Everyone ok?

[fischfan13]

Just got power back about an hour ago...

Looks like I only lost a few fish (a couple of big ones in a heavily stocked 150g and onesies here an there).

Both of my Hurricane 5's kicked in and provided air for about 8-10 hrs (overnight) to a few tanks. I didn't have enough D batteries to keep them going (brought them all to Uruguay and didn't replenish after the trip).

I had a battery air pump with fresh Ds on my 180 and it worked great until the last day. Doesn't look like anyone died in there

The rest of the tanks were just cool and quiet the whole time. Very few losses.

As tempted as I was, I only entered the fishroom a couple of times during the time without power. The fish were sleeping...the temp was cool (fishroom is in the basement)...so very little oxygen getting used.

I brought a trashbag this morning in preparation for the worst but was pleasantly suprised that it wasn't worse. Big water changes all around today

Sorry to hear about everyone who had bigger issues!

Matt

Good to hear Matt...go cool off.

 

[Mikeinco]

Just got power back about an hour ago...

Looks like I only lost a few fish (a couple of big ones in a heavily stocked 150g and onesies here an there).

Both of my Hurricane 5's kicked in and provided air for about 8-10 hrs (overnight) to a few tanks. I didn't have enough D batteries to keep them going (brought them all to Uruguay and didn't replenish after the trip).

I had a battery air pump with fresh Ds on my 180 and it worked great until the last day. Doesn't look like anyone died in there

The rest of the tanks were just cool and quiet the whole time. Very few losses.

As tempted as I was, I only entered the fishroom a couple of times during the time without power. The fish were sleeping...the temp was cool (fishroom is in the basement)...so very little oxygen getting used.

I brought a trashbag this morning in preparation for the worst but was pleasantly suprised that it wasn't worse. Big water changes all around today

Sorry to hear about everyone who had bigger issues!

Matt

Matt sounds like you got lucky. I would have been freaking out and like you wouldn't have gone into my fish room at all. Glad to hear your power is back on. Are you going to Indy?

 

[Shane]

I'd do water changes. That's what I've been doing and so far my fish have survived.

Since temps are stable right now, thank goodness for the heat, this is all one has to do. I have kept collections alive for over a week in the field in the tropics in 5 gallon buckets with nothing more than frequent water changes.

Don't feed.

Yes. This should go without saying. Avoid adding anything that will further degrade water quality and/or consume O2.

Filtration primarily serves to keep water parameters stable between changes by slowing the degradation of the aquarium water's quality. Without filtration it just takes larger, more frequent water changes to keep parameters stable. How large and how frequent will depend on how heavily stocked the tank is.

Keeping O2 levels up is also important, especially for non-air breathing fishes. It is critical for montane and piedmont fishes that need high O2 levels. In my Chaetostoma tanks I turned over the water's volume once every two hours just using a 32 oz plastic cup to scoop up water and pour it back in.

Not sure if Frank's article covered these issues. I have been unable to open the link.

-Shane

 

[jonclark96]

Glad to hear that power is up and running at the Quinn household. Hopefully everyone else without power gets it back today.

 

[dogofwar]

Thanks everyone - I can actually make coffee now, too. Which will help in doing water changes / cleaning the house, etc.!

Who else is without power? I'm happy to donate a batter air pump to whoever needs one,,,

Matt

 

[mchambers]

We are still without power and PEPCO has no estimate as to restoration. Thanks for pump offer (Holly also offered her pumps).

At this point, I'm sticking with water changes and rotating my two pumps among six tanks. Most of my tanks are in the basement, so temperature isn't an issue.

I haven't fed my fish, of course. Interestingly, this outage came on the heels of our trip to Belize, so my fish have been on a diet: 12 days without food, followed by 3 days of moderate feeding, followed by 6 days without food. So far, no losses as far as I can tell.

By the way, it's interesting to use a head lamp or small flashlight to observe your tanks at night. The eyes of corydoras are very reflective.

 

[Tony]

Sorry to hear you're still out Matt C. And also sorry to hear about Arlene's popplar.... There's a bunch of Bradford pears in my parent's neighborhood and they do the same thing. :s

Out power went back on yesterday afternoon. Will be changing water all day.

Anyone heard from Francine, Kevin or Pat?

 

[WendyFish]

Getting everything cleaned up in the house today. In addition to the power failure, we learned that our overflows aren't watertight, so one of our tanks overflowed its sump overnight on Friday (the other one didn't overflow, fortunately). We had an adventure Saturday morning getting the fish out and moving everything out to dry.

Much thanks to Verbal and family for taking the displaced mbuna until we got power back. Thank you so much.

I was really glad for this thread too -- most of our friends don't know how stressful it is to worry about and try to care for your fish in these circumstances, so it was nice to have somewhere to come and not feel alone on that!

Good luck to everybody who's still without power. Anyone who's in the VA area, let me know if we can help.

