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Ok last week i spent the whole week in chat I sucked in a mouthfull of water when doing a water change was throwing up violently and had a pretty high temperature all week... still not 100% atm...

now heres where you come in, post your fish related accidents whether you fell into a tank *cough* sin *cough* or got attacked by one of your dearly beloved pet. Theres alot we can learn from each others mistakes about saftey and the like without having to experiance them yourself if not then it can give us all a good laugh

Things i have learned

1.Dont trust a lionfish to stay away from your hand

2.Never handfeed a mantis

3.Never put your hand in a morays hideout

4.Only touch the impellor when the pump is off!!! cant stress that enough

5. Dont lick discus

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Fortunately nothing bad has happened to me fish/or tank related. I do have to ask though, what is up with the "dont lick a discus"?

-Just curious-

Sorry to hear about your accident with slurping up some aquarium water, was it tasty?

Man... what do you have in YOUR water? I've gotten a taste of fish water before, but never had any problems resulting from it besides an odd ghost taste in my mouth and the recurring urge to spit it out.

Other than that....
- Don't balance a light strip diagonally across the tank while doing tank maintenance after removing glass cover for cleaning. You WILL bump into it and drop it into the tank. (Shorted out the screw-in compact fluorescent, but no other damage).

- Be careful when netting fish. Either cover the net with a hand or make sure they can't jump out of it in some way. My sister had two swordtails that I nick-named Carpet and Floor because they hopped out of the net while being removed from the LFS bag.

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of right now.

I gotta ask about the discus thing, too...

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

1) Dont ever forget to wash your hands after cleaning up a disgustingly filthy alligator snapping turtle tank, and definately dont eat a cornish pasty immediately after. Off sick for 19 days, passing blood unable to keep food down for more than 30 minutes, hallucinating, serious stomach pain,lost nearly 2 stone. Stomach e to ulcers and gastritis to this day. Repeat after me: amoebic dysentary is baaaaad.

2) dont waggle your finger in a public aquaria fishtank age 6 unless you want your finger tip broken by a pacu.

3) Dont do weights in the same room as a 55 gallon fishtank, and if you must, have a huge bucket and a vacccum cleaner that sucks up water. Definately dont knock a 4 inch piece of glass from the bottom right corner.

4) Dont assume that 120 gallon tanks are big enough when you rescue abandoned unidentified species of asian river barb

4) Dont assume that blue acaras are peaceful enough for community. Theres a reason they were 50 p each

5) Dont put terramycin in a pond with 30 carp in it. (actually my dads mistake)

6) A lesson long since learned,ever since my childhood when dealing with fungus, finrot, columnaris, and whitespot dont hang about, treat same day. Dont um and ah about it, and never ask anyone else what you should do, just scream rage , and get the parents to get the treatments NOW, or steal the money and go get it yourself .

7) Realise early on that people in zoos and animal rescues, colleges, and most definately fish shops dont always know what theyre doing, are often full of BS, and do the reading yourself so that you can tell the difference.Beware false experts, and that goes for anything written on the internet too. Rumours and BS kill fish. Wish I had a 34 year old me telling the 6 year old me what to do!

8) Always help fish, and people, no matter how obdurate they might be. Whenever I have stood back and not used my knowledge forcefully enough, animals have died. Have faith in your abilities, and when you know something is a definate provable fact, dont ever be talked down. A knowledgable person will talk you through the reasoning, and you can work out conflicts. Beware those that walk away too easily or drop into petty arguing. Arrogance is the biggest fault of the keeper and together with ignorance kills just about any animal.

9) ...and when seeing electrical equipment in water and the fish not being electrocuted, dont assume that you wont be. Gave myself a twitch that lasted a week.

10) oh yes, and dont handfeed arowana.Unless you want a finger turned 180 degrees in its socket.


11) ..and when starting a syphon in your mouth in a LFS, spit any water out immediately, even if a customer talks to you, don't think "oh what the hell" and swallow it. That scotch egg you had for lunch and tankwater dont mix too well. A fish department that smell of farts doesnt attract customers, but it is nice and quiet

12) When wishing to empty a 500 gallon pond, use a bucket, don't just try to tip it, unless you want to end up in traction.

14) Dont forget to turn aquarium heaters off before performing a 50% emergency water change. Thats like the 8th time now. Crack , poof, bzzzzt.

