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Dangerous ornaments list

76K views 420 replies 173 participants last post by  Aluyasha 
#1 ·
If you know any dangerous ornaments, post them here. Give a pic and the reason why it's dangerous. This will be like a dangerous ornament list
 
#2 ·
I don't have a picture of it being dangerous in my tank, unless the hydrogen peroxide bath I put it in worked (50% water and 50% hydrogen peroxide). If it didn't then I'll be sure to put it in this post.

PennPlax Skull Gazer

In my experience with it a quarter inch of white-ish slime covered the whole thing within a few days. In another member's experience it even killed her fish!



this photo is from Skyewillow's post

 
#5 ·
Bought this ornament from the same store. I don't know who makes it (the tag is gone), but I decided after the Suzaku Tragedy to soak it... Pulled it out of the water an hour later to check it... it smells like wet latex paint! Really people?!
 
#9 ·
I noticed the same thing to me it smells like spray paint. I am noticing in the upper reaches of hollows of décor you can smell a spray paint smell I have several pieces that I soaked mostly made by Penn Plax that have the smell in the hollows but no where else. I am filling the hollows with AQ silicone and I am allowing to cure and will soak again to see if I still smell it. I left a message with Penn Plax describing the problem yesterday. I will post here if I get a reply.



Bought this ornament from the same store. I don't know who makes it (the tag is gone), but I decided after the Suzaku Tragedy to soak it... Pulled it out of the water an hour later to check it... it smells like wet latex paint! Really people?!
 
#6 ·

I have heard multiple accounts of this having a metal wire in it that will GUT their fish if they lay on it. I've obviously never bought it.
 
#8 ·
This Balinese Lantern was on sale at my Petsmart so I grabbed it. After being in a 1gallon (the tank one of my girls was in temporarily) for about 24 hours, the water had a strange oily substance floating on top and it smelled like burning plastic. It was so bad, and so strong when I took the Lantern out it gave me an immediate headache. I'm so thankful my girl is okay. I had given her a 100% water change afterward, and she didn't get sick at all. But it was still gross and terrifying and I have no idea what caused it. I did rinse it in warm water first like you're supposed to with all new decorations, and it was fine when I put it in. But the smell was horrific. And that oily substance was floating out of the holes of the lantern too. I threw it right in the trash.
 

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#10 ·
they gave me a reply to my email about the skull:
Dear Ms Ryan

Thank you for your e-mail. We are deeply sorry for the loss of your pet and we sincerely apologize for all the trouble this incident has caused you and your son.
I can assure you that all our products have a high quality control check before they live our premises, however we are performing a through quality control check on this product to see if in fact there is any substance that could be the culprit and may have caused the inconvenience you mentioned in your e-mail.
We are also communicating with the factory to have them review the components used in the making of this product. I can assure you that we will go to the extremes to make sure this does not happen again.

Have a wonderful day and Best Regards
Elizabeth Wilson
[heavy sarcasm] I'll be sure to have a fabulous day because my fish is dead!! Thank you! [/heavy sarcasm]
 
#12 ·
Even with Driftwood, you have to be careful. People tend to just pick wood up and sell it, without even knowing what it is.

We had a piece in the tanks for a year, and when my fiance broke it to use a piece in the shrimp tank he wanted, it started poisoning the shrimp. Turned out to be pine!
 
#13 ·
In regards to the Penn Plax Skull

Since I've soaked it in the hydrogen peroxide bath I haven't seen the layer of slime yet. It's barely been over a day, but after I tried the vinegar bath the slime had already started coming back. I'm hesitantly taking this as a good sign.

Hannibal (my baby betta) loves the batta hammock I got him. The wire is on the bottom and doesn't stick out if the top at all. I feel safe letting him have it. The problems listed seem (to me) to have been defects. If you want one of suggest examining it before putting it in your tank and return it if you don't feel safe. Just my two cents.
 
#14 ·
I have the hammock, too. It will be safe and mostly useful to some fish as long as you take the wire out; that's what I did.

The skull looks like it's actually covered in watery blood. D: I wish PennPlax can just lose business.
 
#15 ·
PennPlax makes good, cheap thermometers, but that's about all they're good for lol.

Any decoration that doesn't pass the panty hose test (run a pantyhose all over the dry decoration, if it snags at all it could snag on fins) is dangerous and potentially damaging, especially to males with long fins. There are too many to list!
 
