Fish and power outages

[mcrudd]

I had my first experience of power outages and was scared by them for my fish's sakes. Their tank temp dropped from 26 to 24.5 within an hour and all I could do was make a massive fire in our fireplace. Then they had no bubbles and all started swimming to the top of the tank, would not even eat when I offered some food. They are all good now But what could I have done if say it was a worse case and the power was off for days

[phoenix44]

1. Never ever feed your fish during a power outage. It's the best way to deplete O2 levels.

If they start gasping you can do a water change in the hopes that the new water has more O2.

Colder water holds more O2, so it is a trade off between temperature and O2 levels.

[ryanjury]

I agree with Phoenix, don't feed this will only increase the waste in the water and cause further issues if filters don't restart soon.

I probably wouldn't do any water changes I just wouldn't worry about getting the temp up unless it was dropping below 20C most fish can survive getting this cold with no ill effects. And it also has the advantage of slowing them down a bit lowering the amount of waste they produce and cooler water holds more oxygen so you are less likely to run into issues.

[DennisP]

1. Never ever feed your fish during a power outage. It's the best way to deplete O2 levels.

If they start gasping you can do a water change in the hopes that the new water has more O2.

Colder water holds more O2, so it is a trade off between temperature and O2 levels.

To increase o2 levels, wouldn't surface agitation increase it? EG: spoon or hand or w/e?

[mcrudd]

thanks all

So I don't have to worry to much about temp, as long as my house is warm then it should not go down below 20. The airation will be ok?

I will not feed in the future, thanks for advice

[SamH]

Only down to 24.5? :-? That's strange.

[phoenix44]

Really?

I actually thought that was quite a drop in an hour or so.

Can't say I'd want to test the theory though

[SamH]

Really?

I actually thought that was quite a drop in an hour or so.

Can't say I'd want to test the theory though

1.5 degrees? That's nothing. I drop fish between 25-28C water all the time :lol:

[phoenix44]

As in you just transfer them to other tanks?

I meant I thought it was quite a drop in temp for the temp to drop 1.5 degrees in an hour.

[SamH]

As in you just transfer them to other tanks?

Yes. So you were surprised at the temperature drop in that amount of time, not the fact that the fish were acting differently?

[phoenix44]

yes. precisely.

[DennisP]

Confuuusssiiioonnn... :lol:

My tank dropped from 30*C - 22* or so in 4 hours. =0

[Caryl]

I too was surprised at the temperature drop in just an hour - unless the house is an old, uninsulated, very cold, one.

[mcrudd]

Its a batch that only recently got insulated, but we put the greenstuff thickest you can get in the roof and we put expol under the floors, but it was a very very cold day that day. The house also had all the windows open to try and dry my washing :roll: so it was chilly in here, that is why when we lost the electricity I closed everything up and made a massive fire. My tank is also in my lounge, and my lounge, kitchen and dining room is one big open plan room, so its the coldest in the house, unless the fire is going.

[Mr T]

During the Christchurch earthquake, I had no power for 36hrs. I've got 6 tanks and never lost a fish. Mind you, I only stock killies and they can handle cooler temps. What was more of a surprise, was the fact I didn't lose a tank!