Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my father in canada has a beautiful freshwater tank, the power has been out for 8 hours, and his fish arent doing well, hes trying to ciculate the water and get oxygen in the tank, is there anything else he can do? he called and sounds so upset, i dont know a lot about fishtanks, can anyone help? know its not dragon related but thought someone here could help me, i tried the boards at the pethobbyist fish forum but they dont seem like people go often, thought i would have better luck here
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reiko
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If he can get an oxygen tank he can turn it on and place the oxygen tubing in the water......if he puts it on a low setting a tank should last for several hours depending on the tank size.

A good way to get O2 into the water is to get a big jug. Fill it with water from the tank, raise it up and pour the water back into the tank from a height. Make a waterfall type effect. You should only have to do this for about 5 minutes every hour (unless the tank is overcrowded. That should definatly raise the O2 levels. The water may splash out, but the higher he pours it from the better. Water and oxygen are slightly will adhere to eachother slightly, and as the water plunges towards the bottom of the tank, it will pull surface oxygen with it.

So....pour from up high.
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MY Dragons!!

correct me if i am wrong.. but i believe doing partial water changes can also help with that... as long as the water has been treated with to get rid of the chemicals. I'm not postitive about that, but that's what I used to do with high amonia levels.. somebody better back me up on that or tell me I am wrong before you try that.. but maybe?

Sorry to hear about his fish. That sucks

brandon
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Dragons by Nature

yeah, that toatlly helps. it is just harder then pouring pre-treated water. But yes, that is an option
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MY Dragons!!

only what is in the tank, and there its very late now, and not only that most stores closed because of no power, i feel so badly for my father, wish i could help but im 3000 miles away,what can i do... have called and given him this information, thanks so much for all of your responses, i hope at least a few make it, he raised so many of thses chichlids from little frys, so sad to see them die, and my big favorite fish is there too, last i talked to them he was on his way out the power has been off since 4 their time..if it doesnt come back on soon there isnt any hope for them... sigh.. guess we just werent prepared...never was thought about i guess.. i feel so bad
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reiko
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The best thing to do depends on how long the power outage is expected to last and whether or not the tank is overcrowded. If he raises the temperature, the nutrient level in his tank will raise and could poison the fish. If the fishes are somewhat hardy, they should be okay in the cooler water. I'd take off the hood and keep the water surface moving for oxygen exchange.

His other option would be if the fishes are extremely intolerant of the cooler water, to do 10-20 percent water changes with slightly warmer water therefore he's exporting the nutrient and slightly warming the water, but not putting the fishes in shock.

Hope that helps.

last i talked to them they were trying to circulate the water and get oxygen in by taking the water out and pouring it back in, i hope some make it, but they might not have power back for serveral more hours, maybe more, i really dont know

>>The best thing to do depends on how long the power outage is expected to last and whether or not the tank is overcrowded. If he raises the temperature, the nutrient level in his tank will raise and could poison the fish. If the fishes are somewhat hardy, they should be okay in the cooler water. I'd take off the hood and keep the water surface moving for oxygen exchange.
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>>His other option would be if the fishes are extremely intolerant of the cooler water, to do 10-20 percent water changes with slightly warmer water therefore he's exporting the nutrient and slightly warming the water, but not putting the fishes in shock.
>>
>>Hope that helps.
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reiko
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If they happen to have a gas range, they should be able to heat up some of the tank water. Part of the problem is that the PH is dropping, heating up the water should help bring up the pH a lil. If he has any aquarium salt, ask him to add a little to his tank just to ease the stress.

Live plants in the tank would help put oxygen back into the water and clear out toxins and all that. A quick fix would be to go out and buy a small generator, or battery powered air pump.

Live plants in the tank would help put oxygen back into the water and clear out toxins and all that. A quick fix would be to go out and buy a small generator, or battery powered air pump.

Better yet, just use a regular air pump to inflat bicycle tires, air mattresses etc and a length of plastic tubing, one long enough to go from the floor up into the tank. Then all you have to do us use ducktape to secure the other end to the pump and pump air into teh tank for a few minutes every hour or two.

I think the problem was resolved. However, live plants in the aquarium will not oxygenate the tank. Under normal circumstances with adequate lighting it would. However, when there's no power, hence no lighting, the plants would be consuming oxygen and expelling carbon dioxide.

Hi there,
The fish will be ok for a while as there is still oxygen in the water. You could also get to the pet shop and pick up some oxygenating plants, like you use in fish ponds, its very cheap and will do as a temporary measure.
You can always just swish the water about every so often.

Another thought,
I dont know about over there is the US but here in the UK you can buy like oxygenating cubes, that slowly disolve and geive out oxygen, people use them in Goldfish bowls over here.

A power outage should not harm the fish in all but the most overcrowded tanks, the big problem is heat, the warmer the water the less the ability to retain o2, the fish will come to the surface and gulp for air if this is the case. I have had tanks of discus (very picky on conditions) go for 2 days with no power. I keep some battery powered aireators just for this problem, they can be purchased in the fishing dept. at almost any chain or sporting goods store. Do not feed or stir up the substrate at all during a power outage, this includes pouring water into the tank from a high jug, if the water you are puring in is hiting the gravel and stiring up the bottom of the tank you could have problems as well, if you cannot aerate or do partial gentle water changes with cool water then leave it alone and hope for the best.

im going to call and see how he made out, im fearing for the worst, its about a 125 gallon tank and just full of gorgeous fish, i dont know if they made it, i really hope they did.. the power they say is coming back on in some areas, hope his is one of them... thanks again for the help.......

>>my father in canada has a beautiful freshwater tank, the power has been out for 8 hours, and his fish arent doing well, hes trying to ciculate the water and get oxygen in the tank, is there anything else he can do? he called and sounds so upset, i dont know a lot about fishtanks, can anyone help? know its not dragon related but thought someone here could help me, i tried the boards at the pethobbyist fish forum but they dont seem like people go often, thought i would have better luck here
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>>reiko
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reiko
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