Power Out For 2 Days

[Aqua67]

Due to an ice storm our power went out around 6pm on Wed, 22 Feb. My tanks were due for their weekly water change on Thurs, the very next day. I checked parameters Wed afternoon and the only tank with nitrates at that time was the one in my basement at 10pm. I figured I would be taking care of that one the next day…..and then we lost power a few hours later.

Our house dropped 10 degrees the first night and we woke to temps in the mid-50s. Tank temps were in the low 60s. Some tanks were so low the readings were not determined using the stick-on-glass temp readings. I knew my shrimp tank would be fine. I was most concerned with my cichlid/loach/SAE/neon tank, and my tetra/glass cat/SAE/cory tank.

By Thurs afternoon we were searching for a generator as the power restoration ETA was by end of the day Sunday. We just happened to be at the right store at the right time to grab a generator being unloaded from a truck coming from a store further to our north. Still, there was time involved getting it hooked up and getting the power restored to our furnace (first goal) and then to our tropical parrot building on the property (temps in there were in the 30s by Thursday night). Our house had temps in the 40s.

My angelfish was upside down resting on the substrate. He wasn’t flat on the substrate, but in a vertical position, only upside down. The neons were swimming around, seemingly doing ok. I really couldn’t see what was going on in the basement tank and I wasn’t going to shine a flashlight in there. The poor fish down there were dealing with enough already, in my opinion.

I didn’t feed any of them while the power was out, and while the tanks slowly warmed back up on Friday I left them alone. Come Saturday morning, tanks near normal temps and the house nice and warm again, I gave them some flake. I need to get some fresh frozen meaty fish foods from the pet store today.

I am sharing this info to help others who may be faced with a power outage in the dead of winter and who may worry about their fish.

So far, so good. Nobody has died. Everyone seems fine. If that changes in the next 30 days I will update here to let it be known.

 

[Aqua67]

Hmmm, one loach seems to be struggling. It is upside down, breathing fast and just resting on the tank floor. I’m not sure there is anything I can do for it.

 

[davros]

A shame. about the loach. We learned the need for a generator long ago living in northern climes, even if it seems to be very urban and protected. Fireplaces and woodstoves are also high the list of essentials. Don't forget to keep a few gallons of fuel 'cuz when the power is lost that means the gas station pumps are out too. Learned that one the hard way too.

 

[Aqua67]

Yes, we were grateful for our gas fireplace on the sun porch to help mitigate the bitter cold from getting into the house each time we let the 3 dogs out. It was in the 60s on the porch. We were also grateful for our jugs of RO water, and 16 jugs of well water we use for the dogs and parrots.

We were also grateful for our gas stove so we could heat RO water and run it through the coffeemaker manually. Gave us a warm cup to hold onto also. Losing power is never fun but this is the longest it has been out in the winter. Now we have a generator that runs on gasoline or propane, thank goodness.

 

[Glenn407]

Mine was out almost a day. I was debating dragging the generator out and running cords for about 8 hours but looking at the outage map I began thinking these guys have a lot to do! I've never seen so many outages and I think the last big ice storm I recall was probably before you could even get that data. Powered furnace, sump and 55 gallon. What surprised me was that 55 lost almost five degrees in not even 7 hours!

 

[Aqua67]

My beautiful little loach is now officially gone. That was the only casualty so far. Would it be terrible if I let my shrimp and crabs eat it?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Would it be terrible if I let my shrimp and crabs eat it?

No, it's perfectly natural...sorry for the loss

 

[Slaphppy7]

Do keep in mind, though, decomposing fish will produce ammonia...not sure of the tank size, or how much of an ammonia spike would be produced from a single kuhli...if it's a larger, established tank, I would think the ammonia impact would be negligible

 

[Aqua67]

It is just a 5.5 gallon shrimp and crab tank and has sustained crusteacean and snail livestock for about a year. I tossed a neon in there earlier this year and they had it completely gone in less than 12 hours, I caught a portion of that on time-lapse. That caused no ammonia spike. The Kuhli is much larger than the neon though.

The loach has been in there 2 hours or so already and I just set up the time-lapse so I can capture the progress over the next couple of hours. I will need my phone and have to leave the house for a few hours this evening so I can’t leave it filming longer.

 

[Slaphppy7]

I would remove the carcass.

 

[Aqua67]

I just tested the ammonia and it is not registering any at the moment. So far the shrimp have removed the black coloring from the loach. It is all just pale orange. Chances are I will be removing it before it is completely gone.

Also, it looks like I have lost one of the false juli cory cats in the basement tank. I’ve yet to find the body though. Looks like I’ll have to start removing hard scape before I’ll find that carcass. So a total of 2 inhabitants expired. I am bummed about losing them.

 

[Aqua67]

I removed the loach carcass after 9 hours in the aquarium, once the last scavenger had left the buffet. Ammonia levels remained at zero.

Now to remove hardscape to find the missing and likely deceased false juli in my basement aquarium and get the water changes done.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Many years ago when I began breeding zebra plecos and was also caring for an aged mother with dementia, I found myself with almost 75 zebra offspring and a mom who could not deal with no electricity. In the winter she would freeze to death and would probably have the reverse issue in the summer in 90 or 100+ F temps possible. Fortunately, we could afford to install a whole house back up generator and we did.

However, before this we had a power outage one early spring. I had battery air pumps and a number of planted tanks. But the one for the zebras and some unkown number of their fry was not planted and these fish need pretty warm water. The outside temps were not freezing, but the heat was running in the house until the power went out. I needed to keep the water temp. up in the zebra tank.

Here is how I did it. We have a gas grill outside. So I got a pot from the kitchen. filled it with water from the zebra tank and took it outside and put it on the grill. When the water was very hot, I returned it to the tank by slowly pouring it across the surface. I repeated this process as often as needed until the power return about 8 hours later.

After installing our generator in 2010 we had major hurricanes hit in 2011 and 2012. Both times the utility power was out for 13 days, but we had electricity the whole time. Depending how long a power outage is expected to last, one can use a variety of back-up measures from battery power to a whole house generator. There are options that do not break the bank.