I murdered my swordtail

[HeatherSweetness]

I was siphoning the gravel and changing water last night...I turned my head for one second to check the hose was in the bucket...and I heard a *thump/crunch*...My swordtail got sucked into the tube,bent completely in half and went all the way thru the tube and died 10 minutes later.
I'm having a hard time living with that sound I heard when he got sucked in...such a horrible sound.

I feel so bad.

 

[diVer]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I almost did the same thing to an ots last night.

 

[staredecisis]

Oh my, that is terrible. I'm sorry

Reminds me of the time I found my dwarf puffer stuck in the filter siphon, his whole body was crunched and his eyes were bugged out... No idea if he died and got sucked up, or if he got sucked up and died but it haunted me.

Fish accidents are awful. Someone posted awhile back that one of their fish jumped out of the aquarium and the guy got freaked out and accidentally stepped on it trying to rescue it.

 

[babyfish]

I use a wine brewers syphon tube,it's only about a quarter of an inch wide,
takes a bit longer to do the tank but most adult fish will swim away from the pipe,
they also come with a hard plastic tube which makes it easier to get in far corners.

 

[nightlife20]

not a guy it was a girl me


sorry to hear that heather... its the most trumatic part of fish keepin... killin ur own pets by accident...


((hugs))

 

[guppygirly]

So sorry to hear about your fish Heather. I live in fear of sucking mine up...

 

[rsz]

I'm really sorry Heather, it must of been awful. It's definitely what I'm most scared of doing when I siphon

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Sorry for what happened. I hope it never happens to me.

Which type/size syphon were you using, by the way?

 

[HeatherSweetness]

The tube on it is about 9 inches long and about 2 inches wide. The drain tube is about 1/2 an inch wide. That's why when he went into the drain tube it made that horrible sound.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Oh. It must have been pretty strong. Sorry.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Sorry to read that HS. I imagine it was very unpleasent. I will be sure not to do something similar.

 

[silver]

I can't believe that happened......that siphon you have must be POWERFUL.
My siphon would never do that because it's not that powerful, I guess! Even when my snails get caught in the big part, they are too heavy and just float back down to the gravel. My siphon only sucks up debris, food and waste....anything else is way too heavy. I couldn't suck up a fish if I was trying......not that I have

I'm sorry that happened. They shouldn't make siphons that strong....I wonder why certain ones are different than others. The way you describe it it's exactly like mine to a " T ". My drain tube part is about 6 ft. long.

I'm still shocked that a swordtail could be sucked up one.

sorry

Silver

 

[Sorrell]

When I was little I had an African Clawed Frog that fell into the garbage disposal, it wasn't running, but the blades still sliced him up and he died.
Accidents are so horrible, but I guess we have to remember that they are just accidents.

 

[bittersweet]

umm well I dont know how much this will make you feel better, but I did something worse in my oprnion that I still cant live down. Its not about fish but my parrot Angel..I was vaccuming his cage out on the bottom and he insisted on attacking the end of the hose, so i figured id stop and just take him out, well when taking the hose outta the cage he went right for it and *foomp* got his head sucked in the vaccum.. I turned it off right away and felt soooooo terrible. He was absolutley fine, and still is alive til this day (3 years later) but i still remember the sound it made when he almost went up. now I know better, and still feel horrible abou the little guy..ah sorry for the long story I'm sorry about your loss..but dont beat yoruself up over it because from this entry you see that accidents just happen

 

[juliethegr8t]

Just wanted to let you know, a few months ago I sucked up my African Dwarf froggie while vaccuuming... he was behind a decoration and I didn't see him. He didn't go all the way through the tube as it is too small..... but it crushed his neck. I cried and cried, felt so awful. I know I didn't wanna hear a whole lot of "oh it's ok it's just an accident", and I don't know if you're the same, but anyways... thought I'd let you know you're not the only one who has been in a similiar situation and felt absolutely awful.