Fish care w/o electricity, Irmagddon

[Jsarita68]

I am about to get plowed by Irma as I am in the Tampa Bay area. I have battery run air stones but would like advice on water changes, and rising temperatures as it's going to get hot without AC. Any other advice like feeding,etc. would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! ~J

 

[Brookster123]

Honestly man. Get yourself squared away. Unplug all the components to avoid surge. 3x dose the tank with prime and hope for the best

 

[dalto]

Stop feeding now. As long as you don't have fry, healthy freshwater fish can easily go a week without eating.

Make sure you have spare batteries for the air pump.

Keep any eye on ammonia levels.

What kind of fish do you have?

 

[V227]

Had an ice storm hit my neighborhood several years ago. No power for 13 days. I kept 30 Rainbow fish alive in a 65 gal tank by changing 10 gallons with warm water twice a day. I kept the tank covered with a blanket to conserve heat. I didn't have a battery bubbler. I fed them once every third day.
You might do 2 or 3 small WC's a day with as cold a tap water you can get. With the airstones most fish can survive water temps to the upper 80's.
Folks here in Oklahoma are praying for Florida. Good luck.

 

[Mebbid]

If you're worried about the temperature getting too high, then removing any lids to the tank will help keep the temp down along with those bubblers you have. Evaporation will be your friend.

 

[Jsarita68]

I have variatus platy fish and nerite snals. When the electricity goes out I am going to turn off all the electric in the house to avoid any weird surges. My main concern is the temperature rise as I won't have any tap water to run. I have bottles of water primed and ready for water changes. Some have suggested putting ice in the tank or a ziplock bag with ice in it. What do you think about that? Will it shock the fish?
Thanks!

 

[V227]

If you do have a power outage I would expect it to be a long term event. That probably rules out ice. Taking the tank lid off in conjunction with your battery powered airstones, your fish will probably survive. Fill up as many jugs of water as possible for WC 's. Don't feed very often. Maybe once every fourth or fifth day, and then very sparingly.

 

[Mebbid]

I have variatus platy fish and nerite snals. When the electricity goes out I am going to turn off all the electric in the house to avoid any weird surges. My main concern is the temperature rise as I won't have any tap water to run. I have bottles of water primed and ready for water changes. Some have suggested putting ice in the tank or a ziplock bag with ice in it. What do you think about that? Will it shock the fish?
Thanks!

We had a heat wave here in Michigan a few years back. I rotated out frozen 2 liters in my salt and fresh tanks to keep the temp below 90. It worked well and when I saw fish pecking at the frozen bottles I didn't worry too much about shocking them, they didn't care.

 

[Jsarita68]

Thanks for all of your advice!

 

[Autumnsky]

Good sized pwc before the event. Lightly clean filters with treated or tank water.

Good solid advice.

Hold on tight. Will be praying for all of the storm affected, including you!

 

[Brookster123]

How'd you make out? I have people in st. Pete and Sarasota. Both were happily underwhelmed by the storm.

 

[Jsarita68]

Update: Well the Tampa Bay area dodged a serious bullet! I got power back with in 24 hours. Fish are doing great! Thank you all for your advice.