64 replies to this topic

[malawiman85]

I recently moved a few tanks. I took the opportunity to give them a bit of a clean out.

I have fired up the tanks and chucked in some fish... This morning I noticed that the fish in one of my tanks were looking a bit frazzled... Hard to describe it but they just didnt look comfortable.

I did a 30% water change before work and bolted out the door.

When I got home i did some testing, pH was off the scale to the LOW end which freaked me out (Normally 8.2) so I tested with the low range pH kit and discovered my pH was 6.6...

Im thinking I must have forgotten to rinse out the tank after cleaning it with white vinegar... God damned rookie mistake!

 

It got me wondering what stupid mistakes others have made... So lets hear it whats the dumbest mistakes you have made keeping fish?

[JackMack]

Going to chain stores.. Two lots of white spot later and I've wised up/only go through sponsors or local breeders.

[Bombshocked]

ooooh thats a classic ive done the white vinegar killed 3 guppys hahaa

 

1 Batch Of White Spot And 1 Batch Of 7x Neons Dying On The 4.6 minute Drive Home I Have Also Learnt The City Farmers Lesson

 

My Mate Once Told Me He Put The Whole Air Pump In The Tank Once It Sunk And Didnt Blow Bubbles He Called Me And After Explaining How It Worked He Realised It Was Ment To Have The Long Thin Tube Attached With The Yellow Rock On The End

[smirq]

+1 for CS. I went from "hey cheap neons" to " hey dead neons" in about 3 days.
Most stupid thing tho is recent. Emptied 4 x 2 to around 15% water, leaving fish and gravel in before swinging an old pine stand 90 degrees to make room for the aircon outlet to the window. 
"legs look a slightly diagonal"
"All good, it's against the wall, that'll hold it up."
Replaced water. 24 hours later...
"whats that trickling water sound?"
Cracked the back glass. Which was leaning against the wall. Good excuse for a new cabinet and slightly larger aquarium though 
Unfortunately lost 4 fish to the heatwave before the replacement tank was delivered (they we're slumming it it a plastic bin hooked up to a canister filter on the back veranda for about a week).

[fuggers]

did u use the old water or cycle the tank and filters before adding the fish?

[smirq]

Used as much old water as I could, probably around 150L. Kept old filters seeded. Transition to their new home was without casualty.

[Furnix]

cleaned a canister out with tap water... didnt loose any fish but BIG ammonia spike! lucky daily water changes helped!

[Luke134]

I mixed up my tsp and tbsp, ended up adding 3 tablespoons of flourish instead of 3 teaspoons before I went on a study tour with uni. You would not believe how fast the algae grew, I came back 2 weeks later to find hair algae stretching from one end of the tank (5ft) to the other!

[Just Drive]

Didn't quarantine new angel fish, nasty episode with fin rot.

[Holmzy]

Done the good old forgot the tap water conditioner after doing a late night water change only to remember in bed jump up scream shit woke the girlfriend she thought someone died haha to find me at my fish tank.called me a few names then went back to bed.

[werdna]

Guys please stop mentioning names of stores.
I have edited the top posts.

Negative feedback is against t&c's, especially when it comes to large corporations who are hell bent on suing anything said that sounds remotely like slander.

Cheers

Andrew

[bigjohnnofish]

they cant sue you for slander if its the truth and you can prove it in a court of law....

 

anyway its a forum and the user posting is only giving his personal opinion.... and thats it - its not gods word given to the world to devour!!! or the opinion of the PCS... just one person giving his personal experience...

 

but regardless if its in the t&c's then we need to abide by them... even if you dont have a spare day to read them and decipher them.... a lot of things are left in the grey area unfortunately - in my opinion K.I.S.S. theory needs to be applied and right and wrong needs to be as simple as black and white....

 

the biggest drawback in not being able to give negative feedback is.... it leads people to believe if you dont get positive feedback then your as good as having negative feedback...

 

to date no-one has been successfully sued for any comment (good or bad) on facebook - even monsanto hasnt successfully been able to sue anybody... nor has the president of the USA.... so your local chain pet store has no stuffing chance... (nice substitution of word by pcs committee as i couldnt think of a suitable world in front of chance ) 

occasionally when bagging fish i forget to add water in it before the first fish goes into the bag

 

and i still sometimes forget not to put eggs and tiny fry in a frysaver in a tank with goldfish or cichlids... you wonder where your eggs/fry disappeared to the next day....until you see the fish sucking at the frysaver slots (which allow water to flow in/out of the frysaver..... and eggs/fry too!!! )

Edited by bigjohnnofish, 21 December 2013 - 01:19 AM.

[werdna]

Johnno, I agree the risk is minimal.

However the club has very limited resources. How hard do you think it would be to bankrupt us?

We would be out of cask well before anything is proven in court. That's the point.

The T&Cs are less than 2 pages long. Much less than some newspaper articles that you have posted...

 

And thank you for the kind comment re the word substitution. I wrote that one 

 

Anyway, back on topic, I always forget one way air valves on my airpump, and some how always mount below the tanks...

[sandgroper]

 I sometimes forget to stock the beer fridge,   then when doing a water change i go to grab a coldy and i end up in tears.  

p.s But i remembered tonight   

Edited by sandgroper, 21 December 2013 - 09:44 PM.

[bigjohnnofish]

is the pcs registered as an association - or a not for profit organisation... there are certain legal rights attached to them that prevent you from losing any personal wealth...

 

you can sue anyone for anything you want . its all about whether or not you'll win.... and if the person/people you sue have any money..... in this case lets say the pcs is 5 grand in the green and gets sued.... you'll burn up that 5 grand in legal costs before the person/people suing will get any money... ok pcs is declared bankrupt and shuts down... tomorrow you start up another club and you call it THE pcs.... and away you go again... companies and lawyers know this and if you/your company/organisation has very little money theres no point even trying to sue...

[Fox]

Don't know how many times over the years Ive left the hose in the tank filling up and gone to do something else......
Not a good idea!

[tastyfish1980]

Rookie.........years ago now, had (I think) bristlenose fry in with a salmon tail catfish. Thinking "well it`s a catfish too", so only eats algae. Dohh.no more fry!

 

Cleaning out external cannisters and forgetting to plug them back in. Two days later......what tha!

[werdna]

Johnno. There is no point risking going through all that when we can simply not mention shop names.
And IMO service, range and quality is fairly similar at nearly all chain stores.
If you want to keep discussing it either do by pm or start another thread, please stop hijacking this one.

I did that one to my AP tank last week Az, but started to fill in the morning before I left to work and forgot to set the timer...

[JackMack]

Yesterday whilst swapping over canisters on my peppermint tank I forgot to put the strainer back on the intake..
Guess what I woke up to lodged in the intake..

Absolutely spewing.

Jackson.

[Holmzy]

Yesterday whilst swapping over canisters on my peppermint tank I forgot to put the strainer back on the intake..
Guess what I woke up to lodged in the intake..
Absolutely spewing.
Jackson.

Ouch man ! you learn quick hey

Edited by Holmzy, 22 December 2013 - 09:13 PM.