Lost all my fish due to Hurricane Sandy

[LaCosaNostra]

First and foremost my heart goes out to everyone who lost loved-ones/property etc. The Hurricane wreaked havoc up and down the East Coast and I hope everyone that was struck hard is on the road to recovery.

Unfortunately, I lost electricty at my house, here on Long Island, until this past Saturday, 11/10/12. That was close to two weeks with no power, no heat (no generator) and unfortunately I lost my entire stock of tetras and cory's that I had for close to a year and a half.

My question, if anybody can help provide, is did I lose my entire colony of BB. Basically with two weeks of no filtration, no heat (water temp. went down to 55 degrees), aeration, etc. I feel that all of my beneficial bacteria is probably destroyed. Would this be the general concensus???

Do I have to start all over again???

I have a 29gallon set up with a AcquaClear 50 filter.

Any help and assistance is greatly appreciated.

 

[Jesselav1233]

I'm not 100% on this but I think if the water stopped moving then the bb is dead In your filter I guess their might be some In the tank but I would think you would have to start fresh unfortunately. Again I'm not 100%

 

[blert]

Fire it up, raise the temp and add some ammonia. See what happens in 24 hours.

 

[vaquero]

+1 I think Jesselav1233 is correct. I would start over. So sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[vaquero]

Fire it up, raise the temp and add some ammonia. See what happens in 24 hours.

So putting it into a mini cycle? Or a major one?

 

[LaCosaNostra]

Thanks to all the responses. I have the tank up and running again and the temp is up to 80 degrees now. It makes sense to put some pure ammonia in (I'll bring it up to 1 - 2 ppm) and see if it gets processed.

Otherwise...I have to start all over again.

 

[blert]

So putting it into a mini cycle? Or a major one?

Neither. If it can still process ammonia at a decent rate there is no reason to rip it down and start over unless you want to go through all that again. Chances are there is still plenty of BB in there lying dormant. It can't hurt to try.
Good luck.

 

[Jesselav1233]

Seems to me it's prob all dead by now with no water movement in the filter but like he/she said I guess it won't hurt to try it. Let us know if it still processes ammonia or not I'm interested to know?

 

[LaCosaNostra]

The ammonia I put in (2 ppm) was not processed after 24 hrs. I have to say I'm not suprised. I guess I have to cycle the tank all over again.

 

[Jesselav1233]

The ammonia I put in (2 ppm) was not processed after 24 hrs. I have to say I'm not suprised. I guess I have to cycle the tank all over again.

Sucks man. Was worth a shot anyways. Well at least you get to buy all new fish now thats always fun minus the money part.

 

[jcolon]

So sorry to hear about this. I would have probably gone ballistic if I'd lost my stock this way. It was my biggest aquarium fear when we lost power .. Albeit for only a day. There may be some BB pockets alive in the substrate so it will take some time for them to multiply enough to see a dip in the Ammonia you added. Any in the filter media would've starved from lack of food, or died if the media dried out.

 

[LaCosaNostra]

So sorry to hear about this. I would have probably gone ballistic if I'd lost my stock this way. It was my biggest aquarium fear when we lost power .. Albeit for only a day. There may be some BB pockets alive in the substrate so it will take some time for them to multiply enough to see a dip in the Ammonia you added. Any in the filter media would've starved from lack of food, or died if the media dried out.

What are you going to do? Unfortunately, it's a part of the aftermath of the storm. But...you have to put everything into perspective; I know people on the Island that lost everything.

I'm going to put in a claim with the insurance company and see if I can get some relief. Heck...it's worth a shot. I put way too much money and effort to not ask.

I just miss my schools of rummy nose and cory's...