Losses of the October Surprise Storm in Buffalo

[physicsdude]

Well, due to the heat, power, phones being out for the last 4 days caused temperatures to plummet in my home and in tank. 4 fish didn't make it:
1 Black Ghost Knifefish
2 pairs of mated Keyhole Cichlids
1 butterfly fish
1 yo-yo loach
1 pleco
2 mated chocolate gouramis
All froze to death at nite when the temperature dropped to 30s. Poor fish, yet a few fish survived. The mated paradise fish and the cory cats all made it thru fine. I could'nt do anything to help them as the hot water tank's leftover hot water was used to help my neighbor with her muscular dystrophy. Consequently, there was no way, or time for that matter, to heat any water to save anyone. Plus, after day 2, the water became contaminated unless it was boiled first.
Made me sad to just see them fight to survive the frigid water as I felt so helpless. Yet, that feeling was far outweighed when I thought of all the fish and corals and plants at the lfs who did not have good water or heat for those animals.
Yet, to narrow the scope to my fish again:
RIP my friends...

 

[WaterPond]

wow, i'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[plecoperson]

Oh, no. I am so sorry for your losses, and those of other aquarists up there. There was a front-page photo of a huge downed power pole in the Chicago Tribune; the first thing I thought of was my aquaintances on the fish lists.

What a shame-we feel for you.

 

[skibar70]

My condolences. I know how you feel.

 

[Pleco]

My condolences for you loss, having lost some of my fish to a nitrite spike i understand how it is to lose your pets. I am afraid of power outages and how it may affect my fish, i have bought a UPS for my filter and my heater, doing the math on its usage i should be able to run for about 2-2.5 days without power. I realize that this was a $90 investment but to me the piece of mind was worth it.

-Pleco

 

[joannde]

Oh I'm so sorry for your losses. I can imagine how hard it must have been to realize it was happening and not have a way to "make it right", but ... and no flames please ... helping your neighbor was much more important than saving the fish, as much as I'm sure it hurt. I commend you for putting others above yourself and your (your fishes) needs.

 

[Sicklid]

I have been through it too, down in Florida you may have heard we have these little hurricanes every year. I was able to use a generator every few hours to run the air stone/filter. I have since bought a battery operated air-pump to run a sponge filter, and flow some water. I have never had to worry about freezing temps though, just oxygen-depleted water. I am very sorry for your loss. That really stinks.

 

[joannde]

Hi Sicklid - I'm in Clearwater - hi neighbor ! LOL
We got lucky this year, didn't we ?
Bless my husband - he actually asked how long per day the tanks would need to use the generator if/when we ever need it.

 

[DepotFish]

What a blow to the fishtanks. Sorry about your losses. If only we had back up heaters and filters run by petal power, then one could exercycle through the power outage, lol.

 

[An t-iasg]

I'm very sorry to hear about your fish. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon for you and everyone in your area.