Lost Power and now really sick fish, Please Help!!!

[daronson76]

I have a 55 gallon tank with one fish"- a large French Angel which I have had for over 10 years, no coral and all levels are "normal.

I am currently out of town and of course that's when I have problems. My power was out last night and for a while today. It was only in the 20's overnight so it got cold in my house. The tank got pretty cold as well I'm gathering as my friend went there to feed the fish today and noticed that he was laying on the bottom of the tank curled up but still breathing. The heater fried when the power came back on so he threw a small back up heater that I have in the tank along with a little bit of hot water. A couple of hours later the fish is breathing better and is moving his fins more but is still curled up at the bottom of the tank.

I don't want to warm it up too quickly and shock him but do you think there's any hope??? I'm not supposed to get back home until Sunday but am trying to find a heater for my friend to get for me tomorrow (I live in a rural area). I am so disgusted.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!!!

 

[tonedogz]

I had the same problem 2 years ago and lost a lot of my fish. The online place I purchased my fish from, the guy I assumed was a marine biologist told me that if I would have agitated the water with a spatula or large spoon they would have been ok because it wasn't the cold so much as the lack of aeration so have them give that a try. good luck

 

[daronson76]

Thanks so much for the advice. So I just checked in and interestingly enough right after the timer went off for the light he started swimming around like normal. I'm just hoping that he keeps it up. Then I can re-evaluate in the morning and try to get a new heater.....

 

[Andy Sager]

I feel for ya...

I have a 55 gallon tank with one fish"- a large French Angel which I have had for over 10 years, no coral and all levels are "normal.

I am currently out of town and of course that's when I have problems. My power was out last night and for a while today. It was only in the 20's overnight so it got cold in my house. The tank got pretty cold as well I'm gathering as my friend went there to feed the fish today and noticed that he was laying on the bottom of the tank curled up but still breathing. The heater fried when the power came back on so he threw a small back up heater that I have in the tank along with a little bit of hot water. A couple of hours later the fish is breathing better and is moving his fins more but is still curled up at the bottom of the tank.

I don't want to warm it up too quickly and shock him but do you think there's any hope??? I'm not supposed to get back home until Sunday but am trying to find a heater for my friend to get for me tomorrow (I live in a rural area). I am so disgusted.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!!!

What you need to remember is that these fish can go through some lower temps and still be okay. I had a similar situation in a warehouse in Ft. Lauderdale where the heat died for the building in the middle of an extremely cold night and when we got there in the morning, I had about 100 Local Angels (Queens, French. Blues, Blacks, etc) look like they were in a state of suspended animation. Using a gradual warmup got the fish back in shape with no losses so you should do the same. No more than a 2-4 degree rise in a 12 hour span. Since you have had the fish for so long, any larger change in temp would probably not sit well with the fish. Remember, at these colder temps the fish's metabolism is also slowed tremendously so go easy on the feeding until you get a temp in the 60s at least.

Hope this helps and good luck