A short tale

Got up early Saturday morning to do my weekly water changes but unfortunately this time I was feeling the effects of an acute tooth ache which began on the Friday. Wasn't really 'with it' to be honest but proceeded anyway as I was going away for a few days with nobody around to attend the fish - so I also decided to do a little filter maintenance while I was at it.

The first 54L tank attended to has a Fluval 2 plus internal filter were the bottom half comes off easily were the sponges are located. Rinsed the sponges lightly in the first bucket of water extracted and proceeded upstairs to empty the bucket down the toilet. To my horror I saw the sponges in their casing crash into the toilet which not only contained water containing chlorine but also a nice sample of urine!! After using every expletive under the sun I rinsed the bucket a few times with normal water before 1/4 filling it again with aquarium water and rinsing the chlorine/urine infested sponges in same. Repeated the process another 3 times to clean the sponges as best I could while thinking of the bacteria cultures all the time. Reassembled the filter and topped up the tank with fresh water expecting the worst.

Headed off for my few days anyway and and came back Tuesday afternoon after a torturous visit to the dentist earlier on. Expected a tank full of dead fish, but alas, all was well, not one dead fish which also includes a few fry only a couple of months young. Did my readings and all was well - dont't really know how - possibly the mature water contained in the tank and also not feeding them for 3 days.

If you have a hangover/headache/toothache, don't do water changes!

Dave

DJK wrote:

If you have a hangover/headache/toothache, don't do water changes!

Dave

or be sure to flush the toilet

The bacteria probably had a good feed off all of the Ammonia in the jacks

If it's yellow let it mellow;
If it's brown flush it down.
If it's got whole carrots, then stop drinking.

Yeah, thanks for the comments guys. I've never doubted yous. Thanks to all!!

Dave

How's the toothache?
Hope it's not an abscess...they are pain beyond pain.

igmillichip wrote:

How's the toothache?
Hope it's not an abscess...they are pain beyond pain.

Thanks for the concern Ian. It's an abscess alright and am taking Amoxicillin for same. It's doing it's job perfectly so no real worries. Nice of you Ian.

Dave

I'm only glad I got your used filter a couple of weeks ago, lol.