 

[JasonC]

Just called the house and got the answering machine to pick up for the first time since friday! Woo! we are back online! Now, tonight, after work I can do some heavy water changes and hopefully move on with 0 loss.. knock on wood...

 

[mchambers]

Looks like I'm the last, or one of the last left. Kind of a lonely feeling!

Chain Electric, a PEPCO "reliability contractor" (not making this up, but it has an Orwellian ring to it), just showed up, so maybe in a few hours we'll have power.

 

[mscichlid]

Hey! I'm sorry that some of our members are still offline! If you need rescue in any form, let us know. I have driftwood and rocks to spare.

After spending a night at a hotel on Saturday, my power was restored on Sunday afternoon around 2:30. While walking my dog on Monday morn, a Pepco crew in a pickup drove by and asked if everything was okay and if I had power. That was a nice touch.

The only thing I lost were two ghost shrimp. I avoided my fishroom the entire time and was just waiting for that smell. I was most concerned about my altums and dwarf pike pair...they made it through.

None of my tanks are overstocked, except one that has 20 rednose rummies, 10 Nannacara sp belem, a big pair of angels and a hodge podge of cories and a pleco. Lots of java fern in there though. Today, I did a water change on a 40 breeder. I'll get to the rest this week. I have to work Sunday.

 

[mchambers]

My long aquatic nightmare is over

After about 116 hours, our power has been restored. I've plugged in all of the lights and filters and everything looks good.

As far as I've seen, I only lost one corydoras pygmaeus and one Endler's livebearer. I wouldn't be surprised to find more dead fish this weekend when I clean the tanks, but the vast majority of the fish survived. Here's to low water levels and frequent large water changes.

Interestingly, my rainbow cichlids all went to the backs of their tanks while the power was off, so that I never saw them. As soon as I filled the tanks and turned on the filters, they reappeared. I wasn't worried, because I know they survive extreme fluctuations in the wild, but it's good to know they made it.

And boy are those fish hungry, after only 3 meals in the last 20 days.

 

[Leffler817]

Welcome back Matt! Enjoy the luxuries of electricity! Glad to hear most of the clubs losses are minimal so far.

Is everyone else still out?


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

 

[dogofwar]

Great to hear, Matt!

Matt

 

[FishInMaryland]

Oh, Matt, I'm so glad to hear it! I've been checking this thread all day, hoping to see that you have power back!!

I was really glad for this thread too -- most of our friends don't know how stressful it is to worry about and try to care for your fish in these circumstances, so it was nice to have somewhere to come and not feel alone on that!

Wendy - ditto here. Nobody else understands.

 

[chriscoli]

Woo Hoo for Matt!

Do we know of anybody else that's still out???

 

[hollyfish2000]

Yah for the rainbows!!!:wub:

 

[Andrewtfw]

hope there's no stink

Woo Hoo for Matt!

Do we know of anybody else that's still out???

I just learned that the school where I teach is still without power. I have a 125 gallon tank in the classroom that I have not seen/heard about since last Thursday. Summer school was supposed to start tomorow, but has been canceled until Monday due to power loss.

I am hopeful that I can get into the building tomorrow to survey the situation. It is doubtful that I will be let in, but I am hopeful that there has been no loss. The fish have not been fed since last Thursday, but they are decent size.

 

[dogofwar]

Good luck, Andrew!

Matt

I just learned that the school where I teach is still without power. I have a 125 gallon tank in the classroom that I have not seen/heard about since last Thursday. Summer school was supposed to start tomorow, but has been canceled until Monday due to power loss.

I am hopeful that I can get into the building tomorrow to survey the situation. It is doubtful that I will be let in, but I am hopeful that there has been no loss. The fish have not been fed since last Thursday, but they are decent size.

 

[ezrk]

Getting everything cleaned up in the house today. In addition to the power failure, we learned that our overflows aren't watertight, so one of our tanks overflowed its sump overnight on Friday (the other one didn't overflow, fortunately). We had an adventure Saturday morning getting the fish out and moving everything out to dry.

There is an engineering less on in this. In moving things around I had re-arranged our various water alarms and on the tank the over-flowed (and only that tank) was a water alarm that would have detected the overflow missing.

Why? because I hadn't bought a new one yet and I KNEW for sure that this wouldn't overflow because the sump had plenty of volume to handle the back flow that comes with ever water change. Of course the relatively tiny trickle the baclflowed into the weir during a water change isn't really noticeable, but given 8-12 hours....live and learn I suppose.

Wasn't a terrible overflow no lasting damage to floor or carpet the tanks stands on. As a bonus we changed out the sand from sugar sized, which the Mbuna make a mess of, to something slightly coarser which should be a bit more stable for them.

One thing that did strike me out of all this (flood, power outage) was a new appreciation for mattenfilters. No flood possibility and they have to be about the best thing for power outages, just hook up a battery air pump and you have a slightly reduced but generally the same filtration as ever...