drumandbassrunner
New Member
I thought I would share a crazy experience that I had today. My partner and I live in an apartment building. I have a 65 gallon display reef tank and I have a small, 13 pound, mini Australian shepherd, Pearl. The building was conducting fire alarm testing today, which terrifies Pearl. When I came home for lunch, I couldn't find Pearl anywhere. I know her usual hiding spots, and she was nowhere to be found. After calling for her and starting to panic, I heard some whimpers coming from...the sump? I opened the cabinet doors and she was sitting in the sump, on top of the filter socks. (and yes, she somehow managed to close the door behind her). She clearly clamored about under there because my dosing chemicals were all knocked over and the copepod "hotels" were knocked over. The sexy shrimp (Debbie) who lives there was fine, but she clearly needed to dodge some dog paws this morning.
I've never seen Pearl even try to open the cabinet doors, but I guess in moments of fear, she can be resourceful. I pulled her out and wrapped her in a towel (Pearl, not Debbie). I had to give her a quick bath because I'm not sure how harmful salty aquarium water might be on her female parts and rump. Pearl is just fine now. In the meantime, I'm going to check my parameters and keep an eye on the tank. She might have barfed up some bile into the sump, as I smelled it on her whiskers, but found no evidence of it in the apartment.
Here are my take-aways:
1. Secure the doors to the sump.
2. Keep an eye out on Pearl's private parts for any signs of bacterial infection since they were soaking in the water for who knows how long.
3. Check the water parameters for any changes.
If anyone has any thing else that I need to keep in mind, please let me know! My tank is a mature 6 year old system, so I'm hoping that it can handle some soaking dog butt.
I hope that this is an experience that no one else has had to deal with. I wish I had this on video. I wanted to take a picture, but clearly removing my dog from the sump was the priority. This was certainly that last thing that I expected and now my dog thinks that the sump is a panic room. I need a vacation.
I've never seen Pearl even try to open the cabinet doors, but I guess in moments of fear, she can be resourceful. I pulled her out and wrapped her in a towel (Pearl, not Debbie). I had to give her a quick bath because I'm not sure how harmful salty aquarium water might be on her female parts and rump. Pearl is just fine now. In the meantime, I'm going to check my parameters and keep an eye on the tank. She might have barfed up some bile into the sump, as I smelled it on her whiskers, but found no evidence of it in the apartment.
Here are my take-aways:
1. Secure the doors to the sump.
2. Keep an eye out on Pearl's private parts for any signs of bacterial infection since they were soaking in the water for who knows how long.
3. Check the water parameters for any changes.
If anyone has any thing else that I need to keep in mind, please let me know! My tank is a mature 6 year old system, so I'm hoping that it can handle some soaking dog butt.
I hope that this is an experience that no one else has had to deal with. I wish I had this on video. I wanted to take a picture, but clearly removing my dog from the sump was the priority. This was certainly that last thing that I expected and now my dog thinks that the sump is a panic room. I need a vacation.
