old girls, there was also cory pandas a bn and a platinum gourami. The girls were all out and nipping each other sorting out pecking order, Emerald and Snake were the worst affected (the other's hid very well). So I put my male Betta in the tank and Emerald (also full of eggs) and he spawned. I later took him out as there was no point, the eggs had no chance to develop with so many hungry fishes, I just wanted healthy bettas, not start breeding. He was tired from defence, and I like my fishes happy so he went back home. Snake continued to grow bigger, but she didn't look the same as other's full of eggs (as now I had seen a healthy roe filled female (Emerald), who had a white look to her belly. I assumed that she was constipated then, so I fed her peas, she pooed fine and lots of it but she kept getting bigger. I decided to hospitalise her at that point. She lived in a seperate tank, I gave her a general med, salted it, gave her some heat etc. She kept getting bigger believe it or not, still eating etc but she kept losing her balance, swimming on her side, staying at the top.
So I ring the LFS up and tell them I've done all I can she seems to have swim bladder disease, and they tell me what to do to treat it. No improvement at all. She kept getting worse, her gills/breathing was far more laboured. I then rang them back and asked them if they would take her back, as she was still alive and I'd done everything I knew to make her better. THEY SAID YES!!!
So I took her back the kids were going psycho, and I wanted support from my hubby. she was simply at this stage floating on top of the water slowly breathing. Her growth was humungous. I mean triple her normal body size. They then tried to sell me more medication and take her home, but at this stage I had just given up, she wasn't going to live, even the woman who sold her to me said she wasn't going to live. I told them I wanted them to do something about it then, as they'd told me on the phone. They told me that I'd have to talk to the manager. He refused to do anything about it besides euthanise her. I was super angry as they had told me on the phone they would considering that she was sold to me in the beginning like that. The kids were really going nuts now. I'll never go back there. They lost two very good customers that day. I just couldn't believe their attitude! Now we know more about fish keeping we realise she actually had dropsy, and had it all along, according to the research we have done.
I will never ever forgive them. We've started breeding somewhat of rare varieties of fishes here now, choc gourami's, sparklers, cockatoo chiclids etc, and they'll never see our stock in our store, or any money. And the cheek that they wanted to sell me a bottle of meds that cost $20 and take her home when she was near on dead!!!!! We learn to be discerning I guess. BIG learning curve for me and my hubby.
Angry_Platy
Sleepy Chook
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In early January this year, my platies started dying along with my neon tetras. Some of the fish that didn't die had grey patches on their side. They would soon die too. I had no clue what was wrong. Water parameters were fine, filters were fine, there was NO reason why they should be dying. The ones that initially died just died without symptoms. I was clueless.
So I then started suspecting the water suppliers were contaminating the water. But then I realise that all the fish in the other tanks were fine. The fish that died had all come from the 30gal tank. All my fish in the 10gal and 6gal and 75gal were fine. If it were something in the water the fish in the smaller tanks would have been affected for sure.
I had lost all platies (10 of them) except 2, all my neon tetras, all my glolight tetras and all my glass bloodfin tetras. All my platy fry (5 of them) had perished. I was convinced the tank was cursed. So I started to think about dismantling the whole tank while putting them fish in temporary accommodation in the other tanks. Upton taking the tank hood off, I realised there was a dog toy sitting on top of the filter....DRAPING IN THE WATER (the BF had thrown it on top of the tank a few weeks prior where the dog couldn't get it, or see it, turns out we couldn't see it either).....we flea treat the dog monthly and at the same time we flea treat his toys as well.
BASICALLY my fish were being poisoned by flea poison And I had no idea. Many water changes later and a few weeks of carbon in the filters, I had no more fish die and those that had a weird grey haze returned to normal and I still have those 2 fish (a white male platy and a sunset female platy).....the bnose adult and fry weren't affected at all.
NOW....nothing sits on top of the tank or hood besides the occasional fish net during water changes. I learnt my lesson!!!!
So I then started suspecting the water suppliers were contaminating the water. But then I realise that all the fish in the other tanks were fine. The fish that died had all come from the 30gal tank. All my fish in the 10gal and 6gal and 75gal were fine. If it were something in the water the fish in the smaller tanks would have been affected for sure.
I had lost all platies (10 of them) except 2, all my neon tetras, all my glolight tetras and all my glass bloodfin tetras. All my platy fry (5 of them) had perished. I was convinced the tank was cursed. So I started to think about dismantling the whole tank while putting them fish in temporary accommodation in the other tanks. Upton taking the tank hood off, I realised there was a dog toy sitting on top of the filter....DRAPING IN THE WATER (the BF had thrown it on top of the tank a few weeks prior where the dog couldn't get it, or see it, turns out we couldn't see it either).....we flea treat the dog monthly and at the same time we flea treat his toys as well.
BASICALLY my fish were being poisoned by flea poison
And I had no idea. Many water changes later and a few weeks of carbon in the filters, I had no more fish die and those that had a weird grey haze returned to normal and I still have those 2 fish (a white male platy and a sunset female platy).....the bnose adult and fry weren't affected at all. NOW....nothing sits on top of the tank or hood besides the occasional fish net during water changes. I learnt my lesson!!!!
