After the giant aquarium in a hotel burst, the Berlin Zoo is treating many of the rescued fish. A large proportion of the animals are doing “according to the circumstances,” said a zoo spokeswoman. “In the accident, individual animals suffered external skin injuries, which we are trying to heal therapeutically with disinfecting baths.”
Around 200 animals were brought to the zoo over the weekend, including around 40 saltwater fish. These are cichlids, surgeonfish, Picasso triggerfish or batfish. Seven fish had already arrived dead or died shortly afterwards from injuries. According to the spokeswoman, they are currently housed in rear quarantine tanks. The competent authority decides whether and which animals will remain in the zoo.
Almost all the fish in the aquarium are dead
Last Friday, the large Aquadom aquarium with 1,500 fish in a Berlin hotel near Alexanderplatz burst. Almost all the fish in the aquarium are dead. According to the building owner, around 630 fish were rescued from the underground breeding tank over the weekend. They were passed on to the Zoo, Sealife at Dom Aquarée and a network of specialist breeders.
Experts got a picture of the situation around the damage site on Wednesday, as a spokesman for the building owner Union Investment announced. The clean-up work could then take place there as soon as the insurance companies release the areas. The owner anticipates that the surveys will likely be completed and completed in the first quarter of 2023.
When the Aquadom burst, a million liters of water poured out of the destroyed acrylic glass cylinder into the hotel and onto the street, among other places.
New hotel with aquarium planned in Berlin-Lichtenberg
Despite the accident, the initiators of a planned hotel with an aquarium in Berlin-Lichtenberg wanted to stick to their plans. Construction is scheduled to begin in January and hopefully be completed by 2024, according to Coral World manager Erez Ben Nun.
In view of the destroyed aquarium, with which Coral World is not associated, the design of the acrylic glass tanks and windows will ensure that such an incident does not happen again. They are planned in such a way that they comply with all regulations and can also withstand earthquakes.
The responsible city council had pushed for a review of the plans in Berlin-Lichtenberg, although no pool in the dimensions of the Aquadom in Berlin-Mitte was planned for the project on the Rummelsburg Bay.