We have been without power for about 54 hours now and the 56gallon is a graveyard. I'm so upset. The RCS are hanging in there in the 5g (fingers crossed for them). I just want to cry.
If not a generator you can at least run to your closest LFS and see if they have any battery powered air pumps. My marina battery powered air pump saved my fishes lives during hurricane sandy until my uncle bought over a generator the next day.
Called all three LFS and all sold out of battery powered pumps. Had an ice storm and so other people were smarter than I was obviously.
Thought about that. We are on well water and the pump is electric, so we have zero water either. I will run to the store when my kids wake up and buy distilled water to pour in
Bettaplaty, Sorry to hear about your loss. Hang in there.
Another way to help with oxygen transfer is just to stir the water. The gas transfer happens at the surface so keep it moving. Maybe you could assign that to one of your kids?
My 2 year old loves to have his hands in water. Give one of yours a measuring cup and let them scoop water and pour it back in. Same effect as a bubbler.
We picked up our battery powered pump at Wal-Mart in the fishing section, much cheaper at Wal-Mart and fisherman use them to keep their catch alive so any store with a fishing section should carry them.
Your tank and fish should be able to go quite a few days without any water movement. If it is planted, people have them without filters and keep them that way for years. Is the problem the temperature of the water?
You could siphon off some water and pour is back in. You could rig a 2 liter pepsi bottle with a nail hole in it, and let it spray back in over the tank. You might find a 12 volt pump and run it off a car battery. You might find an a/c adapter for running items in your car, and use that for running something in your home off a car battery. You might pump up an inflatable toy or exercise ball or inner tube and run a tube of the valve into the tank to create an air bubbler. Even an occasional bubble coming to the surface would help with circulation.
I lost several fish a few years ago, but I was too stupid to do anything, thinking it would be over soon.
Good luck,
Dave
Thank you all for the replies and support. I am a complete germophobe so the idea of my kids or I touching that water and not being able to wash our hands gives me anxiety. Plus they were sick already and my baby wouldn't let me put her down. Just the perfect storm. Our grocery stores didn't even have power until today!
It is heavily planted, but the temp in the house was anywhere from 38-45 every day but today.
The power is back on and I am happy to report that the betta, dwarf gourami, my female endlers, the platies and a few otos made it. The RCS in the 5g look ok too. The cories, harlequin rasboras, hatchets, micro rasboras, male endlers, bn pleco, hill stream loach (pleco) and ghost shrimp went to fishy heaven. Rip sweet guys.
Will be investing in some emergency battery pumps and also a generator for future crisis.
Off to do some damage control in the tank. And then cry myself to sleep.
I would do a water change because of the dead fish, just make sure you match the temp to what the tank is in the new water. It won't hurt them and they may look stressed due to the ammonia coming from the dead fish, get those out asap.
Also if you have prime, or something similiar that locks ammonia, put an extra capful just to be safe in case anything else dies over night.
Next time if you have a grill and you can pull out water and heat it up in a pot and add back, you can keep them from freezing. Just takes a little work and last ditch effort. Many people have gas grills.
You can also take a pitcher or something with a handle, so you can scoop some water out without touching it and pour it back in from a height. Keeps everything aerated quite nicely. A few pours each hour will do wonders.
we live (rent) in an older house I worry about this happening as well. Our power lines are under ground but the house has some iffy wiring. If you ring our doorbell the tv flashes on and off. Not always, just sometimes. That entire circuit is well garbage but I don't have the knowledge to fix it. So we have one wall outlet we don't use anymore.
We need a "in case of emergency you can do this" thread on a sticky to help others.
Perhaps the doorbell was deliberately wired to the outlet to flash a lamp for a previous resident who was hearing impaired, and the circuit (relay) responsible for that is no longer functioning reliably.
Definantly invest in a batter back up, All you have to do is not feed them and at the very least pull out a bucket of water and dump it back in, this movement will put oxygen in the water. I kept mine alive for a week with no power in the winter, discus tank to! I now have a few battery backups and I have blankets to cover the tank for heat.
Should've put a bit of hydrogen peroxide in the tank. Not sure about the shrimp but the fish would've probably made it.
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