A chemical leak last week at the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque has resulted in the deaths of two-thirds of the fish in the museum’s Gulf of Mexico exhibit, according to a news release from the museum.
On Oct. 9, propylene glycol leaked from the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, which contaminated the Gulf of Mexico exhibit. Once staff noticed the leak, they worked to divert it and continued to monitor the tank. But conditions worsened overnight and caused a bacterial bloom and decreased dissolved oxygen, the news release states.
The museum didn’t say how many fish died, but on its website described the Gulf of Mexico display is an “open water habitat is nearly 30 feet long, 15 feet deep, and contains more than 40,000 gallons of water!”
The leak reduced visibility in the tank and staff members weren’t able to dive to retrieve fish. They managed to recover one-third of the fish and move them into quarantine, but the rest of the animals, including the exhibit’s green moray eel, died.
“While our team responded to the leak quickly and closely monitored the behavior of fish in the tank, there was no immediate way to know how much substance entered the aquarium and oxygen levels in the tank did not flag areas for concern until Wednesday morning. By that time, the bacterial bloom and drop in oxygen had created water conditions unsafe for staff to rescue any fish that weren’t already near the surface of the tank,” the release states.
The pipe that broke has been fixed and the aquarium has started other maintenance efforts to prevent something like this from happening again, including installing extra monitoring systems, inspecting pipes near open aquariums for signs of age or damage, and installing a catch basin of the Gulf of Mexico aquarium to prevent any future leaks from entering the tank. The exhibit will be closed for up to six weeks while the tank is prepared to reintroduce fish.
“Integrity is one of our organization’s core values, and it is important to us that we communicate with transparency and accuracy,” Kurt Strand, president and chief executive officer of the River Museum, said in a statement. “This news is not easy to share, but we know our role and responsibility as a national leader in education and conservation is animal well-being and safety, and we continue to take steps to maintain that as top priority.”
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On Oct. 9, propylene glycol leaked from the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, which contaminated the Gulf of Mexico exhibit. Once staff noticed the leak, they worked to divert it and continued to monitor the tank. But conditions worsened overnight and caused a bacterial bloom and decreased dissolved oxygen, the news release states.
The museum didn’t say how many fish died, but on its website described the Gulf of Mexico display is an “open water habitat is nearly 30 feet long, 15 feet deep, and contains more than 40,000 gallons of water!”
The leak reduced visibility in the tank and staff members weren’t able to dive to retrieve fish. They managed to recover one-third of the fish and move them into quarantine, but the rest of the animals, including the exhibit’s green moray eel, died.
“While our team responded to the leak quickly and closely monitored the behavior of fish in the tank, there was no immediate way to know how much substance entered the aquarium and oxygen levels in the tank did not flag areas for concern until Wednesday morning. By that time, the bacterial bloom and drop in oxygen had created water conditions unsafe for staff to rescue any fish that weren’t already near the surface of the tank,” the release states.
The pipe that broke has been fixed and the aquarium has started other maintenance efforts to prevent something like this from happening again, including installing extra monitoring systems, inspecting pipes near open aquariums for signs of age or damage, and installing a catch basin of the Gulf of Mexico aquarium to prevent any future leaks from entering the tank. The exhibit will be closed for up to six weeks while the tank is prepared to reintroduce fish.
“Integrity is one of our organization’s core values, and it is important to us that we communicate with transparency and accuracy,” Kurt Strand, president and chief executive officer of the River Museum, said in a statement. “This news is not easy to share, but we know our role and responsibility as a national leader in education and conservation is animal well-being and safety, and we continue to take steps to maintain that as top priority.”
Chemical leak kills two-thirds of fish in exhibit at Dubuque Aquarium
A chemical leak in The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque last week has resulted in the death of two-thirds of the fish in the museum’s Gulf of Mexico exhibit, according to a news release from the museum.
www.thegazette.com
