KTV Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Around 12:15 - 12:45 this morning - Oct 20 one of my ODNO bulbs over heated and started a fire on the top of my fishtank. Everyone was sleeping and when the smoke alarm started going off it was too late. My canopy had burned through the lights, the glass top on the aquarium had melted and caved into the tank. There was smoke and ash everywhere in the room. The fish were all poisoned and gasping for air. Two aquaclear 500s were melted as well as an Optima air pump. After putting out the fire and clearing the smoke out of the house, I netted all the fish out of the tank and rinsed them off and placed all in a bucket. Initially, it looked like they might have made it.. but the poison eventually got to them. Out of the fish I had in the tank, only 7 survived. The lost - a group of 5 Danios, 2 leopards + 3 zebra. - on dwarf flame gourami - 4 threadfin rainbows - just bought these from riverfront last weekend, beautiful little fish... - my paired Blue Rams - my breeding pair Kribensis and their fry.... :cry: - all 15 neon tetras The lucky ones - a pair of gold gouramis - a dwarf gourami - a clown pleco - a spotted sail-fin pleco - a pair of corydoyas I had to uproot all of the plants that had settled into the substrate and now I'm worried they'll all wilt and melt. I'm not sure what to do right now... I have no one but myself to blame for overdriving my lights from some instructions I found from the internet. I've just lost about 100 dollars worth of fish and 500 dollars worth of equipment but atleast it was not worse. This had the potential to be so much worse. I've changed the water in the tank to new water and placed the surviving fish back into the tank, they have calmed down a bit and I think they'll live through this ordeal. My throat's still sore from inhaling all the smoke and the entire house stinks. I don't think I would ever want to risk my family and my pets' lives ever again. No more "ghetto-rigging" that has the potential to be a fire hazard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. But you are lucky that it was only a fish tank and not the whole house. I hope the fish that are left are still doing ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokey Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Thank you for sharing your expierence, KV. All members should read and learn from this post. Quote>>No more "ghetto-rigging"<<. A person has to be very careful when doing DIY setups. Smokey Personal note: I have been doing DIY / expiermental / this is a good idea, stuff for many, many years. All have the potiental for disaster. Some did!!!!! Some were just bad ideas [ garbage CAN]. And a few actually turned out to be Great Ideas/DIY projects , equipement. Do not give up; just be very, very careful Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpaul Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Sorry to read about your loss... ...and glad there wasn't more extensive loss and damage... David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted October 20, 2004 Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Im sorry to hear that. DIY can be dangerous and sorry for you, u had to find out the hard way. I have a pair of rams at my place i will sell you for 30 bucks if you want. Proven breeders. Got some neons also 5 for 10 bucks i can throw in some plants too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTV Posted October 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2004 Thank you for everyone's comments. It's time to pick up the peices and move on, I'll see how the survivors are doing after work. When I'm ready to restock my fish tank - I'll be sure to ask for the assistance of the members of this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloeclose Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Wow... I am really sorry to hear that!! Thank God no one was hurt or you didn't have more damage to your home!! Thanks for sharing your experience, I'm sure we all can learn a little something from it, I'm just sorry it happened to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garhan Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 Holy, WOW. I am so happy to here no family members were hurt. Fire is a bad thing...As for the tank, fish and plants at least they can be replaced. Loved ones can't. That is so scary. But as commented earlier dudilagance is a must. This is critical. I have hopefully always looked at DIY projects with a safety issue in mind. 2 years ago I built out my basement and because electricity is my only fear in life I had a journeyman come in a change my outlets to GFI's. I used to run power bars and on some tanks I still do. But my fishroom is on GFI outlets. I did this because a friend of mine had a simalar experience but not to your extent. It scared me to be frank. Again as mentioned before on another reply. Dont let this deter you from DIY projects. All said and done it is a major learning curve for you and also for your fellow aquarists by your experience. Thanks for sharing. Keep well. Cheers, Garhan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTV Posted October 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Update: Another Corydoyas bit the bullet. I guess he fought for two days but couldn't fight the poison out of his system. He was just lying on his back this morning when I saw him gasping for air. I made a couple of braces and bought a sheet of glass for the top of the tank. Anyone have any ideas where I can get the rubber/plastic hinge peice that goes in between two sheets of glass to open the one sheet up and down for feeding and stuff? I need hinges about 20" in legth each. Any one with any ideas SAFE lighting ideas for my fish tank? I'm deffinately not going with overdriven flourescent again. Anyone with used compact flourescent fixtures or ballasts they want to sell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABwildrose Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 I am sure glad you and everyone in your house is safe...that could have been a terrible disaster. Best of luck getting everything set back up again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted October 22, 2004 Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 LOL i think chleoclose makes a good point here. "Thank god no one was hurt or you didnt have more damage to your home" LOL we were all worrying about the fish and not KTV and his family. Sorry about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KTV Posted October 22, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2004 Thank you for everyone's concerns. We're all ok. Just a little bit shocked. Thanks to the smoke alarm. Most of my clothes still smell like smoke though. My co-worker though I was having bacon one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albert_dao Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 .. Wow, thats awful. I'm glad you got through that in better shape then your fish. Anyway, to answer your question, I could probably get a hinge for your lid. How long do you need it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freshmike Posted October 23, 2004 Report Share Posted October 23, 2004 Sorry to hear about that...that's crazy. :shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted October 24, 2004 Report Share Posted October 24, 2004 Scary stuff, glad to hear everyone is ok. An excellent reason why one should always keep fresh batteries in your smoke alarms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.