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From rec.aquaria.freshwater.misc:

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In article //01bc9940$cfe9e460$e5fa2581@gspass//, "Garland Scott Pass" //anvil@ibm.net// wrote:
>Hi.  I have a 29 gallon community tank and last Saturday I noticed that two
>of my mollies looked like they had ick (ick!), which was okay, but then on
>Monday it looked like my tiger barbs were getting it.  I didn't want to use
>any of the store copper-type medications because I did that once and it
>really screwed up the tank and a few of the fish died anyway so what's the
>point?  Well, I really think I screwed things up this time.
>     My grandfather used to have angina (he died four years ago), and when
>my grandmother moved in with us she just basically moved her whole medicine
>cabinet into the downstairs bathroom.  Well anyway, we had these
>nitroglycerin pills grandpa used to take whenever he had pains, and I got
>the idea to give some to the fish because I'm pretty sure I read someplace
>that nitroglycerin cures ick or kills germs or something.  I figured either
>I'd cover the tank with a black cloth and make it dark for 48 hours, which
>is supposed to cure ick, or I'd try the pills, and the pills seemed like a
>whole lot less trouble.
>     Well all the fish just loved the pills, they ate them all up--seemed a
>little less gloomy than they'd been.  But then yesterday I figured I would
>look at one of the tigers to see if the ick was going away.  I wanted to
>put it in a holding container to check it out, so I put my net in the tank
>to catch it.  I think *maybe* I chased it for ten seconds, and yeah, it was
>getting upset, when all of a sudden--
>BLAM!  I thought a firecracker went off!  The tiger was gone except for a
>few tiny parts and a lot of bubbles.  It must've been some kind of chain
>reaction because just as I was getting my breath back the neons started
>going off.  They weren't so bad, more like popcorn popping than
>firecrackers, but it was messy.  I think I lost five or six of them, I
>think.  I haven't gotten too close to the tank since then.
>     Does anyone have any experience with this?  Your advice would be
>appreciated because I have a nine inch pleco, and right now he's looking
>kind of agitated.
>
>Thanks.

>     Ahh.  A strange and very rare (who feeds pills to fish?) but quite
>real problem.  Nitroglycerin is, of course, commonly used for treating
>cardiological problems AND is the explosive componant of dynamite.
>(Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was at the end of his life actually
>dependant on the nitroglycerine he had first developed as a weapon in
>order to sustain his failing heart.)

>    The problem with the fish is the efficiency of their kidneys--the
>medication is quickly broken down from it's stabilized form in the pills
>and becomes concentrated in the bladder, which, in of itself, isn't really
>a problem.  If you had left them alone, they would probably have been
>fine, but by chasing them you greatly increased the nerve activity in the
>fish's muscles (since it's 'running') which begins to create an electrical
>potential within the fish's body.  If the fish begins to urinate before
>this electrical potential has time to dissipate, the act of urinating
>'grounds' the fish (creating a passage of highly conductive urine to the
>surrounding water.)  It's THAT sudden discharge of electricity that
>actually triggers the explosion of the nitroglycerin, not some organic
>reaction in the body as you suggest.  The tragic result of all this is
>instant sushi--fish bodies just aren't designed to contain explosions.
>    If your fish *do* somehow consume nitroglycerin tablets, the prudent
>course of action is to avoid stressing the fish, and by all means do NOT
>ground the tank!
>    On occasion, a similar phenominon occurs within humans, which has
>gotten blown out of proportion by the media as 'spontaneous human
>combustion.'  Of course, people don't just blow up without a reason, but
>look at the typical victem--overweight alcoholics.  Obesity and alcohol
>damage their hearts, resulting in them being put on nitroglycerine
>tablets.  Unfortunately, not all of them stop drinking, and some, after
>taking their heart medication and getting royally drunk, lose bladder
>control, thus creating the fatal grounding between body and ground via the
>bladder.  The resulting explosion is generally contained by the greater
>body mass of the human victem, but the intense heat results in the fat in
>the tissues igniting and burning much of the body.
>

Of course, the above is nothing new to the military.  Recent declassified 
documents show that the British in North Africa in WWII attempted to 
sabotage Rommel's camel corps by slipping the camels nitroglycerine 
in the form of reputed 'saltpeter for camels' (keep humping cargo, not each other).
Well, this scheme was implemented shortly before El Alemein, and the 
German camels were captured by the British!  Naturally, the camels were 
somewhat excited, and since as you know camels have very efficient kidneys
the nitro concentration was quite high.
An entire ammunition convoy was destroyed-- wehrwolf fifth columnists were blamed, 
but in reality the Brits were hoisted, as it were, by their own petard.  
For several subsequent weeks the occasional Bedouine camp also was 
flattened by explosions...
In a further ironic twist of fate, the Bedoine whose camps were toasted had 'borrowed' the camels
from the British (who as mentioned had captured them from the 
Wehrmacht);  the Arabs blamed the British for the deaths of several 
prominent citizens, and harbored hard feelings for many years.  These hard feelings precipitated the  
Egyptian seizure of the Suez Canal!