Problems at the Pittsburgh Zoo

[SVTour]

Anyone catch this...pretty sad if you think about it.

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/...81/detail.html

[Steven Pro]

Yeah, saw it on the news last night. They have gone through an awful lot of sharks since they opened the new aquarium. Sad.

[ste6168]

wow.... that is really sad, they need to get that place going so there are no more lost animals due to "technical difficulties"

[DucatiRave21]

yea thats crazy!!!

[Ghumbee]

Any of us locals use ozone on their own tank?


Chuck

[ste6168]

nope, not at the moment, but you never know what the next year will bring, hahaha

[rickyfins]

It is pretty sad for one of us when or if we have a technical difficulty. I know that it is usually common with inexperience and not equipment malfunctions. I think its really sad that so called "professionals" are inexperienced with the equipment they use. Its really sad that they don't know how to properly use their equipment by now. I think its horrible that the spokesperson for the aquarium didn't even seem to care about the issue at hand. I don't know how many of pmasi members know people who work for the aquarium, but I don't think that they know anything of value to the aquarium, especially if they keep killing off their livestock. Anyone agree? Is this not the information age? Shouldn't people in these positions research or hire knowledgable staff. To think that this could or in my mind would and will happen again is so outrageous it makes me more than sad, it makes me irate. It makes me sick to even think about what happened and the possiblity that it could happen another time in the future. The creatures that man is trying to capture in captivity are so rare and delicate and yet we are so disconnected that many don't think that one day these creatures may be gone forever. May God forgive them and their actions.

Please be a responsible reefkeeper, and only support those who do the same.

thanks,

Rick

[SVTour]

Well, mistakes can definitely happen...but in some of these cases, it appears to either be a major blunder or malicious act. How in the heck could someone mistakenly place cyanide in a tank...how could the aquarium keepers even allow this to happen.

With as many mistakes that have happened here in the past 5 years...I'm thinking they should take it down. JMO.

[Steven Pro]

I don't know where they got the cyanide story from. As I recall, the first batch of sharks died from two causes. They got two large (~5 foot) sharks from the Cleveland Zoo's aquarium. They put them into the same quarantine tank with a number of 18" newly captured sharks. The big ones ate all the little ones. And, upon examining the caracasses, they noticed the little ones had worms. So, they had to deworm the big ones. And, the big ones reacted to the medication and perished.

The second time all the sharks died, they were in the main display but construction was still on going on the rest of the building. Somehow a worker broke a sprinkler pipe that went over the shark tank. It flooded the display with chlorinated fresh water as well as insulation and other debris, which killed the sharks.

And now this.

[scottknight]

A couple or three years ago, there were no stingrays because "a worker dripped paint into the tank"

[GABONE]

What the hell is a zoo doing with cyanide anyway? It's not like these care people are the same ones taking care of the Giraffes, and Zebras. I can't comprehend how they make so many "mistakes".

[GABONE]

Another question, in the article it says that in 2000, a vendor placed cyanide in the tank when an Ozone machine malfunctioned. What kind of malfunction of an Ozone machine would cause this? Sounds a little Fishy?

[zooqi]

They need experience people working there and those who keep fish alive and not those who read how to keep fish alive or ready that fish are alive in the ocean and sharks tanks are like goldfish tanks.