Hurricane related Question. . Please help!!!

[Habeas corpus]

I'm in Houston and about to evacuate from Rita. I'm afraid that my house will lose power while I'm away and that my pumps will stop working. I really don't want to lose my fish.

How long can my fish go with the filters off before they risk death?

I have a 33 gal freshwater tank with 4 Yellow Labs, 3 Blue Ahlis, 2 Blood Parrots, 3 Tiger Barbs, 2 clown loaches, and one Pleco. It's a pretty full tank as you can see.

What are my best options to optimize their chances of surviving a signifcant power outage. I don't have any battery powered aerators. I was thinking about calling a friend and seeing if he can come by and exchange some fresh water into the tank every day or so. I welcome any ideas to save my little water buddies.

Thanks.

 

[lyquidphyre]

Can you take the fish with you?

Bring an aerator, put them in a bucket, or more preferbly a large cooler, and take them with you. As soon as you are situated, hook up the aerator (and maybe a small heater).

If you are away for days, bring stuff to do water changes- your chances of losing your fish would be smaller if you brought them to where ever you are going

 

[PsiPro]

A battery operated areator is only $20(give or take) at most petstores. They are designed to automatically turn on when the power goes out. These are an exclent option, I would deffinatly invest if you are going to be evacuating without the fish.

As for how long till your tank is toxic? Depends on your fish. If you put the filter media in the tank before you go your will actually proably be fine with a battery operated air pump.

 

[Habeas corpus]

That would be very difficult as we will already be really strapped for space. I have a wife, a 2 year old and a 4 month old to all pack into the minivan. I'll give it some thought though.

 

[m249saw]

Stay safe bro.

As much as we all love our wet pets make sure you dont sacrifice room for stuff your family will need.

 

[austinsdad]

I believe it may be useful to leave the lights off in the tank also if you leave them. Keeps them more relaxed and less likely to use up oxygen.

Your friend is not evacuating? Is there a generator the friend can use?

 

[fishyrican]

I would recommend leaving the fish altogether. There will be other things on the trip that will need your attention. Moreover, you don't want the presence of the fish to limit where you are able to shelter your family.

That being said, and noticing how the storm has progressed overnight, you may have already evacuated. Our prayers are with you and your family. Above all, personal safety for you and your family is more important than what you'll leave behind.

 

[Xzap]

Sorry to hear of your plight.
It's admirable for you to think about your fish, but there's not a lot you can do.. take care and let us know when you're back and OK.
Sincerely,
dave

 

[Hara]

take out the filter media before you leave. that way, when the power does come back on, it does not dump a bunch of toxic waste into the tank. unplug the lights as was previously mentioned. that is about all you can do at this point.

edited to add this...do not feed the fish, nor leave directions for anyone to feed the fish either. They will do better without food then if they were adding to the bioload without filtration.

 

[chelli]

FROM A SURVIVOR
of hurricane Opal, Ivan, Dennis, and lastly Katrina,
give it up. Fish can't take that kind of crap. I lost 50% of the freshwater tank and 90% of the saltwater during all hurricanes. We had no freshwater, electricity, phones, nothing.. So we just scooped up with water into small buckets and poured it back in briskly to keep it aerated and when the water came back up we did several water changes... and STILL EVERYTHING DIED.. they couldn't handle the 90 degree heat and we had NO ICE and they can't handle dirty polluted water. The best bet is to hook up APC UPS's but they only last about 2 hours on backup. So good luck and evacuate EARLY!!! Our hotels are already full here and we aren't expected to even get any of RITA this weekend. Good LUCK!!!!

 

[Blucat]

See if you can get your hands on a drinking filter eg.brita filter jug. With this filter u just pour the water in and clean filtered water comes out into the jug. it will be useful as a drinking water for yourself and if u take ur fish with u

 

[Blazeherd2306]

If it does go through Texas, then you will lose power. Like chelli said, with hurricanes, theres not much you can do. They most likely will die, but you never know with hurricanes.

 

[oxymoron]

Just take care of your babies and get out, at times like this you have to get your priorities straight and pets should be pretty low on your list.

 

[chelli]

I know what oxymoron is talking about with protect the kids.. but that is a no brainer.. but protecting your animals.. well they hit close to the heart too.. We can't do anything to protect our fish during hurricane after hurricane, but we take the cat and ferret with us regardless.. We'll sleep in the car before we'll ditch these guys..