New Start After BLEACH Sabotage

[Dcash88]

Well I though I would share what I have been doing lately and my recent experience in case anyone should ever be in a similar situation.

About 6 months ago I had my 135 FOWLR setup and running smoothly for about a year. It was stocked with a dogface puffer, yellow tang, klein butterfly, 2 ocellaris clowns, blue damsel, and a long spine urchin.

So one day I start the pump for my top off water and then a few minutes later smell chlorine and start to see my puffer biting the glass. So I immediately shut off the pump and then tried to figure out what happened. When the rest of my fish started freaking out too and the smell was definitely coming from the water it was apparent that there was bleach in it. So I pulled out a 30 gallon Tupperware filled it with tap water and salt and netted the fish out. Even though this whole process was less then 5 minutes it was too late for all of the fish.

It turns out that a roommate that my girlfriend and I were living with that had just moved out was unhappy with me and thought that was an appropriate outlet for her anger.

Then 6 months later I have finally began to restock the tank. I used various techniques for getting the bleach out, from pond strength dechlorinator to letting things dry out in the sun. The coraline all turned white and died and I assumed the rock was contaminated anyway so I drained the tank and took the rock out and dried it. Then I took half the rock and put it back in the tank and took good seeded rock from my other tanks to make up the other half. Filled the tank back up and let it run for about 5 months regularly putting dechlorinator in it to draw out any bleach that may leech out of anything.

The 6 month point was about 2 months ago. I started with chocolate chip starfish, pencil urchin, and general starfish although these weren't really a good choice to test the water with I really had no where else to put them due to consolidating tanks and I was confident the water was fine. Then a month later I got a raccoon butterfly, and yesterday I got a saddleback butterfly. So far everything is healthy, nothing has died, and everything seems back on track. I can no longer even tell the difference between the rock that was dead and the seed rock I mixed it with.

Sorry for the novel but it was a lot to explain! So if anyone else ever gets bleached or wipes out there whole tank accidentally
there is hope for rebuilding. I don't think that waiting so long was really necessary but I was nervous after watching how those fish suffered a horrible death and I was contemplating getting out of the hobby.

[cubiclewarrior]

So let me get this correct you were living with 2 chicks!?!

tell us more!

[dotcommer]

I would have called the police and pressed charges against this ex-roomate. What she did is no different than feeding your dog a steak with Cyanide and killing it. Its animal abuse no matter which way you look at it.

[blackthunda77]

Originally Posted by dotcommer

I would have called the police and pressed charges against this ex-roomate. What she did is no different than feeding your dog a steak with Cyanide and killing it. Its animal abuse no matter which way you look at it.

+1, but PROVING that shes the one that did it, unless she confessed you have proof like a email or text, may have been difficult.

[dkeller_nc]

I'll add to this thread if someone else comes across it while researching recovery from a similar disaster (let's hope not).

Commercial chlorine bleach available to consumers is composed of about 5% sodium hypochlorite and about 0.05% Sodium Hydroxide. So getting rid of it in gravel, rocks, or other equipment is relatively straightforward - all that is required is sufficient rinsing. This can be accomplished by placing the items to be de-contaminated in a trash barrel, filling it with either tap water or RODI, letting it soak for an hour or so, then draining it and re-filling it. Do this 3 times total, and you've reduced the contaminating chemicals to virtually nil.

If you want to be really, really sure, fill the barrel with tap water (not RODI - that will give you false indication) after the above treatment, and test the pH. If it's less than about 9, you've succeeded in getting rid of the contaminants.

And, by the way - your nose is considerably more sensitive than any chemical test readily available to consumers for the presence of chlorine bleach, so if it no longer smells like bleach, then there's little to no bleach remaining.

[worm5406]

WOW sorry for your loss and very happy to see you did not give up.

[Potsy]

I recall reading a thread a while back featuring a similar scenario. If I can recall, anything killed in the tank would be treated as damage to private property, and not animal cruelty.

+1 with the bleach advice. It's quite easy to remove from rock, especially with a tiny pinch of sodium thiosulphate.