Invader675
Fish Fanatic
The ammonia in the eye thing that made me half blind would probably be the worst fish related story I have. I don't particually want to talk about it though.
I'll just post my first post from tff and leave it at that.
I got a 29 gallon tank for my girl recently. It is a semi-aggressive tank so my theory was that the smaller fish would be eaten by the larger ones when they got to big for all of them to co-exist. But I am pretty sure I got conned by the guy at the fish store. I initially bought 3 rainbow sharks, 3 gourami, 1 cuhli loach, 1 pictus catfish, 1 common pleco. Then I went back because all of the fish were hiding. The tank looked empty. So I bought another Rainbow shark, five gold danios, and five zebra danios. Then I got two dwarf puffers. All of the fish are doing fine. Initially the new rainbow shark got pushed around a little but now things have settled down. Actually when I put in the new fish the whole tank came to life. Now even the cuhli loach comes out from time to time. All of my test's have come out ok except for PH. She put some stuff in there and now PH is perfect. The only problem is that the danios get 2 and a half inches long. I think this is too big for the rainbow sharks to eat when they reach full size. So, aside from the many errors that I am sure I made and I am sure you will point out to me, what should I do with the danio's. They are very friendly and my girl doesn't want to take them back. Be kind this is my first big tank. One more thing. I was wondering if an Albino Rainbow shark would school with mine If the one's I have start fighting again and i need to take back one of the males. Thank you.
P.S. If any of you buy frogs make sure there are no holes in the top of your lid. I made that mistake and my two african dwarf frogs climbed out and are gone. Either that or they are INCREDIBLY good at hiding.
I got a 29 gallon tank for my girl recently. It is a semi-aggressive tank so my theory was that the smaller fish would be eaten by the larger ones when they got to big for all of them to co-exist. But I am pretty sure I got conned by the guy at the fish store. I initially bought 3 rainbow sharks, 3 gourami, 1 cuhli loach, 1 pictus catfish, 1 common pleco. Then I went back because all of the fish were hiding. The tank looked empty. So I bought another Rainbow shark, five gold danios, and five zebra danios. Then I got two dwarf puffers. All of the fish are doing fine. Initially the new rainbow shark got pushed around a little but now things have settled down. Actually when I put in the new fish the whole tank came to life. Now even the cuhli loach comes out from time to time. All of my test's have come out ok except for PH. She put some stuff in there and now PH is perfect. The only problem is that the danios get 2 and a half inches long. I think this is too big for the rainbow sharks to eat when they reach full size. So, aside from the many errors that I am sure I made and I am sure you will point out to me, what should I do with the danio's. They are very friendly and my girl doesn't want to take them back. Be kind this is my first big tank. One more thing. I was wondering if an Albino Rainbow shark would school with mine If the one's I have start fighting again and i need to take back one of the males. Thank you.
P.S. If any of you buy frogs make sure there are no holes in the top of your lid. I made that mistake and my two african dwarf frogs climbed out and are gone. Either that or they are INCREDIBLY good at hiding.
ccg
Fishaholic
I have a fish story to tell, just recently happend to.
A few weeks ago my sister was moving a couple of hours away to a new house she had bought. I helped her move in and drove the truck up there for her. When I got there I found a few tanks in the garage that the previous owners had left (new fry tanks for me ). I was pleased with my find and she was more then happy that I was willing to take them as she was not to impressed they left a bunch of garbage in her new garage.
Anyhow... As for the bad part (don't worry has a good ending)
After about two hours of getting there and unloading the truck I went to the washroom, lifted up the lid, and guess what I found? There was a pleco in the toilet, and he was still alive. The previous owners must have flushed him? And he didn’t make it down I guess? That’s the only thing I could of. Long story short I went out and found a pet store, got a net, and got the little bugger out. He appears to be a common pleco, about 5 inches long right now. I put him in a 20gallon for a few weeks to make sure he was alright (he was eating cucumber that same night). He has since been moved to my friends 75 gallon and is doing great. I would have kept him myself, but my biggest tanks are 45, 35 and under, so I have no room to properly house him. My sister said they moved out 5 days before we moved in, so he must have been in there for that long. I think its pretty incredible really. Every time I visit the rest room I think of him haha.
I see him a couple times a week and he is loving his new home… but I guess he would as anything is better then a toilet.
