Urgent Help Required

[Janice7]

Hi, I hope someone can help me. I've been left alone with a very large tank to look after for 5 days. I am totally clueless about tropical fish and their requirements (other than what to feed them each day) and this evening the pump (the thing that makes the bubbles) made a funny noise then stopped altogether. The surface is now completely calm and smooth. The tank houses many fish including 4 stunning discus. Can anyone advise what I need to do please. Can I leave this situation until the owner comes back in 5 days? Thanks

 

[yvez9]

is there a functionnal filter on the tank?

 

[Janice7]

I've no idea about tanks and their set up. I thought that maybe the filter also caused the bubbles or is that completely wrong? See what I mean! If there's no bubbles, will the fish suffocate?

 

[WILDER]

What country are we talking about as filters are different, does it have the makers name on it, plus does the tank have a name on it, this info will help out.

 

[Janice7]

Scotland (United Kingdom) and the make is Juwel

 

[ncjharris]

Ordinarily, while the fish won't suffocate, if the surface of the water is calm and still, there isn't much oxygen transfer taking place.
That is the movement of oxygen from the air to the water - for this to happen at its best you need a large surface area, caused by bubbles and ripples.
I suspect what you have called the pump is probably the filter - it cleans the water and as an aside causes water movement which helps the above.

While I doubt the fish will suffocate (although I have no experience of discus and their requirements), it would be best if you could get it started again anyway, or look for alternative means to get some kind of water movememnt. We'll come onto that.

As wilder said we will need some more info, including the inhabitants (numbers rather than names if you don't know), if the tank has real plants, the lighting shedule, what and when you are feeding them and if you have anymore kit available to you.

It may be that (if you can) you'll have to visit a local fish store and they will be much more positioned to help you, with some visual clues. However, pumps/filters can be unreliable at times, and often will clog up with stuff from the tank, so you may need to get your hands wet! Of course, it could be as simple as a blown fuse?!??!?!

 

[WILDER]

Right it a power head filter, you will have to go into the black box in the tank then remove the power head and attachments it's blocked.

 

[ncjharris]

Remember to unplug it first!

 

[CluelessScot]

Where abouts in scotland are you out of curiosity?

 

[Janice7]

Thanks for all that. The tank has 4 adult discus, about 20 various corries (?? - little fish that swim about the bottom), 3 whiptails, 1 large pleco thing, various tetras (maybe 40?), about 10 loaches of some sort, hatchets (8) - that's about it. The tank has lots of real plants, the lights are programmed to come on for about 8 hours a day and I'm feeding them frozen food, flake, tetraprima and tablets. And I couldn't tell you what other kit there is or what to do with it. Can the fish survive for say 48 hours like this without there being any serious damage to any of them (especially the discus!)?

 

[WILDER]

No, as you have a very lot of fish in there, does it say which juwel tank it is.

 

[Janice7]

Is the powerhead something that sits inside the top of the filter?
I'm from Edinburgh

 

[WILDER]

Yes you just pull the filter out of the box, but you will have to remove the outflow tube first, it wan't cleaning, in the sink flush the tub out with tap water to remove the gunk, they take the filter apart and clean it, not that hard really.

 

[Janice7]

So how long before it's a problem do you think? Will it be ok overnight (10.45pm just now)?
It doesn't say which one it is but it's a big one (about 50 inches - 130cms across)

 

[WILDER]

It is a big problem as the tank is very well stocked and yes they need air to survive you can take your chances, or get the power head going.

http/www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/standard205.htm