Bent Needle
Aquarium Advice Regular
Please don't come after me by saying I should have been prepared for this. I'm well aware. I am absolutely sick at losing my beloved water puppies, ok? So what happened:
Tank stats:
55 gallon, fluval gravel substrate, all artificial decor
2 adult angelfish
1 female adult red spotted severum
1 chinese algae eater
(No, not ideal stocking, but I inherited the tank and kept all but the most obviously wrong occupant, which was a common pleco that was HUGE - but that's been gone for over a year)
It was well established, the severum was laying eggs every few weeks (sadly I only had the one! so all her dutiful watchfulness and care of the eggs was in vain).
Temp: 74-75 degrees Fahrenheit
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrates: ~20 ppm depending on when I last did a water change.
TL;DR: What *should* I have done and what's the best thing to do to avoid this in the future, if I decide to restock my tank? Is there anything I can do for the last fish?
Due to the recent winter storms that came through Virginia, I was without power for almost three days. I will say, I live in a city and in all the almost 10 years I've lived here, I've never lost power for more than a few hours, so I had no backup for my tank equipment. I was aerating the water by hand as often as I could, as I still had to go to work, and otherwise keeping the tank wrapped up in blankets to try and keep the temp as high as possible. Unfortunately, it got to 43 degrees in my house and I'm sure almost as cold in the tank. When the power finally came back on last night the severum and one angelfish were obviously deceased. The algae eater seemed ok but I guess as the temperture rose it went a bit crazy and I honestly think it injured itself by whacking into the glass, and died. The last angelfish I thought was also deceased, as it was lying flat on the bottom of the tank, but as the temp went back up it started flopping around. It's now nose down in a corner of the tank, alive but clearly in trouble. Ammonia was up a bit (like to .25 ppm) this morning, I did a partial water change - and also did a massive one last night after removing the dead fish. I don't usually change more than 30-40% of the water at a time, but it had been so long and I was in such a rush I didn't take time to see where the ammonia was.
I'm pretty sure my last angel is a lost cause, but I'm monitoring the water parameters closely. Any advice? I've got a battery power source on it's way, not that it's going to do any good now, but this shouldn't happen again. I'm so sad. My only small comfort is the water was cold so I don't think they really suffered (except maybe the algae eater, poor thing).
Tank stats:
55 gallon, fluval gravel substrate, all artificial decor
2 adult angelfish
1 female adult red spotted severum
1 chinese algae eater
(No, not ideal stocking, but I inherited the tank and kept all but the most obviously wrong occupant, which was a common pleco that was HUGE - but that's been gone for over a year)
It was well established, the severum was laying eggs every few weeks (sadly I only had the one! so all her dutiful watchfulness and care of the eggs was in vain).
Temp: 74-75 degrees Fahrenheit
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrates: ~20 ppm depending on when I last did a water change.
TL;DR: What *should* I have done and what's the best thing to do to avoid this in the future, if I decide to restock my tank? Is there anything I can do for the last fish?
Due to the recent winter storms that came through Virginia, I was without power for almost three days. I will say, I live in a city and in all the almost 10 years I've lived here, I've never lost power for more than a few hours, so I had no backup for my tank equipment. I was aerating the water by hand as often as I could, as I still had to go to work, and otherwise keeping the tank wrapped up in blankets to try and keep the temp as high as possible. Unfortunately, it got to 43 degrees in my house and I'm sure almost as cold in the tank. When the power finally came back on last night the severum and one angelfish were obviously deceased. The algae eater seemed ok but I guess as the temperture rose it went a bit crazy and I honestly think it injured itself by whacking into the glass, and died. The last angelfish I thought was also deceased, as it was lying flat on the bottom of the tank, but as the temp went back up it started flopping around. It's now nose down in a corner of the tank, alive but clearly in trouble. Ammonia was up a bit (like to .25 ppm) this morning, I did a partial water change - and also did a massive one last night after removing the dead fish. I don't usually change more than 30-40% of the water at a time, but it had been so long and I was in such a rush I didn't take time to see where the ammonia was.
I'm pretty sure my last angel is a lost cause, but I'm monitoring the water parameters closely. Any advice? I've got a battery power source on it's way, not that it's going to do any good now, but this shouldn't happen again. I'm so sad. My only small comfort is the water was cold so I don't think they really suffered (except maybe the algae eater, poor thing).
) What kind of filtration are you using? In something like a HOB filter, using a gang valve to split the air line, you can place an air stone inside the filter box so that should the power go out, the aeration in the filter box will keep the nitrifying microbes alive until the power goes back on. Obviously this will not work in a canister style filter. 
