A Disaster in the Home.
So.
Last night around 11:30 I was sitting on the couch, thinking about getting a snack and relaxing while reading HP7 over again.
Then I heard this extremely loud CRACK. Tyler had headphones on that block out all sound, so he heard nothing. I couldn't figure out what would make a crack of that magnitude...it kind of freaked me out. Finally I decided that the screen door must not have been latched all the way, and a gust of wind came by and snapped it shut really hard. Except, I didn't think it was that windy out.
I was still sitting on the couch 10 minutes later when I heard this noise like when the bathtub faucet first comes on, water pouring and splashing with force against a hard surface.
I was thinking it was Mildred, our resident ghostie, making something strange happen. I jumped up and grabbed Tyler. He didn't hear anything at all, of course...
I started to drag him toward the bedroom to check on Rosie, when we stepped in a puddle. A very, very, very large and warm puddle.
We were confused for a minute, until we got enough sense to follow the flow of water to its source.
My 30 gallon aquarium.
We just stood there and stared, not knowing what to do. What do you do when you unexpectedly find loads of fish water gushing across your kitchen? All I could manage to say was "towels, get towels".
Then we thought of the bucket in the hall closet, to dip out the remaining water and toss it out the back door, though it was flowing out the bottom back of tank quickly. Thankfully Rosie was asleep and she stayed asleep through all of our noise...that was a miracle.
The dogs were locked up too, thankfully. The cats were so excited, they watch the fish every day with glee...
I could only find five out of ten of my fish to save. They are now in my ceramic mixing bowl with some of the tank water and one of the plants...I can't figure out where the other fish went. I think Gus cat might have eaten them. He was yowling like a starved man with a steak dinner under his nose.
I still have no idea what happened to the aquarium. I am in complete shock. The back of the tank has a crack from top to bottom diagonally. There was nothing heavy sitting on it, nothing had jarred it, it was just peacefully resting on the solid wood buffet. It wasn't even an old tank, I just got it last year. What would cause thick glass to randomly crack?
When Rosie woke up this morning she started crying when she couldn't find the fish. I had to take her into the back room and show her the ones swimming around in the mixing bowl. She thought that was hilarious. Luckily she didn't notice there were some missing.
I don't know what I am going to do now. I want to get another aquarium, but I am terrified it will crack again like that. What if we'd been out of town or asleep when it happened? All 30 gallons would have completely flooded our little house. As it is, the water filled the drawers of the dresser the tank was sitting on. Lots of important things in there--a drawer of Rosie's art supplies with pictures she'd made me, a drawer of cookbooks, a drawer of my camera supplies and lenses (but not my camera...), a junk drawer, a drawer of stamps and envelopes and so on, a drawer of random household things like screws and tape, and a cabinet with my crock pot and big cooking things like that. Everything, full of dirty aquarium water. I'm not sure if the dresser will survive. It is an antique solid wood buffet, and it had all the paint stripped off so it's naked wood. The fish water soaked into it and made it spongy. I'm sure it's going to smell great when it dries.
Everything that could be salvaged from the dresser is sitting all over my kitchen counters and table, so we have no where to cook at eat. It's all dirty too, with the fish water on it. I mopped the floors clean first thing this morning, so at least we aren't tracking fish crap all over the house. I don't know what to do with all the stuff though, since we can't put it back in the dresser. The fish are still in the mixing bowl too...
I am still totally blown away by the fact that my aquarium is gone. I've spent so much time getting the balance of the water right, testing it over and over, setting it all up, and buying nice fish. I keep staring at the spot where it used to be and doing a double take because it's so empty over there. I kind of want to cry.
Last night around 11:30 I was sitting on the couch, thinking about getting a snack and relaxing while reading HP7 over again.
Then I heard this extremely loud CRACK. Tyler had headphones on that block out all sound, so he heard nothing. I couldn't figure out what would make a crack of that magnitude...it kind of freaked me out. Finally I decided that the screen door must not have been latched all the way, and a gust of wind came by and snapped it shut really hard. Except, I didn't think it was that windy out.