15) ..and when scraping algae off the sides of a five foot tub, remember that your arm only does about 3-4 feet and that if you reach too far you will dunk your head in the water and look completely stupid. Blanketweed in the hair is an interesting look, plus I can honestly say I never thought id get infusoria actually in one of my ears.


which just goes to show, never do as I do, just do as I say

A fish department that smell of farts doesnt attract customers, but it is nice and quiet

LHG you crack me up best laugh i've had in a while

Dont lick discus

Alex Not sure what to say to that maybe Huh ???

Heres a couple of the many things I've learned both from FP and personally:
1. Dont get carried away with Gravel Vac's, buckets do overfow .
2. Get a net thats bigger than your fish .
3. White Water in a new tank is a bacteria bloom , it will go away in time !!!( gotta keep telling myself that ).
4. Don't leave the protector off the filter intake , fish are curious as cats .

That will do for the moment , Alex sorry about chat tonite had to take a phone call .

Garry

Lol and the last thing, which even at my age I forget, is when at a zoo with a really cool fish, dont dink your head on the glass when trying to get a closer look, and on a related topic, when getting macro pics of fish, dont dink the camera into the glass and consequently into your eyeball.

All I can add at this juncture of my young fishkeeping career is give the ich meds time to get all the ich out of your tank before you begin to re-stock your fish. And, of you ask for advice on the FP website and people like sham and git respond with their opinions, it might be wise to do what they say!

git, you do crack me up... you've had some real adventures over the years!

Ya'll should know me, got me some melafix treated tap water in the mouth, phew, felt a little icky but I think thats just my overthinking on what the hell could have been in the water XD

1. Never use a sponge unless it came from a source you trust. And under no circumstances use one from a dollar store....(Killed a tank full of fish with that one last year.)

2. Never let your GF watch a bucket will draining a tank into it. while you slip off to the Bathroom.



And uh Alex? "Don't lick a Discus"? you have got to explain that one.

mts.gif" border="0"> I vote do you?
My Tanks at Photobucket

lol some of those are quite funny

1. dont put weed down the kitchen sink (will not stop growing down in the U bend)

2. When a fish looks died some times its not!

3. Make sure electrical items are fully unpluged!

also with the dont lick Discus that one will have to be explained

Dont lick discus

What the heck is that all about?

NEVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LISTEN TO A PECTO/PETSMART/WALMART EMPLOYEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

Shadow-

Not necessarily, some are quite knowledgeable

Depends on the store/employee, and situation.

Fine.

Quiz them first like I do.

Yup. I'm that crazy Twilight/animal/music girl

All i have to say is make sure when you transport tanks, YOU transport them and not others. As I found out i had no control when i moved and found my tank was in several pieces in my uncles car.



Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

they dont taste all that great still a free meals a free meal

got another one for you guys...

dont fall off ladders fell at work today was lucky i didnt clean up any tanks with me

note: ground = hard = back pain

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Alex

DUH!!

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

So, by the transitive property, ground = back pain.

I'll throw in my boneheaded mistake. Don't pick up a doradid, or, if you must, make sure you don't get a finger lodged behind one of their pectoral fins unless you want to be taken to your knees by a 3 inch fish. I've never been so owned by an animal so small.

Wish I had a 34 year old me telling the 6 year old me what to do!

You don't think your 34 year old self would make your 6 year old self cry, LHG?

Joe Potato

If you know you're allergic to tetracycline antibiotics, don't assume that you'll be fine sprinkling it into your fishes' tank. A whole week of a horrible photosensitive rash and not being able to let any part of my arms and hands get into contact with sunlight without screaming in pain soon taught me that one!



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I like to think that whoever designed marine life was thinking of it as basically an entertainment medium. That would explain some of the things down there, some of the unearthly biological contraptions

Don't walk off while the 5g bucket is filling in the bathroom.

I thought I'd be smart and shove the water change tube onto the tapwater filter I was using and put the other end in the bucket. Hey look I don't have to hold the bucket up to the faucet anymore. 5hours later.... It took 2 weeks to dry the hallyway carpet and walls.

1) Dont ever forget to wash your hands after cleaning up a disgustingly filthy alligator snapping turtle tank, and definately dont eat a cornish pasty immediately after. Off sick for 19 days, passing blood unable to keep food down for more than 30 minutes, hallucinating, serious stomach pain,lost nearly 2 stone. Stomach e to ulcers and gastritis to this day. Repeat after me: amoebic dysentary is baaaaad.

I found your problem and bolded it, LHG. Those things are dangerous.

Joe Potato