OMG!! How STUPID can I be????

[Jarrod]

I feel soooooooooooo DAMN stupid!! While doing a wc in my Sunshines in their 55 gal tank I was siphoning the water out with the python and sitting here in front of my puter...and I apparently wasn't paying attention to the water leverl.....next time I looked at the tank my poor fish had maybe an inch or so of water for them to be in!....talk about a MAD scramble on my part!!Luckily I caught it before the tank was totally empty...I normally do wc's of about 90% daily but this time I think I overshot my mark!!...they are all doing good on the refill and don't see any problems as of yet....but damn I feel so stupid!
Jarrod

[Ryan]

As long as there was enough water to cover them, they will be fine. One member here (was it Willie?) used to drain the tanks completely and the fish would lay on the bottom before he started to refill. He posted some pretty cool pictures. It was routine for the fish and they just laid there :)

Ryan

[lhforbes12]

George,
Take a look at some of Willie's pictures, he does that on purpose. I bet there isn't more than 1/4" when he's done. Don't worry about it, they'll be fine.

Larry

btw I once did the exact same thing, you aren't alone

[used2bBubbles]

OMG!! How STUPID can I be???? Hey, George, pythons can make idiots of a lot of people! I've done just the opposite: while refilling my aging tank I'm reading posts here and suddenly I hear this dripping sound. ARGHHHHHH!!!! Water is flowing over the top of my tank and onto the carpet!!!

Those things tend to let our brains chill out too much....:(

Kathi

And yes, a friend of mine does her water changes that way, too. Drains the water down to where the discus are lying on their sides.

[Dissident]

Oh thats not bad. Last week I was doing a WC on my 55gal and was watching a movie.
Whe It was done I asked my GF to stop the syphon so she took the end that the water came out of and laid it over the stand.
Needless to say the syphon hose fell off the stand and syphoned all but 4" of water onto the floor! She was almost in tears I was laughing because I have done similiar before, more to the effect of forgetting I was filling a tank though.

[RichieE]

I can only do 1 or 2 things in the fishroom at a time if I am filling tanks. Any more than that I get a flood every time. Tanks definately fill faster when your not lookin! Same with draining I guess.

[Ryan]

I usually forget when I'm refilling. A couple times while reading Simply last week I flooded my 55 gallon. Glad I have wood floors. It makes vacuuming up water easy.

Ryan

[Green Country Discus]

Been there, done that, don't feel like the lone ranger ;) . We have several tanks with drains T'ed to our WC drain line that occasionally get left open. Oops, big change if is not caught quick. We do make sure all our heaters are below any possible low water mark. These accidents happen and the end result is happy Discus with a big change :D .

[Jarrod]

All I can say is I was shocked by my lack of attention...the very LAST thing I would ever want to do is to cause any distress to my "kids" I figure though they weren't left "HI and DRY" and still have enough water to float in on their sides they should be okay...I just felt so dumb and negligent about it tho... I have never before taken the water level down that low unless I was completely draining the tank and then that with no fish in it....Thanks folks of not slamming me or putting me down for doing it and letting it happen...
Jarrod

[April]

i do it all the time..the fish lay down..and wait..wonder when shes coming...
i always do a 90 percent wc..and quite often..they have just enough to get a bit of water on their gills.

[Kindredspirit]

aww...Jarrod! Was this your FIRST time dear? Well it wont be your last:D I have done it numerous times and like Ryan I have flooded too! Once i was actually in the tank...well my arms....and I was cleaning and stuff and the Python was STILL taking water out! I thought I pulled that sucker out...but nope! I looked down and well there wasnt much left!


SO........join the crowd!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_15.gif

[Kindredspirit]

wonder when shes coming...




http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_20_90.gif That is soooooooo funny!! I can hear you saying that April!!