[Eric45]

I once accidently introduced some bleach after using it to clean a reactor. The fish immediately began to react badly. All I did was put in a few drops of dechlorinator I happened to have around and five minutes later they were fine. Of course it was lot less than you probably had to deal with.

[Jamey1010]

The other one was a guy's boy (I think step-son) got mad at him and poured bleach in his tanks..

I never heard his outcome maybe he's in prison for what he did after he found the kid

[Dcash88]

Lol yes I actually still live with my girlfriend and another girl but it's not as great as you might think, we just rent out one of the rooms to help pay for stuff.

Yeah like everyone already stated, the police said it would be criminal damage instead of animal cruelty because they dont have any laws that include fish. I agree it should be animal abuse especially after watching how they suffered. The evidence thing sucks because we were the only people in the house so it was obvious she did it but no real evidence.

Good info on getting the bleach out, hope I will never need to use it though! Right when it happened I was just panicing and not really thinking clearly, I think dechlorinator would have been the best immediate course of action too.

Karma actually played out pretty quickly because right before this happened she went to an out of state wedding and apparently hooked up with someone there, then when she got back he wouldn't answer her calls. Then after she moved out she found out she was pregnant from him and he wants nothing to do with it.

Thanks for all the support
Daniel

[ddropski]

you reap what you sow... lol

[peasofme]

sounds like a future serial killer

[Kyle918]

Damn dude. That is nuts!! I remember reading about this though months ago and it is still just as shocking to read now. I am glad that you have recovered though. Your fish are beautiful. Congrats!!

[Siebo]

Glad you recovered! I know a few people whose ex-wife did the bleach stunt with total loss.

[Rumjahn]

So what did you do to **** off the ex-roommate? I want to hear THAT story!

[BrianB421]

I feel for you man! Glad to hear everything is back up and running. The new set up looks great!

My buddy's ex tried to break his 90gal bow front corner tank (acrylic) with her high heel after they finished fighting. The story of him coming in the room to an exhausted ex with mascara running down her face holding a broken high heel shoe as she sits there screaming at the tank to break more than makes up for the dings in it... Angry lovers needs to be added to the list of tank crashes.

[reefergeorge]

Wow, I have had two exes threaten to do that, but never did. That's just cold.

[djsmallz]

Sorry to hear, but glad up didn't give up. Although hard to prove it criminally but you could take it to small claims court were it would be much easier to stack the deck in your favor just a thought.

[Dcash88]

Runjahn - its really not much of a story. My gf had the flu and was freezing so I put the heat up to 74 and went back in the bedroom. Then I heard the roomate go out and put it back down to 72. So I went out and put it back up and told her the situation, but even with the flu it was unacceptable to her. She said she doesn't want to pay extra to have the heat anything above 72 because that would be absurd. I said well its just one night and I'll give you 10 bucks that will more than cover it, but this still wasn't good enough. At this point my patience was up and I told her that its staying on 74 tonight and it's not her house so if she doesn't like it leave. Then she told us she was leaving the next day lol.

Brianb421 - now I wish I had acrylic just in case!

Djsmallz - I hadn't thought about small claims court that's a good idea.

[slapshot]

Just incase this happens again the Cl dissipates very fast. Once you dried the rocks it would have been fine. I once had a very rare strain of ich and had to bleach my tank to get rid of it. Dried the rock, rinsed the tank and started over and all was fine. If I were you I would make sure she knew she put those fish through the worse kind of death. Cl literally burs their lungs to a point where they then suffocate. That was very cruel of her. Sorry you had to go through that!

[Rumjahn]

That chick sounds crazy, and I really don't think telling her about the suffering she caused would have any impact on her whatsoever. However, she might experience some of that pain if you were to dump a ton of chlorine into the air vents of her car, so when she turns it on and the a/c kicks in she would get blasted with chlorine gas. But I would never advocate inflicting such harm on a person, no matter how despicable they might be. It's just fun to think about.

[Decadence]

They wouldn't find the body.

[1SlickFish]

Originally Posted by Jamey1010

The other one was a guy's boy (I think step-son) got mad at him and poured bleach in his tanks..

I never heard his outcome maybe he's in prison for what he did after he found the kid

I know I would be!

Originally Posted by Decadence

They wouldn't find the body.

Good idea, no time involved!