I was still sitting on the couch 10 minutes later when I heard this noise like when the bathtub faucet first comes on, water pouring and splashing with force against a hard surface.
I was thinking it was Mildred, our resident ghostie, making something strange happen. I jumped up and grabbed Tyler. He didn't hear anything at all, of course...
I started to drag him toward the bedroom to check on Rosie, when we stepped in a puddle. A very, very, very large and warm puddle.
We were confused for a minute, until we got enough sense to follow the flow of water to its source.
My 30 gallon aquarium.
We just stood there and stared, not knowing what to do. What do you do when you unexpectedly find loads of fish water gushing across your kitchen? All I could manage to say was "towels, get towels".
Then we thought of the bucket in the hall closet, to dip out the remaining water and toss it out the back door, though it was flowing out the bottom back of tank quickly. Thankfully Rosie was asleep and she stayed asleep through all of our noise...that was a miracle.
The dogs were locked up too, thankfully. The cats were so excited, they watch the fish every day with glee...
I could only find five out of ten of my fish to save. They are now in my ceramic mixing bowl with some of the tank water and one of the plants...I can't figure out where the other fish went. I think Gus cat might have eaten them. He was yowling like a starved man with a steak dinner under his nose.
I still have no idea what happened to the aquarium. I am in complete shock. The back of the tank has a crack from top to bottom diagonally. There was nothing heavy sitting on it, nothing had jarred it, it was just peacefully resting on the solid wood buffet. It wasn't even an old tank, I just got it last year. What would cause thick glass to randomly crack?
When Rosie woke up this morning she started crying when she couldn't find the fish. I had to take her into the back room and show her the ones swimming around in the mixing bowl. She thought that was hilarious. Luckily she didn't notice there were some missing.
I don't know what I am going to do now. I want to get another aquarium, but I am terrified it will crack again like that. What if we'd been out of town or asleep when it happened? All 30 gallons would have completely flooded our little house. As it is, the water filled the drawers of the dresser the tank was sitting on. Lots of important things in there--a drawer of Rosie's art supplies with pictures she'd made me, a drawer of cookbooks, a drawer of my camera supplies and lenses (but not my camera...), a junk drawer, a drawer of stamps and envelopes and so on, a drawer of random household things like screws and tape, and a cabinet with my crock pot and big cooking things like that. Everything, full of dirty aquarium water. I'm not sure if the dresser will survive. It is an antique solid wood buffet, and it had all the paint stripped off so it's naked wood. The fish water soaked into it and made it spongy. I'm sure it's going to smell great when it dries.
Everything that could be salvaged from the dresser is sitting all over my kitchen counters and table, so we have no where to cook at eat. It's all dirty too, with the fish water on it. I mopped the floors clean first thing this morning, so at least we aren't tracking fish crap all over the house. I don't know what to do with all the stuff though, since we can't put it back in the dresser. The fish are still in the mixing bowl too...
I am still totally blown away by the fact that my aquarium is gone. I've spent so much time getting the balance of the water right, testing it over and over, setting it all up, and buying nice fish. I keep staring at the spot where it used to be and doing a double take because it's so empty over there. I kind of want to cry.
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2 comments:
Wow...what a shame...and how weird that this happened with such a new aquarium. Is there some kind of warranty on these things? Maybe the store can offer some explanation for this. I hope you can salvage the stuff that got wet and find a new home for your fish.
I'm sorry you had such a strange thing happen. I can totally understand the chaos from the mess it made, too.
I remember one night when we suddenly heard a loud crash from the kitchen at about 11:30 PM. It turned out that a wooden cabinet we had on the wall had slipped, and the decorative vinegar bottles had fallen to the floor and smashed all over it. Thankfully the mess was minimal and relatively easy to clean up, but the stench was awful. Our house smelled like vinegar for days and since we didn't have a W/D, it took a while to figure out what to do with the soaked towels. Yuck! I never did trust that cabinet again.
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