Kids. . . gotta love 'em. . .

MammaDuck · 08-04-2003, 11:54 AM

OK, here it goes. . . my almost three year old daughter decided that she wanted the "Pretty pink" bottle that housed my blood worms to put make a home for her "pet rock."

Since the bottle was 3/4 full, she just dumped the contents into my 90 gal tank.

Short of kicking my skimmer into high gear, there isn't much I can do to get the excess food out. Since the blood worms are nearly invisible once in the tank, I can't even feel that I am effectively vacuuming out the detrius. Does anyone have any other helpful suggestions. . . other than crossing my fingers and hoping for the best

Would a water change at this point help, or should I wait until tomorrow-- after everything starts to break down??

Ray1214 · 08-04-2003, 12:02 PM

I am not sure how much is in a "Pretty Pink " bottle, but I am assuming that your critters are having a field day with the extra food. I would check your nitrates and ammonia levels. Ammonia would indicate that the food was decaying and a water change may be in order but I would think that the bacteria would adjust to the extra load. It may be bad for the fish but I think your bed will make up for it. (Thank goodness it is a 90 gal). Nitrates would just mean that the bacteria is converting the waste fine but could jump up due to the jump in ammonia. That would just mean a small water change to get rid of the nitrates.
I am not an expert by any means, and just trying to think it through.

Ray

Alice · 08-04-2003, 12:20 PM

Ack Jenn!

I was always afraid of something like that happening when the kids were little...food.. or pennies..or soap to "see the bubbles" so I had cabinet latches on the stand and canopy on the big tank as well as put the food away out of sight and out of mind. I know they *knew* they weren't supposed to touch it but my kids tended to give in to temptation too often

Like Ray, not knowing how big the bottle is, you might want to take the wait and see approach but I'd keep a close eye on it and have water and carbon at the ready. Watch the skimmer too and make sure you use a baster to get the stuff caught in the rocks so you can syphon it out with the water change.

I also don't know what kind of load you are carrying in your tank. If it were my tank, I'd probably just gear up and do the water change anyway. Water change is easier than battling hair algae or cyano

Alice

MammaDuck · 08-04-2003, 12:49 PM

hehe. . . the bottle was thankfully only a .28 oz bottle, 8g. Considering that when I was about her age my sister and I gave the fish a "bath" with nearly an entire bottle of Jirmak shampoo-- and conditioner

I guess, I can consider myself very lucky!

I am hoping that this won't be a fatal event. Luckily it looks like *most* of the contents were poured onto the glass piece that bridges the middle of the tank. I will monitor the ammonia and nitrate levels and do water changes as needed. We've had a long discussion about feeding mommy's fish. I had the food on a shelf that even I needed a stool to reach, but I'd swear the kids are half monkey-- they climb up everything when not being closely watched!!

This will be a learning exerience for all I guess. . .

MammaDuck · 08-04-2003, 02:33 PM

This is the best news I've had all day!!. . . blood worms FLOAT!!

After a few hours with my net and algae scraper, I was able to successfully "skim" out most of the excess food!

Hopefully what I couldn't net will be taken care of by the fish/skimmer/DSB. . . even so, I will closely monitor my water parameters and keep my fingers crossed!

Ray1214 · 08-04-2003, 02:54 PM

sounds like emergency averted, but your critters got a treat.

RAy

MammaDuck · 08-04-2003, 04:42 PM

They be fat and happy, that's for sure! Hopefully there won't be too many negative side effects!

Alice · 08-05-2003, 01:36 PM

That's good news, Jenn!

LOL about the fish "bath"; I'll bet your Mom was fit to be tied. My sis always wanted to give everything a bath when were were kids-we caught her giving the kittens a bath in the horse trough, giving a 4-week old sheltie pup a bath in the toilet (it almost drowned!) but the topper was when she gave the fire bellied newts I kept in a fish bowl a bath in the sink- with very *hot* water and soap. Sigh. Kids!

RobinsonFam1 · 08-05-2003, 02:42 PM

my 3 year old wanted to feed the 29 gal reef with a whole quart of freeze dried brine. you want to talk about a panicky, dead rotten smelling, looking mess. man that was bad.

by the way, that little incident killed everything in the tank

its over now and the tank is great!

brandon & kelly