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I just drank water from my dirty fish tank

49K views 67 replies 24 participants last post by  Inga 
#1 ·
Before anyone asks, No it wasn't a college prank or dare. I was cleaning my fish tank. I can't even explain what happened but I got a gulp of water in my mouth and because it was a shock, I swallowed. I then rinsed my mouth out and now I feel like I am going to throw up. I am sure it is mostly mental. What a stupid thing. I get grossed out when the water is on my hands. UGH!!!

I am extra concerned because I just lost a fish. One of my Tiger Barbs passed away after having a very large bloated look. I thought she was pregnant but then took a turn for the worse. She had been acting normal until yesterday morning. Then, last night she died. :-(

I feel like I should drink peroxide or something. Don't worry, I won't but... I just feel gross. Now I can add this to the long line of stupid things to NEVER do again.
 
#3 ·
I use to do tank maintenance when I was in high school and one of the tanks was a 250 gallon built as a cube in the middle of a restaurant's bar area. Due to the bartenders dropping olives into the tank, it acquired a really virulent bacterial problem and I dumped in literally a hundred of dollars of meds. What's the point of this background? The idiots that built the tank had the only access point as a 1X2' panel located 7 feet above the floor, so when I siphoned to the bar sink, using a 1" diameter hose, you can imagine how much of this NASTY water and medication I got force-fed when I forgot how high (in this case too low!) I was on the ladder when I started the siphon by mouth. Given a 3' to 4' head of pressure, I spent more than a moment over the sink "retrieving" the water I swallowed! You certainly have my sympathy!
 
#5 ·
I have been so busy with family stuff that I have not had as much time to be here. :( I miss everyone and the chatting about fish. I am hoping to be back more frequently. I still have way too many Guppies in the 25 and now have a half dozen males in the 60. I also lost a guppy a few days back but am not quite as concerned there as I KNOW that was a birthing issue. Wouldn't you know, there is a new baby in there now to "replace" her. That tends to happen with Guppies. I am glad she only had the one. Still sad to see her go. Again, she was one I thought was super pretty.

DXRST I am so glad that I am not the only one to do such a thing. This too is a large Python so... BIG GULP. Now, why was a stupid enough to swollow any? Ugh!
 
#10 ·
If you think that is bad i swallowed water from my Turtles tank ! Ewwww i nearly threw up !

I was so paranoid that something might happen to me that i google searched to see if something bad was about to happen. . . . well 6 months later im still alive :) Although i dont suck the syphon hose anymore ;-)
 
#11 ·
there is a way to start the syphon with out using your mouth... I hope you know
 
#12 ·
I ave to i was fine it was from a 100 gal. tank so it was a strong pull in the gravel so i got an ill feeling in my stoomache and i got some gaging after but my was grose all of the fish i had had died ( this was over the summer) but affter deth i was still over populated with baby GUPPIE fry i still have them they are almost 1 year they will be a year old in June so still some time so like ya you will gag and maby puke mabey
 
#16 ·
Inga, if you're using a Python why are you sucking on it to start the siphon? Hook it to the sink and turn on the faucet. lol :)

Back in my bucket and hose days I sucked water once....ONCE. lol :lol: I thought I was gonna be sick:vomit:
 
#18 ·
The first time I used my gravel vac, I couldnt figure out how to get it to work without sucking on the hose to start it...and of course I got a big mouth full and swallowed some. For a week later I had myself pysched out thinking I could still taste the evil tank water! I wanted to puke every minute just thinking about it!!

I tell you what though...even though I have still yet to manage to get the damn gravel vac to work by pumping it in and out of the water, I have become a pro at starting the syphon by mouth!! LOL
 
#21 ·
:sick:
at least you didn't get the squirts.
i've drunl a fair bit over the years,and i agree after finding a dead fish,makes
you feel worse,cause they don't half stink when you fish them out.
 
#26 ·
I don't know what it's called, but I do have a backup siphon that is operated by a hand pump in the middle. You just give it 2-5 pumps and it does the rest of the work on it's own. It doesn't hook up to a sink like a python does, but that obviously doesnt make a difference for you. I got it in petco. The only downside is that it is pretty short and probably wont reach your sink, but there may be longer versions available.
 
#33 ·
LOL, it doesn't bother me either. I am usually chewing gum during water changes. Once I nearly sucked a wad of bubble gum into my lungs while getting the siphon going, I had forgot that the gum was in my mouth. :oops:
 
#29 ·
I use my mouth to start the siphon when I do water changes, and often get a little taste of water. Not when I first start, but when I start siphoning the second bucket of water. There's sometimes some water in the hose from the first bucket that I don't notice, and when I start sucking, I get a mouthful of it. It doesn't bother me though... not anymore than drinking water from a stream.
 
#31 ·
OMG! You guys gave me the biggest laugh today. How many fishkeepers have never swallowed fish water? My cats love drinking out of the bucket that is filled with the old water. So I don't worry too much if I get some in my mouth. The physics of siphoning liquieds. Thank goodness that I haven't had as big a swallow as some of you have!
 
#32 ·
Well obviously I am not the only twit that keeps fish. LOL Like I said thank God that I didn't have the thing stuck into the gravel, it was just water. The dead fish didn't stink at all, she must have just died when I found her or shortly before.

Everyone appears happy and healthy in the tank now. There is lively swimming from the Tiger Barbs and Guppies, Blue (the Opeline Gourami) is doing her slow swim under the Pennywort and the Cories are having a field day dancing about on the bottom of the tank. Even Sharky is out in the crowd now. He is afraid of me so he hides in his log most of the time if I am moving about in the room. When I am at my desk he swims around. I swear he sticks his tongue out at me when I am not looking. lol
 
#34 ·
Why would any of you people siphon the water by putting your mouth to the hose. I always fill the siphoning tube with water raise it a little above the tank and before it empties place it back in the tank. That is the way I've always siphoned my water never fails no need to suck on the hose. I would never recommend this to all you siphoning suckers. Talk about loving your pets this is really extreme. I just thought I might add this reply since you have serious intake problems. I hope no one is offended but this is the proper way of siphoning water. Not by sucking into your siphoning tubes. Jeez what are you people thinking that it is not going to go into your mouth's.
 
#35 ·
Ha Ha That is how I usually do it but because I was working on a tank that is just a little too far away, I don't have enough length and can't quite make it work that way. I do that for my other tanks. I normally just drop a large pail under the small far away tank but this one time, I was lazy and didn't. Guess which behavior I will NOT be repeating? I have don't that before and didn't suck in any water. I don't know why the retardation this time but... I have learned my lesson. Oh, and I do not put my mouth on the hose, I wrap my hand around the end and put my mouth on my clean hand. Still, no more. :-?
 
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