Power Outage

[Upstate TBarbs]

There was a power outage in my area that started last night and lasted about 16 hours. As a result my hearer, air pump and filter were not working. I lost 1 green tiger barb because of it.

Would having a battery operated air stone running during that time been of any help?

Tank is a 54 gallon corner unit with an AquaClear 70, Eheim Jager 150W heater, and 2 air stones.

It is stocked with:
6 Tiger Barbs
3 Green Tiger Barbs (now 2)
3 Albino Tiger Barbs
3 Red Tiger Barbs
5 Panda Corydora
6 Otocinclus

Water parameters:
0 Ammonia
0 NitrIte
30 PPM Nitr8

I was going to do a 25 - 40% water change yesterday when the power went out.

 

[jonah8008]

An airstone certainly would’ve helped a little bit. I think that the biggest thing that caused harm would have been temperature fluctuation. What was it before and after the outage?

 

[Upstate TBarbs]

It went from about 78 to about 72.

 

[Brookster123]

Honestly.. if it was a stable tank to begin with than it should have been fine for the outage. I'm not proud of this but I forgot to flick on the power strip after a wc on my electric blue ram tank, tetras and corys as well. In 24hrs tank went to from 83 down to 72. No flow and here's the kicker.. co2 was cranking the whole time. Double whammy. Did not lose a single fish. If the tank is unstable/overstocked, the slightest imperfection in the track can derail the whole train..

 

[jonah8008]

That’s not a very big drop. Like Brookster123 said, it should have been fine if it were a perfectly healthy tank. My tanks have been without power for 3 days sometimes. Maybe there’s something else going on...

 

[V227]

Upstate, 25 out of 26 lived, Green TB' s are about two bucks a peice in my area. No big deal, probably just a weakened fish. A bubbler would be a plus, but like the other members indicated probably not needed for a freshwater tank. A generator a must for a marine set up.
During an extended power outage in cold months, if you have a gas water heater, two small WC's a day using warm water and a blanket over tank has worked for me. Ice storm, no electricity for 13 days. I didn't lose a single fish.

 

[tonedogz]

As long as you agitate the water surface every few hours they should be fine when the power goes out

 

[kashif314]

Yes a battery operated unit would definitely help and for next time if such situation arise u can add some fresh water after every few hours.

Please educate me how fish don't die when tank remain without any water agitation for 24 hours as Brookasster said or for three days as Jonah said. This is the first time I hear.

 

[jonah8008]

Yes a battery operated unit would definitely help and for next time if such situation arise u can add some fresh water after every few hours.

Please educate me how fish don't die when tank remain without any water agitation for 24 hours as Brookasster said or for three days as Jonah said. This is the first time I hear.

I had a lot of natural and unfertilized plants in the tank at the time. They helped replenish the oxygen supply and my tank was by no means bio-loaded to the max. Also, the fish in there were very hardy. I had several types of tetras, danios, a pleco, and a few guppies in a 55 gallon tank

 

[coralbandit]

Bacteria do not live only in filters.They grow on surfaces many like to give fancy names like 'media'...Truth be told every surface in the water should have bacteria on it so over a short period of time[ a couple days easy] a properly stocked tank should have no problem besides temp...
Like others said an over stocked or improperly stocked and even a weak fish may not handle the small hurdle in the road so well.
I had an air line come loose that fed a manifold to run sponge filters on 5 tanks while I was just out of town.4 tanks had no issue at all while the heaviest stocked tank was wiped out....Sometimes it is just like that.

 

[kashif314]

Thanks for the info. Still very strange to me because according to my knowledge oxygen is produced by water agitation so if there is no water agitation means no oxygen and three days is a very long time.

 

[Brookster123]

Should add the tank I challenged was heavily planted and the lights were on so the plants were respirating.

 

[kashif314]

Should add the tank I challenged was heavily planted and the lights were on so the plants were respirating.

Yes that's a logical explanation. Thanks.