-Twitch-

[x Fish x]

Today, I wake up and... step in a puddle. Naturally, the dog gets blamed. Dog cowers and hides while people yell and call her bad.

But when I fed the girls, I see water collecting along the tank trim. Awha? I dry it off, and think the dog might've bumped it a bit too hard. An hour later there's more water. And later more. I freak out. My tank has cracked! Dear lord, where do the fish go?

"Put 'em in the big tank," says my dad. No! These are MY fish. I spent my Christmas money on them, they're not going into your tank to be picked on and eaten, and probably hide away from me. These are my babies, not just fish.

So I go to empty the tank out and seal whatever crack there might be, hoping to god the fish will live in a bucket all night. My mom suggests a big red bin I had intended long ago for breeding Bettas (thought against it, too much work) so she goes to find that for me. I unplug everything, take the band off from around the filter...

It's soaked.

The power bar is completely wet, dangerous. A damned fire hazard! I unplug that too, and dry it off as best I can. Pick up the filter, stare at it. No cracks, no holes. I take it downstairs to test it in the sink. "It might've backed up, check the sponge." Well, my dad was right. The normally-light-green sponge was black and gloompy. I had to scrub the poor thing to death (I could hear it screaming)

And now all is well in the fish-world.

So glad it wasn't as big as I thought it was. Maybe "DO NOT CLEAN YOUR FILTER MEDIUM!" was misunderstood on my part.

 

[corykitty516]

I clean my medium by rinsing every so often in the tank water I just siphoned off.

So does that mean the tank is OK and it was just a filter thing?

 

[SirMinion]

Glad to hear all is ok now.

Nicely written story too. Very amusing

Does your poor dog get blamed for everything in your house?

 

[x Fish x]

Yep, it was just a filter thing. I've checked several times since washing it around one, and there's been no water anywhere. I also took out the peat moss, which had clumped so badly it was an unidentifiable blob!

Yep, Fly gets blamed for everything. The cat is missing? Fly did it! Something was unplugged? Fly did it! Someone's missing a slipper? Fly did it! She usually does do it anyway, since she's a Border collie and a very active animal, but in the middle of winter our family is more of a hibernating sort. Not good for the dog.

And thanks for your comment on my writing. I intend on going into an English or Journalism course when I go to college and start writing.

 

[ioNightShade]

OMG....There is NO way this happened to you today.

The SAME thing happened to me today as well. I was gone for 3 days for residency interviews and when I came back today, I noticed that the strap to my digital camera was "dripping." After a moment of confusion, I turned on all the lights and realized that my entire dresser was covered in water.

I realized that the entire place was organized--thus, my mom had cleaned my room. First thought? My mom cleaned my 5-gallon acrylic tank with bleach/acetone/windex/whatever (she's always commenting on how dusty/dirty it is) and that the chemicals "cracked" my tank. I just started yelling...got the fish (goldfish and pleco) out asap and put them in a bucket.

Then I took the tank over to the kitchen sink to find the hole/crack. Filled it up and waited over 30 minutes....not a drop. I then had a hunch. Plugged in the filter....it started leaking. I have a Whisper 5 and the filter had gotten so dirty that the pump was pumping more than the filter could "process," so it was dripping out the back.

Cleaned out the filter. Like, x Fish x, all is well. My mom received a humble apology.

What a coincidence,

JT

P.S. The digital camera is working now....whew.

JT