Help! Cat threw up into the tank!

[LM]

Hi all,
it's been a while.. and this group seem dormant.. but thought I'd try.

Tonight, my cat threw up hairball... straight into my fish tank!  Gross!!!  in the years I've had this fish tank and cats, this is the first time any cat did this!  She managed to aim right into the hole at the back of the hood that is just big enough to let filter hose, etc through... argh!

I scooped and vacuumed out as much solid as I possibly could, and did a 50% water change.

but I know stomach acid can be very strong.  should I do something more to neutralize the stomach acid and what not?  I just checked the pH and it's 6.4 (10pm, heavily planted 38Gal tank).  That's pretty typical of this tank (I have very soft water.  gH is like, 3... unless I start adding crushed corals, etc)

tank has bunch of chain loaches, zebras, rasboras, and a couple of otos (mostly softwater acid-loving fish).

or should I just do another water change tomorrow?  dump in another bag of crushed corals?  any suggestions?

[Melissa Phillips]

I personally would just do another water change tomorrow as a precaution.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Freshwater Aquarium" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aq...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[NetMax]

I'm agreeing with Melissa.  Besides the yech factor, should be fine with just another partial water change.  All your fish are acid-loving anyways, and your bio-filter bacteria are getting an early Christmas treat ; )

NetMax

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aquarium+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Bruce Smith]

Hi there,

 

Yuck. Mine decided to do the grass-eating and tossing thing on the hall carpet first thing this morning.

 

Stomach acids can be strong, but you do have a large volume of water present to dilute it. pH is derived as the –log[H+] where H+ is the concentration of free hydrogen ions in the liquid and the more dilute the solution, the higher the pH will be.

 

If I run some numbers through that formula, if there was 5ml of pure stomach acid in the hairball (an assumption on the high side, but I don’t know the size of the hairball) and working with a pH of stomach acid been between 1 and 2, then if all the acid was released into the 38 gallon water column and there are no buffers present and a starting water pH of 6.4, then the pH would drop at the worst case to 6.15. A 50% water change would then lift it to about 6.3.

 

If there are alkaline buffers in the water, which there are even if the water is soft, then those buffers would neutralize the acid and keep the pH closer to the original water’s pH. Doing a water change replenishes the consumed alkaline buffers and prevents the future risk of wild pH swings, so even if the pH seems okay, at least one more change should be done to replenish them. I wouldn’t boost the hardness with crushed corals unless you routinely do that to the water in the tank, the fish are used to the water as-is and might get more unhappy than with a short-term pH dip.

 

These calculations were done assuming a large, wet hairball with full dissolution once it hit the water. And an assumption that stomach acid in a hairball is at full strength. Nobody seems to have done research on that, so this is probably the worst case scenario. I’d be more concerned about solids and fur in the tank in this case.

 

While you’re busy with the tank, grab some duct tape and seal that hole so to keep the next hairball out J

 

Cheers,

Bruce

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Freshwater Aquarium" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aq...@googlegroups.com.

[LM]

Hi All,

Whew.  that's a relief.  Thanks all for your thoughts. This morning, I checked the pH and it was a bit lower to like, 6.0 range, so I decided to do another 50% water change.  I'll keep an eye on it and do another one in a day or two if it seems like it needs it.  I just gave a dose of Flourish Excel to help the plants breakdown any solids that start decomposing...  I'll add some fresh crushed coral in the mesh bag to add more buffering capability... (sort of want it in the high 6's.. so...)

Most of the solid stuff was scooped out using a fine-mesh net, but it was quite high-fluid content type, so the bacteria and the loaches probably got a good treat since at night it was quite cloudy from all the fine particles flying around (and I didn't feed them hoping the bottom feeders will clean up the stuff I couldn't vacuum out).  the tank was almost crystal clear this morning, so it couldn't have been that bad.

It's amazing.  the opening is only like, 1sq-in (a power cable and hose for the spray head go through it)!  and the cat managed to aim it just right, to make it go straight in that hole! (very little margin of error).

