PETEYPLECO Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Did anybody else have the power out on the north shore tuesday 24TH ! Mine was out from 3pm to 10:30pm, during this time I kept a close eye on my fish who looked most unhappy, temp had dropped 4 deg ! I drained out approx 10 ltrs of water and replaced to try and keep the water somewhat clean. I was told by the power company if any die to take a photo of the beloved deceased and they would replace them - so far no deaths though. Any other tips to keep fish happy in the case of power loss? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monaro1 Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 take one hose,put one end in tank and take other end and BLOW the power company will pay for your losses but that dose not fix the fact that your fish die in a power cut i cover my tanks in blankets and poly. gas heater in the room to keep the temp up. a good water change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Hey! Bet the power company don't know what fish cost. Just imagine one of our big Reefers here collapsing. But then again, could be a good time to replace unwanted fish. Alan 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 ummm my captive bred flame back angel died during the power cut can you please replace it :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 24, 2006 Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 :evil: just called home, and the power has been off for about 2 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 24, 2006 Yeah Brianemone I know what your saying but are their any steps you can take (apart from a generator worth $1000+) to prevent illness or death. 17000 homes in Auckland without power yesterday ! :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monaro1 Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 about a year ago the power was off here for 12 hours and i lost a batch of jags and it defrosted some meat in the frezer.i rang up and put in a clame and they sent me a cheque for $100.00. $50 for the fish and $50 for the meat. you have to ring them up when the power goes off and tell them that you have fish that will die without power for to long.then they regester your name and address. this makes it easyer when it comes time to clame cooked a lot of steak that night(friends for a BBQ)no wasted meat and the jags were only a week old anyway and soon replaced. would hate to think of what a big marine tank would cost to replace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 our power was out from 1pm to 3am, a tree behond our house fell on the lines, and at 2am the powerguys came, WITHOUT a bloody chainsaw!! so they used ours. my guppy tank got down to 24.8, and wouldnt get lower which was good, and the larger tanks were a tad warmer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 No don't call the power company!!!!!!!!! :evil: I'm a supervisor at one and took over 100 calls yesterday the majority were faults from that area but also Morrinsville, Te Aroha, all over. Out of all those calls only had one really bad patronising annoying irrational customer. Well I'd suggest you stick with whatever company you are with PETEYPLECO Monaro1 because we don't pay out for any losses unless it was our fault, e.g we disconnected you by accident. The recent storm is classified by United Networks (the lines company for Auckland and Wellington) as a Force Majeure event, that is, due to severe weather conditions causing outages beyond anyone's control, therefore no payouts at least from the network co. We would advise you to consult your insurance company. Supply cannot be guaranteed 100% of the time. Interesting that i'm saying this yet have valuable fish myself?? Indeed, well what you can do is as Monaro1 said cover your tanks with blankets and duvets to retain the heat, use polystyrene, also take hot water out of the cylinder as it stays hotter longer than your tank will as better insulated more often than not and larger volume of water (usually) too. Glad that Waikato only has a few outages ay? Don't be complainin' about 2 hours Brian some customers went all night without it and need it for water and sewage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 are you at sitel?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoandWilly Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 Lol haven't you to bumped into each other in the elevator yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 What power company are you with? Mine doesn't pay out for lost fish and I had $200-300 of fish die on me because of a power outage! And insurance companies don't pay either. They'd say: "Livestock? Hahaha, yeah right.*Click*" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I didn't think any would pay out for livestock. Anyway, best thing to do is just cover the tanks with a blanket to keep as much heat in as possible. At this time of year it isn't a problem. Slow temperature drops aren't too bad and most fish cope. It is the filters that are the problem if too many bacteria die off - and they start to do so after 20 minutes. Keep a close eye for signs of whitespot for the next week or 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monaro1 Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 mercury energy paid for the meat and the fish, i gess it was there fault because they were digging up lots of peoples lawns all over the area.they replaced a big transformer(i think)just down the road from us. i was still happy to bank there cheque Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brianemone Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 oxygen levels drop in a reef tank with no circulation causing dead stuff. the power came back on at 4ish (out for about 6 hours) luckily there doesnt seem to be any damage . i will get a generator when we move to our new house, its kindof impractical to have one in an apartment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candy Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 well i was working at food town when the power went out and quickly called home but we were one of the lucky houses and our power stayed on.. but i did think of all the other people with out power and hot water ect im lucky i got gass heating and water and stove so if we did have a big power thing it would just be the filters i would have to worrie about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzly Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 we just had another 2 hours here at home today too after my last post. there was nothing to do so i went to sleep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richms Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 The cheap bunnings gennys are crap, but ideal for this sort of thing. Just be sure to use a surge protector or 3 on the output for when the govener dies and it revs up to 350 volts. The big problem I have is the fuel storage since its 2 stroke I would either have to mix when I add fuel or have some pre-mixed stuff sitting around going stale with nothing else but a weedeater to put it in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 If you live on the North Shore it wouldn't be lying around for long I don't announce where I work sorry Brian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discusguru Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 They don't pay out as far as I know. Ring them up awhile ago when there was a power cut letting them know that I have live fishes worth more than $15000.00 and they need power to survive. I was told that they will not be responsible for any death. The insurance don't cover either. Luckily for me none of my discus die after 8 hrs without power. All the canister filter didn't make it :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 Are there any steps us FISHO's can take when the power eventually comes back on - maybe do a 10 - 15 % water change? ( as the water would be quite stale with fish waste ) What about the filter bacteria - would it be better to tip filter water out and refill with tank water? When my power came back on all manner of goop came out of the filter and into the tank (possibly dead bacteria?). Will my tank now go "out of cycle"? And why would I have to be on the look out for white spot? WHY :-? WHY :-? WHY :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luke* Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 Hey Petey, definitely a good idea to do a water change as large as you can as the ammonia levels will start to rise in the tank because the filter is no longer converting into nitrate (which is safe chemical unless at really high levels). The white spot often happens from temperature swings, it stresses the fish and makes them susceptible to disease and white spot is easily caught because it's present in most tanks anyway but healthy fish don't usually pick it up. Rising ammonia will also stress them out and can cause them to catch it. You can get battery opereated units called UPS (I think from Dick Smith?) which will keep some of your appliances on for a short time (depending on their wattage of course as to how long it lasts, e.g cannister filter won't last as long as an air pump). The bacteria die more from lack of oxygen than temperature as it cools slowly. If you have a cannister you even do water changes on that to keep the O2 up. Be wary though if you put in water too cold it kills off large numbers of bacteria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 The tank may also go through a 'mini cycle' but should be fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feelers Posted January 25, 2006 Report Share Posted January 25, 2006 I think it would be good to ask the consumers institute about the fish / power off problem, see what they have to say about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PETEYPLECO Posted January 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2006 Just had a call from home to say 1 silver shark is upside down at the bottom of the tank hardly breathing, dying I guess this a because of the power cut and resulting effects! You do your dambdest to get all conditions right to have it ruined ! ! :evil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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