Brandon's Fish Tank Disaster

My name is Brandon and I've been an avid animal lover since I was a child - grew up with dogs, received my BS and MS in Animal Science, and just adopted a silver Labrador Retriever puppy - world, meet Nike!


I have also always wanted to set up a saltwater reef tank to enjoy and add beauty to my apartment - and finally accomplished the goal of starting that project shortly before Nike came home, about one month ago.

The tank was coming together beautifully  - and I was SO excited to slowly, but surely, work on the tank until it was flowing with life!


Over the past month, I had successfully added a bonded pair of Percula clown fish (NEMO!) and a handful of hermit crabs and snails to help me with the task of cleaning the tank - the live rock in the tank was showing signs of critters - all was shaping up very nicely!


GORGEOUS!

I came home from work two days ago, quietly unlocked the door (so as not to wake Nike and cause an explosion of pee all over his crate), and snuck in - only to hear a high-pitched whirring/buzzing sound.  It only took me a few moments to realize that it was coming from my fish tank - odd...

I took a few steps further into my apartment - and stepped in water - on the floor...  And my heart sunk.......  And my jaw dropped......  And I felt sick to my stomach......

Oh...  No.....  Ohhhhh...  Nooooooo...

I walked over to my tank - and it was empty...  My fish/snails/crabs were all dead in the sand...  And 55 gallons of saltwater had spilled out onto the wood floors of my apartment and, undoubtedly through to the unit below (at least...)



I was - and continue to be devastated - one two levels:  1) Obviously, being an animal lover, at the loss of my poor livestock...  And 2) At what it's going to cost to clean-up this disaster and repair any damage to my unit and the unit beneath mine.....

I immediately contacted my landlord and the building management company - and everyone sprung into action to mitigate the property damage, but - frankly - it's going to be expensive...

Renter's insurance will not cover damage to the property - only to replace items within the property that were damaged.  My second line of defense would be my landlords' homeowner's insurance - but they have made it very clear that they will NOT be utilizing their policy, resulting in higher premiums moving forward - and that they expect me to pay for this out of pocket...  And - I don't know how I'm going to do that...  Being a renter, I don't have a "rainy day" fund to pay for the replacement of wood floors (in my unit) and crown molding/drywall/lights/etc. (in the unit downstairs) - because, as a renter, these items are typically covered by the landlord...

The water damage company dropped off two commercial blowers and a commercial dehumidifier last night - those have to run for 72 hours - and cost $2470.00...



And that total does not include any repairs to my unit or the unit below me...

The water damage expert said that he believes the total cost of repairs in both units will likely fall in the $6000-$8000 range (but could be as high as $10,000) so I have set my gofundme.com campaign goal at the lower end of that range.  We won't know the final total until the drying process has been completed, the floors are pulled up, and the damaged drywall downstairs is torn down...

My landlords have agreed to pay for the repairs up-front with the stipulation that I ensure they are compensated in-full as soon as possible...  And while they did not outright state this, it was implied that if I cannot reimburse them in a timely manner, I will not be able to re-sign a lease moving forward (any of you renters with large breed dogs understand how devastating this is) and that they would have to consider legal pursuit of their reimbursement...  *sigh*

Those of you who know me well are aware that I don't often ask for help - but I need it right now...  I don't know what else to do - and don't have a lot of time to put together a solution...

So - if you can dig through your couch and find some change - maybe take your lunch to work one day instead of eating out - whatever you think you can do to help - I would be FOREVER indebted...

My dream of having a beautiful reef tank suddenly turned into the worst catastrophe I could imagine...  And I'm not sure how else to do this - other than to ask for help.....

Definitely let me know if you have questions - I'm happy to provide more information.  Or - alternatively - if you have any legal advice about whether, as a tenant, I should be paying for all of this out-of-pocket - that would also be incredibly helpful.

And - thank you, in advance, for whatever you can contribute!