But where did the water go?

[Kat]

This morning when I got up, I heard a strange mechanical sort of grinding noise coming from my daughter's bedroom.  She's away on vacation.  I went into her room and realized the noise was coming from her fish tank.  The pump was running, but there was absolutely NO water in the tank.  All four fish were dead.

The sight of the empty tank and dead fish threw me a bit especially since I was barely awake.  The thing is, there was no water anywhere.  The tank sits on a little nightstand.  The floor, walls, baseboards around the nightstand were all dry.  I opened the drawers.  Dry.  Where did the water go?  I unplugged the pump and left the room to sort of regroup.

Not sure why, but I called my husband to see if he could explain what happened--as if he could.  He was upset about the fish dying and our having to tell our ten-year-old her pets were gone.  I was more concerned with figuring out where the heck the water had gone.

After I got off the phone with my husband, I made couple of other phone calls and went to put the coffee on.  I decided to go look again to see if I could figure out where the water had gone.  I noticed that there was water under and around the tank itself on the nightstand.  As I was inspecting this, one of the fish gasped!  How could this be!?

I ran to get a bowl of water to put it in.  When I put the net in to scoop it out of the empty tank, one of the other fish began flopping.  HOW!?  I'd been up for almost half an hour at this point.  I put all four fish in the bowl that was much too small for them.  The biggest, ugliest fish--a bottom feeder named Jaws--flipped himself out of the bowl.  At this point I'm completely freaking out.  I had to pick his ugly, scaly, pokey little body up with my bare hands more than once, and I did not like it one bit.

The tank they had been in is fairly new.  The old tank that they'd outgrown was stashed in the garage, thankfully!  I pulled out the old tank, put it on the front porch for some reason and filled it using the garden hose.  I then carried the bowl of semi-conscious fish out to the porch and put them in the new old tank. 

It was clear right away that one of the fish was completely dead.  Jaws seemed absolutely fine.  The other two were not looking too great.  I had to plug the filter in using an extension cord plugged into an outlet in the garage.  So, as of now, Jaws and one of the goldfish are living on the front porch enjoying a summer rainstorm.  Sadly, the other little guy didn't make it.

Oh, and, as for the water?  We've got those laminate floors that click together to install.  The water leaked out of the tank and drained down through the laminates giving the appearance that everything was completely dry.  I can't wait for the stench!  Ick. 

[Three Roses]

Oh no! This would have been upsetting to me. Are you okay now? Hugs to your daughter too 

[Kat]

I'm fine, thanks.  As of this morning, Jaws is the only survivor.  I let my daughter know that only two of them had survived.  I'll have to update her.  I feel so bad for her.  It's so tough losing a beloved pet.

[Blueberry]

It's so tough losing a beloved pet.

I've lost one just recently. I hope your daughter isn't devastated. Hugs if she is, from someone who understands that even losing little critters can be very sad. Some people unfortunately think you can only be sad if it's a dog, cat or horse. Not true.

[Kat]

Totally not true that you can only be sad about dogs and cats dying...I agree!!  My daughter cried.  We got her a few new fish to keep Jaws company.  He's quite a tough one, that Jaws.  The news fish are doing well.

[Candid]

How did the water leak out of the tank?  Had it been moved recently, or had the glue dried out?  How were you able to fix it?

I like looking at other people's tanks, or the ones in restaurants and pet shops, but the ones I've had over the years Worried Me -- to the point of nightmares about precisely this situation.   It happened at least once, came home to water everywhere and the heater smoking.  Eek!  No more water-dependent pets for me.

Certainly you can mourn a fish.  I would, and I haven't been 10 for more than half a century.

[Kat]

It was a relatively new tank...a few months old maybe?  One of the bottom corners had small hole where the sides met--probably a problem with the adhesive they use or something.  We got rid of it and bought a new one--hadn't saved the receipt or anything.

There was a restaurant in the town where I grew up that had aquariums full of fish all over the place.  Behind the main reception counter was a the largest tank.  There was a massive goldfish in that tank that would eat carrots of all things.  The workers would sometimes drop carrot sticks in the water, and you could actually hear the cracking sound when the fish bit into it.  I seem to remember reading about the fish's passing in the news paper a few years ago. 

[Candid]

A few months old?  Shocking!