#25 ·
I have this same ornament, and mine doesn't smell like paint at all. Kind of weird there. I've had it for several months now too.
 
#21 ·
Skull Gazer Update:

The slime coat thing on the skull is slowly coming back. I'm dissapointed. Overall I love the skull (the look of it, the size, and how it's smooth) so I'm kinda upset. Now I have to buy one from another brand online and ship it to me. Ugh, I'm on a very limited budget, Penn Plax, but you probably don't care.
 
#24 ·
I wonder if they have, on the petco website it says "Made of non-toxic, fish-safe materials and colors". It's on sale, but I still don't know if I should chance it. I just bought a new tank and I need more decor though.

Also, my other tank has the hammock and I haven't had an issue, I just bought a new one and it clearly has no metal anywhere, only plastic, even where the suction cup attaches. It seems flimsier than the other one, I wonder if zoo med changed this item too.
 
#27 ·
I don't understand why you'd place an ornament in a hydrogen peroxide bath... Are you testing to see if the ornament would get oxidized? Or perhaps to clean it? I feel like that wouldn't be safe to put into a tank. After it's been placed in the bath, a layer of coating may get stripped exposing toxins or paint. Am I being too paranoid?
 
#32 ·
It was to clean it and to kill any bacteria that was causing the white slime to grow. It was 50% hydrogen Peroxide and 50% water. After that was done I rinsed it really well in hot water then let it dry. The slime slowly grew back so it didn't fully work.
 
#30 ·
and I do not care that whoever makes the ornament and say the stuff is non toxic, i still do not want my fish eating paint chips in my case with the water we have it always seems to make it bubble and peel off I definately do not want my bristlenose plecos eating all that paint
 
#33 ·
(Disclaimer about my reply: I'm only a student in the health field. I'm not a doctor or a professional. I'm just sharing what I learned in my classes. Also, I am not trying to degrade or demean anyone who has used this method. I just want to share my opinion)

For using Hydrogen Peroxide as a cleaning agent for your decorations, I don't think a 50:50 solution would be safe. That ratio is used to clean toilets and such. Especially if the concentrations of the original bottle is different. There are like 3% and etc., and if you used a strong concentration, it could have been deadly. I heard that people don't use soap to clean the tanks or their decor. I don't either. You don't want traces of hydrogen peroxide in your water. I'm not a professional chemist and what I'm saying may not be true. It may not be as strong as chlorine bleach or ammonia solution. But it is still dangerous. I suggest just cleaning things with hot water to kill any bacteria. It won't be as squeaky clean as using peroxide, but it's your safest bet. The slime could have been anything; not necessarily bacteria. As a cleaning agent around the house, for toilets and sinks, peroxide is excellent. It's a death trap to any microscopic organism that's alive. But to use around children or pets, I wouldn't risk it. I really wouldn't. I apologize if I sounded as if I thought I was better than anyone. I just wanted to share what I learned from school.
 
#34 ·
Hot water is suspected to cause the sealing coat to degrade and release toxins into the water. Bleach CAN be used in low doses, but needs soaking in dechlorinated water afterwards.

Vinegar is a good product to use, since it sterilizes but isn't harsh. Again, ornaments cleaned with this product need to be rinsed.
 
#37 ·
the leaf hammock I have several of them, I have never looked to see if there is a wire in them or not, I have never had an issue with them, I have not seen an exposed wire on any of them, I am starting to think this one is more urban legend than fact
 
#39 ·
leaf



I don't know if they really do gut people's fish, but they definately can rust. I've owned 3, none of which had visible wires. I pulled the wire out of the first one after a couple of months after I started seeing rust near the base of the leaf. The wire was very rusted. The other two I had to work to get the wires out (they were pretty well in there), but I did that before they went in the tank and it saved me a lot of worry. I have two other ZooMed plants that had metal stems and needed wire removal (the suction cup bamboo fronds).

Also, I bought a nice silk plant made by Top Fin a couple of months ago, only to discover when I got it home that the stem was metal. It fell apart when I tried to remove it.
 
#40 ·
I think they changed the design of the leaf hammock. They used to have wire(and probably still some out there) but mine have no wires and only plastic. I think a good way to tell is that if you bend it, does it stay bent? Then you probably have a wire one.
 
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