i feel lucky that really, no harm was done. just spent the last hour scrubbing out my planted...ripped out all the plants and ditched them except my crypt which i sterilized with a bleach solution, scrubbed rocks and replanted with lots of anacharis from my turtle tank and my awesome crypt. the BGA outbreak was pretty bad and i tried all sorts of methods to irradicate it and could not. so out with the old plants, in with the new. it was a quick job, but we'll see if it does the trick. here's to hoping! it had just had a major rescape and then all that ice came!
glad to hear about your luck with the fishies arriving just in time Hlafmoonbetta