Cheers!
Linda

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aquarium+unsub...@googlegroups.com.

[Bruce Smith]

Just checking up on the tank the cat threw up in. No further problems so far?

 

Bruce

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aq...@googlegroups.com.

For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Freshwater Aquarium" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to the-freshwater-aq...@googlegroups.com.

[LM]

Hi,

Thankfully, no problems.  it got a bit cloudy for a day or two (may be bacterial bloom, or just particles flying around) but went back to normal. I did two water changes few days apart, just to get the junk out, but otherwise didn't do anything.   I guess biomatters get neutralized quickly, unlike inorganics.

Linda

[misterga...@gmail.com]

I was just passing through, catching up with some old friends, preparing a proper re-introduction after a long absence; saw something about cat vomit and just had to comment. The responses from our experienced members was right on target; not just for this one feline hairball, but so perfectly summing up the message I've read a hundred times here: clean water, strong plants, and a healthy biological system will act to maintain the system's natural balance with no special additives and minimal interference on your part. You removed the disgusting lump and the tank's ecology restored the balance without further assistance. In fact, if you use a mechanical filter, that would have removed the residual of the hairball bye and bye. Or is it by and by. I never could get that right. The toughest lesson for most aquarists to learn is to resist the temptation to fiddle and shake and pour things into their water when what the tank really wants, and needs, is clean water. Accomplished by a straightforward water change. I'm known for my 50 % changes thrice or more a week, others go for much smaller changes, much less frequently. That's been debated until the cows come home, or the cat throws up, I can appreciate both systems because the key factor in both is c  l e a n  f r e s h  w a t e r. As a cat lover myself, I don't believe poorly placed hairballs is a euthanizable offense, so the alternative is to . . . well, you need to . . . oh heck, if you ever come up with a method to prevent cats from ejecting hairballs at precisely the wrong time in precisely the wrong place please let us know.

Mister Gardener, but you can call me MG

[NetMax]

Greets MG.  All that clean water and I never got any of your prized Angelfish to make a show tank.

cheers

NetMax

[Melissa Phillips]

MG!!!  Hi!  Net max!!!  Hi!!  

[misterga...@gmail.com]

Melissa - is this the Melissa I think about in connection with Rochester and Jess Klein?

[misterga...@gmail.com]

On Monday, August 17, 2015 at 12:32:36 AM UTC-4, Melissa wrote:

MG!!!  Hi!  Net max!!!  Hi!!  

Umm, about Rochester, maybe I was thinking of Mellie . . . It's been a while. 

[misterga...@gmail.com]

My interests in recebt years have taken me to the skies, Ospreys have captured my heart and I was on my way to a Maine birders group whent I passed TFA and my eye was caught by a topic regarding a cat throwing up in an aquarium. TFA is alive and well and still dealing with every topic under the lighting hood. I was pleased to see that nothing is new and everything is still all about water changes, water changes, water changes. It's good to see you, NetMax and several more as I scroll down the list. I'll send a group shout out because it would take a lot of typing to name everyone I see here that I remember with real fondness. I still have the tendency to turn a simple hello into 40 lines of rambling, so I'll end this here with Hey All.

Peace, Love, and water changes.

MG.

[Melissa Phillips]

This is Melissa in Rochester ny, used to talk with you guys all the time :). I'm back running a store fish room again (different store than I used to).

[Mister Gardener]

Yeah, we talked a lot. I was especially gifted at hijacking a thread and dragging a bunch way off topic and I'm doing it again. Ooops. I'm so happy to find TFA alive and well and in spite of long stretches of silence it is apparent that so many are still keeping an eye on us. Next up, hey Marcus! You out there? Altum? I know Frank's not; I still think of him often. He held the final group of Tie Dye breeders and the rights to keep the strain going. I wish I could find some pix of those beauties here; I have none and i know there is a gallery somewhere. Maybe someone can send me a road map. .