Room Flooded! Carpets, What Else To Do?!?!?

[sawickib]

Hi, as you know my room has flooded, frogive me but i was watching a movie in the other room and completely forgot i was filling up my 180 gallon! Now there is a mess of water all over the place, im afraid to turn the power on in my room atm and ive used all the towels i can, they are all soaked now. I have 2 fans connected to the hall way blowing into my room and bathroom but it seems like the water is leeching everywhere under the carpet! Is there anything else i can do? Ive also opened up all the windows, i really dont want to have to take down my 180 to clean this and i have such priceless fish in there, but it seems this may be my only option soon 

 

 

[DreamertK]

Once a flood has subsided, Mr. Weingartner said, the house must be dried out as quickly as possible. "Mold will start to grow within 48 to 72 hours," he said. Carpets, pads and furniture that were submerged should be removed, and drywall that was soaked should be cut out and discarded. Jeffrey Gross, a regional manager for Maxons Restorations in Manhattan, said there are three methods for drying out a wet house. The most basic, he said, is to get air circulating through it by using fans.
Another method that is faster and more effective, but more expensive, is to use dehumidifiers.

"Dehumidifiers are used to remove deep imbedded moisture," he said. "If you have a wood floor, or if the framing in the walls has been saturated, a dehumidifier will pull the moisture out of the wood." And while it is helpful to leave windows and doors open when using fans to dry out a building, they should be kept closed when using a dehumidifier. "If humid outdoor air is allowed to enter the home, the dehumidifier will be fighting against the relative humidity outside," Mr. Gross said. He added that a dehumidifier in a closed room can reduce the relative humidity to a low of 20 percent.
"When the air is that dry," he said, "it will wick moisture out of the walls and floors." Another way to dry out a house is to use the heating system along with the central air-conditioning system or window units.
"Warm air will hold more moisture than cooler air," Mr. Gross said. So a homeowner can close all doors and windows and run the air-conditioning. Once the house has cooled and the air is dry, the air-conditioning should be turned off and the heat turned on. When the temperature has reached, say, 80 degrees or so, the heat should be turned off and the air-conditioning turned back on until all the warm air has been removed. The cycle should be repeated until the house is dry.

 

 
Things you should always do:
Do: Remove as much excess water, from carpet or any flooring surface, and begin by mopping, blotting, and wet vacuuming with a shop vac.
Do: Remove and prop up wet upholstery cushions for even drying. Turn as necessary and check for possible bleeding.
Do: Open drawers and cabinet doors to aid in complete drying. (Air movement helps prevent mold and mildew).
Do: Remove any paintings or pictures so a safe dry place to prevent any further damage.
Do: Open suitcases or luggage to dry, in the sun if possible.
Do: Wipe water from wood furniture after removal of lamp or other tabletop items.
Do: Place aluminum foil, china saucers, or wood blocks between furniture legs and wet flooring.
Do: Turn on air conditioning for maximum drying in summer, open windows, if possible, to speed drying in winter.
Do: Keep out of rooms where ceiling is sagging from retained water.
Do: Punch small holes in sagging ceilings to relieve trapped water (don’t forget to place a pan beneath to catch the water and empty frequently).
 
Things you should never do!
Don’t: Leave wet fabrics in place, dry as soon as possible.
Don’t: Hang furs and leather goods to dry separately at room temperature.
Don’t: Use your household vacuum to remove water.
Don’t: Leave books, magazines or other colored items on wet carpet or floors.
Don’t: Use TV’s or other appliances while standing on wet carpet or floors.
Don’t: Turn on ceiling fixtures if the ceiling is wet.

 

[Alasse]

If it is a lot of water you will need to get extraction equipment that will pull as much water as possible from in and under the carpet. As a many tank owner, i actually now have a carpet machine that washes carpet and can extract water. If you have a wet and dry vacuum, you can use that to extract water .
 
Honestly the quicker the water is removed the better it is all around

 

[sawickib]

Thanks guys, im still under the process of drying. Getting a shop vac today and gonna get what i can, from what ive been reading it looks like i will have to tear down my 180 gallon and tear my carpet

im so mad at myself for letting this happen, words cant even describe how mad and sad i am at the same time.
 
I woke up to what i can see is dead fish. A ornate, moke, polli, palmas palmas, weeksii and probably my senegalus, so all my best bichirs are dead, and i also lost my angelfish and like 4 geophagus. Ill see the full extent of the damage when the sun comes up i guess, thankfully my L25 is still alive, who knows what fish are on deaths row right now. I suspect cause of death was low oxygen levels, but other fish that can breath from the surface died, while others did not, so the cause of death eludes me.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Aw man 

 
Hate when things like this happens, accidents will happen, so don't blame yourself too much.
 
You're not the first and certainly will not be the lsat this happens to.
 
Guess you learned a lot from this.
 
Not much I can add other than to try and get as much water out as quickly as you can from carpets, furniture etc etc, maybe a small humidifier will help dry things out a little quicker, you can hire these machines for a couple of weeks or however long you need. Not too expensive as I've used these myself when my house was flooded from nearby small river.
 
Sorry for your losses. 
 
Don't think it would be lack of oxygen as the flow from the hose would provide water agitation and oxygen, may be more to do with tank water temps and lack of de-chlorinator. 
 
Hope you'll suffer no more losses and do keep us up to date of progress.

 

[sawickib]

Thank you a lot, theyre in a better place now and this mosst certainly wont be happening again, its terrible though, i wont be able to replace them so easily as these all together were 500$
 
I have well water so it there is no chlorine, and water temps did feel different, it was still warm when i was getting the dead fish, i dont suspect oxygen loss either, because there was 180 gallons of fresh water, and all my bichirs died except one, which they all breath from the surface naturally. I think theres an unknown aspect that killed all the others, perhaps stress or something in the water.

 

[sawickib]

Ok, so now im thinking there is something in the water that killed my fish, no idea what but it looks nasty.
 
The nandus nandus that survived has a nasty red, inflamed, almost bloody looking fin that shes barely using.
 
My smaller jurupari has the same thing but instead of red its just white, inflamed and almost shiny, and two dots of shininess on its back fin. 
 
My common pleco has red, bloody looking fins on the back tips as well. Im not the best at explaining so ill just get photos.

Ive also added prime to the tank, just to make sure i get rid of anything that could be in the well water.

 

[Goggy]

oh no sorry for the  tank saw, and all the fish that were in it at least your scarlet pleco is still alive. its quite odd how all the survivors are in bad condition  that looks like it has nothing to do with water overflowing 

 

[sawickib]

oh no sorry for the  tank saw, and all the fish that were in it at least your scarlet pleco is still alive. its quite odd how all the survivors are in bad condition  that looks like it has nothing to do with water overflowing 

Thanks, the L25 is actually being very active now, all my bichirs were piled under one piece of driftwood and were all dead except my weeksii, thats why im so baffled with what the heck is going on. Then theres just more, random problems. 
 
Sorry for any blurriness, if i stand to close they run away, and if im not close enough its to blurry.
 
The pleco, looks cut off on the tip even.

 
The jurupari, as you may be able to see, he does not use it much.

 

 

 
The nandus nandus, i think has it the worst right now.