The National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium is devastated to share a tragic accident that occurred on October 9, affecting the Gulf of Mexico Aquarium.
A propylene glycol leak in the HVAC system in the National River Center, which runs above the aquarium, caused a chemical contamination within the Gulf of Mexico Aquarium. Staff worked to divert the leak once noticed and continued to monitor the situation; however, conditions in the tank deteriorated quickly overnight on Tuesday, resulting in a significant bacterial bloom and decreased dissolved oxygen. Conditions impacted visibility in the tank, making rescue efforts challenging and diving not an option. Staff were able to recover one-third of the fish and move them into quarantine, but the remaining animals, including the Green Moray Eel, have passed.
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 affected pipe has since been repaired, and efforts moving forward to ensure another tragedy such as this does not happen again include installing additional monitoring systems to the aquarium, inspecting all pipes near open aquariums for signs of age or damage and addressing repairs, installing a catch basin over the Gulf Aquarium to prevent any future leaks from entering the tank, and changing out the water. Some of these efforts are more immediate and others will take time to implement. We anticipate the exhibit will be closed for up to six weeks while we perform water changes and prepare the aquarium to reintroduce fish.
As an Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited facility, we have filed an incident summary with the organization and have communicated the exhibit closure with members and guests.
“Integrity is one of our organization’s core values, and it is important to us that we communicate with transparency and accuracy,” said Kurt Strand, President and CEO of the River Museum. “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.”
This incident developed days following the initial leak and the full extent of the situation was not clear until early this week. The River Museum team thanks the members, donors, community, and guests for their support and understanding during this difficult time.