Hi everyone,

My cousin came over with her young children today, and one of them was fascinated by the tank with Princess in. She was asking questions and pointed to the bottle of water conditioner and wanted to know what it was. I explained, then she was distracted by our cat so I didn't think anything of it. Two hours later, we're sat in the living room and she comes through holding the conditioner bottle. Basically, she'd climbed up to the shelf, got the bottle, then tipped it all in. I changed about half of the water, but I don't know what else to do, Princess has gone rather floppy-looking. Argh! Help, please?

I think someone is trying to tell me that I'm not supposed to be a fish keeper.

oh god. Little bugger. How is princess doing now? If she still looks floppy you.re not gonna make things worse by another big water change. Dilute it as much as possible.

I just don't want to stress her too much by doing too many water changes. She's still kind of floppy but kicking out more, but I'm honestly thinking that she's not going to pull through this. Arrrrggghhhhhh... Off to change a bit more water.

too much tank safe will kill her i think. Dilute it. You really can't do anything worse than whats happening now. For what its worth i have never used tank safe so if she survives don't use it again. Instead fill your buckets up the day before you are doing your water change and use that water instead. Keep me informed please.

I'm just worried now that the water I'm adding isn't right, obv I'm not putting in the conditioner and its not been left out - I just changed another 10% ish, trying to not change the temperature of the tank too much.

keep an eye on her and if in a bit she.s still looking limp you may have to change more. Is your water chlorinated? There's a site for more advise called tropical fish forever forums. They have a forum for problems just like this. Someone there might be able to advise more. Please join. X

I live in a very hard water area, so I think it is, hence why I was making sure to use the conditioner!

chlorine evaporates overnight in buckets too btw. Much safer than putting chemicals in your tank. Have you joined yet? Post in fish emergencies.

Just joined and posted. The verification message took its bloody time.

its been about a year since i joined and they helped me out last week. More knowledgable people on there when they.re signed in. Gonna take a peek.

just do a couple more water changes,she will be fine. if you are worried about the temps then match it with warm water, with the excess conditioner in the water it will make no difference as long as your conditioner bonds heavy metals.

i over dose with water conditioner at every change just to make sure all the chlorine and chloramines (which do not evaporate out as chlorine does) are taken care off, and to ensure all heavy metals are bonded, i have used up to double the dosage when the bottle tipped in one day when i knocked it with my arm while re-filling (i dont leave it next to the tank anymore thats an expensive water change!). i have never had an issue with it. do not stop using tap water conditioner, seriously the chlorine and chloramines will kill off your cycle and affect your fish.

kelly not all areas have those chemicals added to their water. Where i stay doesn.t. Never treated my water with chemicals. Phone your local water board and they'll tell you. I can see you.re in london kelly so yeah i would treat my water too. With princess being in hull i'm pretty sure their water will be chlorine freeish. Biggest worry is fluoride

I think its too late... She's not moved much for a while now. I'm wondering whether she added anything else to the water as well and just hasn't told me after I flipped over the conditioner. My googling reckons that she shouldn't be this... well. Near-dead looking.

whip her out and put her in fresh water. Nothing to lose sweetheart.

I checked on the water company's website, this is the quality report.

Water quality report
Substance Typical value UK/European limit Unit
Calcium 137.0000 - mg Ca/l
Magnesium 5.3925 - mg Mg/l
Residual chlorine - free 0.12 - mg/l Cl2
Residual chlorine - total 0.18 - mg/l Cl2
Coliforms 0 0 no/100ml
E-coli 0 0 no/100ml
Aluminium 6.449 200 µg Al/l
Colour 0.78 20 mg/l Pt/Co Scale
Conductivity 666.62 2500 µS/cm
Fluoride 0.112 1.5 mg F/l
pH (Hydrogen Ion Conc.) 7.20 6.5 - 10.0 pH Units
Iron 8.24 200 µg Fe/l
Manganese 2.12 50 µg Mn/l
Nitrate 44.5005 50 mg NO3/l
Nitrite 0.0093 0.5 mg NO2/l
Sodium 20.33 200 mg Na/l
Turbidity 0.120 4 NTU
Copper 0.0289 2 mg Cu/l
Lead 1.681 25 µg Pb/l

Any help?

crikey where did you find that? To be honest its double dutch to me. If you can find the same info for edinburgh compare them. Hows princess?

i have to say if shes that bad, i would immediately remove her to a smaller tank or even clean bucket with fresh dechlorinated water in it. take the tank apart, empty it, re-fill and dechlorinate water before adding it and put her back in. it may kill your cycle but to be honest, if shes looking that bad then its not fair to leave her in the water shes in. i couldnt watch my fish act like that without doing everything i could to save them. chances are if anything different was added yoru cycle may already be down the pan so to speak.

Just got off the phone about 20 mins ago. In shock so didn't post straight away. ****ing dettol. She sprayed DETTOL in the tank.

I think Princess has died Currently alternating between sad and bloody furious.

got fingers crossed here cos i know how much you.re trying.

remove her from the tank if there's the slightest chance x

I have her in a washing up bowl right now (its only ever been used for moving clothes about so I think its fine to use). She's not moved in a while. Giving her chance though.

and forgive me but thats nasty. Even children know not to do that. I'm really sorry.

She apparently thought that she was helping to clean the tank. I'm not sure how honest she's being, but she seemed genuinely upset when I told her that she's dying. Who knows.

I'm still livid though.

leave her quiet and in the dark and check in an hour or so. Its less stress if its dark.

Chloramine does not evaporate.

Most UK water authorities now use chloramine (ammonia+chlorine)

Gone are the days of letting water sit overnight to allow the chlorine to gas off.

You can safely use 10 * the recommended dose of dechlorinators, it is perfectly safe. Indeed, some fish keepers use it to detoxify nitrites.

Young children & aquariums are a recipe for disaster. It's not their fault, they are naturally inquisitive. I have children & have been through it all before.