Ai, ai, ai... I've slacked on my maintenance in the past; got away with it. Russ did, and didn't. We all got a little object lesson. I think the offers of sympathy and restocking are because Russ has been a helpful and supportive guy in the past, and because many people recognize that the lapse was ... well, understandable, if not excusable. No need to be surprised by our support for him. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Everyone gets their hackles up when PETA is mentioned. It is usually best not to mention a group like them...and I won't be talking about my views regarding PETA.

I am not perfect. I do NOT spend every waking hour of my life hugging my pets, and I don't have any trees (how'd trees get into this anyway?? lol). I do however only have a small amount of pets that I easily have the time to care for (this is why I have small tanks). Whatever may (or may not) be going on in your life, I bet I could easily match or surpass it (sometimes life throws you potholes, sometimes life washes the road right out from under you), and I still don't have any troubles looking after my pets.

I will freely admit that I did the EXACT same thing you did. I neglected my tank to the point of everything dying...when I was 12. I still feel guilty, and that was a loooong time ago. Don't you?

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I commented on the sympathetic members on here....you want to be lazy(self proclaimed) then be lazy, try to do it with something that doesnt depend on you for survival.
As far as PETA goes....if you believe that they hate people, then you deserve to be hated...just cause I believe in some of there missions....doesnt make me a people hater or tree hugger or anything like that.....any catholics out there that have pre-marital sex? Oh I see...you dont have to follow that to a tee...but you think I do what PETA says word for word?
Come on people...
Oh by the way Rusty...your ignorance shines through when you say your sorry that your not perfect like me for taking care of your tank...I dont have a perfect tank....I also dont spend all my waking time taking care of my tank....I have 3 kids, a fulltime job, 2 dogs, and 2 cats and yet somehow I can find 10 minutes a day to help my tank critters survive, rather happily I might add.

If you don't know all the facts maybe keeping your mouth shut would be the better thing to do. I hardly think that slacking on water changes would cause such a catastrophic loss to his tank. Neglect to your tank would be not feeding, never turning lights on (I know most people use timers.) etc etc. Water changes do not fall in that category IMHO. You may also not know that Russ has been struggling with his tank since he moved to a new place umpteen months ago. He has always suspected that the water source could be the problem, so more water changes could or may have caused his tank to fail earlier.

And as for the PETA comment, who cares. This is just another charity in which you give them money and someone down the pipeline gets rich. You may feel warm and fuzzy inside about what you have done. In reality your probably just paying for some celebrity to show up at some stupid gala thingy for publicity. If you really want to help the animals go volunteer at your local animal shelter.

I think we all need to take a "DEEP BREATH"

Why do we not just all agree to disagree. Everyones point has been made and just drop it. This thread was not started by Russ as an open invitation to belittle and bash him. It was opened as a reminder to do your tank maintence.

So like everyone has heard in there life"If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all"

And Lando i agree 100%. I stated that there are how many people who NEVER do water changes...There has got to be something more wrong (like the copper someone mentioned) than a water change:)

you know its funny....all I did was coment on the other responses from other people.....he adimitted that the tank went south due to his own negligence.....why is everyone giving me a hard time about it? Read his initial post.
So now you think me supporting PETA is a waste of time and money?
I also donate money to BC's childrens hospital, is that a scam too? My wife supports a child in Honduras....should she get on a plane and go help him in person.....I dont think so. Of course there are always risks with donating money to any charity...but we do what we can to help.
P.S My daughter and I did help at the local dog pound until they closed down a 38 year old facility because new home owners around the shelter complained about the barking.

:sad: Unbelievable.

Thanks f*nemo. I think all involved should follow this advice.

I think this thread should be locked, it's getting...well you can see...

This thread is an advisory of the perils of not maintaining your tank, it is NOT a PETA thread. Thank you.