A few weeks ago my sister was moving a couple of hours away to a new house she had bought. I helped her move in and drove the truck up there for her. When I got there I found a few tanks in the garage that the previous owners had left (new fry tanks for me
). I was pleased with my find and she was more then happy that I was willing to take them as she was not to impressed they left a bunch of garbage in her new garage.Anyhow... As for the bad part (don't worry has a good ending)
After about two hours of getting there and unloading the truck I went to the washroom, lifted up the lid, and guess what I found? There was a pleco in the toilet, and he was still alive. The previous owners must have flushed him? And he didn’t make it down I guess? That’s the only thing I could of. Long story short I went out and found a pet store, got a net, and got the little bugger out. He appears to be a common pleco, about 5 inches long right now. I put him in a 20gallon for a few weeks to make sure he was alright (he was eating cucumber that same night). He has since been moved to my friends 75 gallon and is doing great. I would have kept him myself, but my biggest tanks are 45, 35 and under, so I have no room to properly house him. My sister said they moved out 5 days before we moved in, so he must have been in there for that long. I think its pretty incredible really. Every time I visit the rest room I think of him haha.
I see him a couple times a week and he is loving his new home… but I guess he would as anything is better then a toilet.
our baby yoyo who swam into our filter outlet!!!
but as they say you live & learn
The same just happened only 5 minutes ago to my YoYo... I got him yesterday. He is an adult (4-5") Guy at the LFS only charged £3.99 for him as there was no price listed... I was just looking at this thread and heard a strange noise from my tank... I dropped my laptop and ran to the tank only to find he has swam up the outlet pipe of the tank... Its an AquaOne where the water flown on top and back down... I quickly switched everything off. I didnt know what to do... he was just thrashing about... After a minute he freed himself.. I just hope he does not do it again.
withington
Fish Fanatic
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well at 3pm today (sunday 20th ) i deciced to epmpty my 4th tank because it had algue floating on the top of the water and was very dirty, so I cleaned it all out getting very stressed on the way 
because i put the wood in the sink and my big brother who is 20 washing his hands with fairy liqud and it went all over the wood and plants in the sink so we have a little fight punching each other, any way I put all the fish back in to the tank and there was only 6 in there and at 3pm i did have 10 so i lost 4 fish somewhere and i have 5 cuts on my fingures and hand from my slate 2 of them really do hurt but still being able to type the story up. So no its 6pm 3 hours later im pi55ed off cuz i got school tommorow so most of my sunday has gone andi lost 4 fish and my hand hurts so its all cra.p so far,oh by the way they are tropical fish.
Be careful when cleaning your tank out.
from Alex Withington
i dont know if this is allowed but my msn is [email protected] because i have some questions add me im on now and all the time posts 6:25pm sunday ill b on till 10pm tonight
because i put the wood in the sink and my big brother who is 20 washing his hands with fairy liqud and it went all over the wood and plants in the sink so we have a little fight punching each other, any way I put all the fish back in to the tank and there was only 6 in there and at 3pm i did have 10 so i lost 4 fish somewhere and i have 5 cuts on my fingures and hand from my slate 2 of them really do hurt but still being able to type the story up. So no its 6pm 3 hours later im pi55ed off cuz i got school tommorow so most of my sunday has gone andi lost 4 fish and my hand hurts so its all cra.p so far,oh by the way they are tropical fish.Be careful when cleaning your tank out.
from Alex Withington
i dont know if this is allowed but my msn is [email protected] because i have some questions add me im on now and all the time posts 6:25pm sunday ill b on till 10pm tonight
miss_pixie
New Member
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I had a beautiful golden nugget pleco, who did hardly anything during the day but overnight you could hear him splashing away. One night i woke up around 3am, and heard something strange- like a kid sucking the end of a milkshake, so i get up turn on the tank light, and can't see the plec, so i look on top pf the filter - he's not there.
so i panic, and then think perhaps he got through the hole for the wires - 4cm wide 2 cam tall. And there he was down the back of the tank! eventually managed to persuade him out the 2cm gap between wall and tank and onto a book so i could put him in the tank (he just wriggled in my hand to much for me to pick him up)
sad to say the plec tried this trick once more at the beginning of the summer unfortunatly i wasn't there and my dad found him in the morning still alive, but he died shortly after and had developed a strange scum on his scales
i also had a harliquin mysteriously vanish, only to find the very crisp remains of one down the back of the unit the tank was standing on a year later!
unfortunatly i also witnessed a rather sad event in a baby dalmation lyre tail mollies life when it was eaten whole by a rummy nosed tetra! only a day old! the old rummy looked rater satisfied after that!
so i panic, and then think perhaps he got through the hole for the wires - 4cm wide 2 cam tall. And there he was down the back of the tank! eventually managed to persuade him out the 2cm gap between wall and tank and onto a book so i could put him in the tank (he just wriggled in my hand to much for me to pick him up)
sad to say the plec tried this trick once more at the beginning of the summer unfortunatly i wasn't there and my dad found him in the morning still alive, but he died shortly after and had developed a strange scum on his scales
i also had a harliquin mysteriously vanish, only to find the very crisp remains of one down the back of the unit the tank was standing on a year later!
unfortunatly i also witnessed a rather sad event in a baby dalmation lyre tail mollies life when it was eaten whole by a rummy nosed tetra! only a day old! the old rummy looked rater satisfied after that!
fatboybaby
Fish Fanatic
hmm, i keep finding the occasional crispy harlequin too - i wonder if they have slight suicidal tendencies?
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