Long power outage.

[mimiheart]

We had a pretty long power outage last night. I lost one molly who was sick and in isolation and I was probably going to lose anyhow. But my 40 gallon got WAY hotter after I went to sleep and was at 88 when I got up this morning. I lost two cories and my rainbow shark. I've done a small water change on all my tanks just because the filters were off all night. Anything else I should look out for? (My smaller tanks are all in naturally cooler parts of the house and none of the fish/frogs seem at all bothered.) One molly in the 40 was clamping, but after the change and getting breakfast she seems fine.

 

[Autumnsky]

Did you get power yet?

BB might start to die off so be on the look out for mini cycles in the tanks.

You might want to pwc to add back cooler water on hotter tanks. Find battery operated air pumps if it isn't back on.

Add Prime to the tanks to help curb loss of filtering and cleaning.

Don't feed the fish.

You can also get a inverter to use on your auto battery to run a pump.

When the filters start back up you will get a flush of gunk usually from the tubes and pads.

You might try a gentle treated water rinse on the filter pads and rinse the filter containers to get out any extra gunk, as the gunk build up not being processed and aerated will raise toxic levels.

 

[mimiheart]

The power came back on after over 14 hours. That was mainly what I did. I fed them peas after doing the pwc. I did add prime. I think the main thing was just the temp getting so hot while I slept.

I noticed a bit of extra gunk in my big tank, but my smaller tanks seem to be mostly okay. Thanks!

 

[Autumnsky]

Oh good to hear it was mostly good. Sorry about your fish loss.

Watch for the mini cycle and maybe do an early pwc to stay ahead of issues.

 

[mimiheart]

Will do! Mostly upset about my rainbow shark. The Molly was one we bred and my kids loved her. I haven't told them yet. (They're at grandparents' for the summer.)

 

[Autumnsky]

That's the hard part of fish keeping. Coming back from loss and tank issues. I am sorry for their loss. I lost a an old Redtail Shark, she was about 8 years old (I'd only had her about 2.5 years) so I know that loss too.

Sometimes a suitable similar fish can be found as a substitute. But many times the fish's behavior and personality is more special, and the replacement fish can't fill the empty place left.

 

[abw0004]

One thing I have is a battery powered air pump that PetCo sells. Keeps the water moving which will save your BB.

Hey at least you didn't deal what I had to deal with. My tank developed a leak while I was on a cruise in the Caribbean. The tank was on the second floor too. Got the call half way in the vacation so I had to guide my fish sitter (no aquarium experience) of what to do to stall the tank so I could get home. The biggest problem I was worried about as the water weakening the stand to where it would collapse. Luckily the stalling worked until I got home, but it was a mess. This happened a month ago and I can finally say everything is back to normal.

 

[mimiheart]

Oy! That sounds like a nightmare. My 40 is the one that needed the pump. I'll probably pick one up soon. Haven't ever had anything like that before -- the power station down the street had an explosion.

My 20 gallon and betta tank seem fine (though the filter on the betta tank barely moves the water, so I'm not surprised, and he's the only one in there). My ten and forty are having a small cycle it seems, but my ten I've been messing with anyhow and just changed the stock on. So I'm not too surprised that there's something going on there.