[AmberC]

Aww.. I can understand how that would make you feel bad cause it would make me feel bad too Jarrod! I never took it down that far before, but I have come close to overflowing it (knock on wood) and I did forget to prime it once and I was sitting there watching the fish and they started twitching and darting around and I was just starting to think "WHAT is wrong with them!" when I remembered I did not put in the prime!!!! AHH! lol I have a lot of chloramines in my water.. lucky for me prime works quick!

Amber

[Harriett]

I just have to say that the more of you that respond to this thread with flood and drought tales, the more reassured I am...I've done both..several times. I had a little talk with myself after the last time and vowed only to work on one task at a time, which seems to have solved the problem...for the moment...gee, what was I saying?
best regards
Harriett

[Jarrod]

Well it's the first time I did it un intentionally...and you can damn well bet it won't happen again! When I'm filling I tend to keep a weather eye (aka EAGLE EYE) on the tank level I get my tanks down level wise to about 1/2 way and then stop the suction on the pythons and take the paper towels and wipe the entire insides of all my tanks out...and I do this on every wc. Maybe I tend to overdo some things but here's my logic such as it is...if I take a creature into my care then I take it 100% and do everything I can do to care fore it....even the stray tomcat that showed up at my place...that I didn't start feeding myself...lol..blame my spousal unit for that one! But anyway since it was initially fed buy her the first time I took it into my heart and even when Seymour "what I call him" disapears for a day or s at a time while he's off doing his "tomcat" things I go out and call him and think about him and hope he's ok...
Jarrod





aww...Jarrod! Was this your FIRST time dear? Well it wont be your last:D I have done it numerous times and like Ryan I have flooded too! Once i was actually in the tank...well my arms....and I was cleaning and stuff and the Python was STILL taking water out! I thought I pulled that sucker out...but nope! I looked down and well there wasnt much left!


SO........join the crowd!


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_2_15.gif

[pcsb23]

George, thanks for this, brought a smile and a laugh at others "stupidity" Like many before have had my adventures with draining and filling tanks. I often take some of mine down to an inch (or less) of water. End result is happy discus, they just lie there quietly, waiting for loads of nice clean water.

Don't beat yourself up over it, your discus may just benefit from it. :)

Take care,

[jeep]

As long as there was enough water to cover them, they will be fine. One member here (was it Willie?) used to drain the tanks completely and the fish would lay on the bottom before he started to refill. He posted some pretty cool pictures. It was routine for the fish and they just laid there :)

Ryan

:D

[Jarrod]

Well to be honest I normally bring my water levels down to just about an inch or so....but this time I just let it get too far...and I'm thankful I caught it when I did...and they are all doing wonderfully with no problems other than their care takers (hard to say owner since I often wonder who owns who LOL)
mindset and knowing that I ALMOST blew it big time...but thank you ALL for the support and letting me "whine" about my own personal foibles...
Jarrod

[Kindredspirit]

Wow Brian ~ but that just looks wrong on so many levels!! I remember seeing a post/pic of Willie's fish and they were 100% flat...no water ~ gone...zip!

They can last ten min out of water I was told once ~ I wonder....


Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/16/16_4_10.gif

[used2bBubbles]

Just wait until you get a little (a lot) older and you get uncoordinated and as you're filling the tank you do an "oops!" and there is water spraying on the wall, or over the 6-plug outlet! How about a buzz of electricity?????? Yikes! Luckily I snap out of my clumsiness enough so nobody gets zapped...but hey, we're all human and it happens.

[White Worm]

You should be shot Jarrod...How dare you give your fish all that nice clean water!! LOL. They say the first thing to go is........... :D :D :p

[Kindredspirit]

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_11_23.gif <.....kathi:)

[used2bBubbles]

Oh, man, I still can't see your little smilies, Marie!!!! I tried to download that program and my IP won't let me!!!

What is that? A picture of a dumb bell?

[Kindredspirit]

Your IP wont let you:confused:

NO...Itz not a dumbell fool! It is.........nope .. I will tell you tonight when ya call me on the telly!



Marie ~ http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/29/29_4_11.gif