Berlin, Dec 21, (dpa/GNA) – Most of the fish, rescued from the wreckage of a giant aquarium inside a Berlin hotel that exploded last week are doing well, under the circumstances, according to the Berlin Zoo, which took in survivors.
“Individual animals suffered external injuries to the skin in the accident, which we are trying to heal therapeutically with disinfecting baths,” a spokesperson for the Berlin Zoo said on Wednesday.
Around 200 animals were brought to the zoo at the weekend, including around 40 saltwater fish, including tilapia, surgeonfish, lagoon triggerfish and round-faced batfish. The fish are being housed in quarantine tanks, according to the zoo spokesperson.
Seven of the fish brought to the zoo from the AquaDom aquarium had already died by the time they arrived, or died shortly afterwards from injuries.
The massive aquarium housing 1,500 fish in a hotel atrium near Berlin’s Alexanderplatz, suddenly burst early on Friday. The explosion sent a million litres of water pouring out of the destroyed acrylic glass tank into the hotel, and onto the street outside.
Nearly all the fish in the aquarium died.
According to the building owner, around 630 fish were rescued from underground breeding tanks beneath the main aquarium at the weekend. The surviving fish were passed on to the zoo, the nearby Sealife in the Dom Aquarée aquarium as well as to specialist breeders.
GNA