URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

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Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Ikkle1
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URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

Buffy is my GSP.

Yesterday, we had a power cut. It's still off. In Buffy's tank everything has stopped:pump, heaters, air, UVfilter, lights.

the power has been off now for 14 hours. And so the power company say, it 's not likely to be restored for at least another 6 hours.

So how long will Buffy survive? And what to do?
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Jase »

not sure what others would do, but I would scoop out some water and pour it back in, making oxygen get in the water. i think everything else would be alright as long as he can breathe...
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Nick »

Increase surface turbulence as much as possible, and hope for the best.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

That's what I thought. Everytime someone goes past the tank, it gets stirred to try and get some oxygen into the water. But I'm concerned about temp and water quality. Buffy didn't come to the glass this morning to say hello and get his tit bit. Do you think he thinks it's night time and he should be asleep? He's not himslef at all this mroning
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

OMG!!! Buffy just came to the front of the glass, puffed up like a golf ball, flopped on his side, and his underside has gone black and knobbly, he's taken one look at me (he looked so sad) and his eyes have gone blank, (like there's no-one home). He isn't gong to die is he??
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by StormySkiez »

Poor little puffer. Keep making oxygen in the tank. As for the temp, mine was off for almost 2 days w/ no problems. Is the temp ok? I hope he gets through this.

I know this is useless for you right now but you have got to get some kind of battery powered air line. I bought a power supply for my 55g tank cause the power goes out here once in a while.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

What a bril idea.
I've got the kids playing a new game.....

blowing air bubbles down snipped air hoses and straws.

Buffy still puffed a bit....nearly 2 hours now, and very lethargic. I wonder if his puffing up like this is some kind of survival instinct? It's like he's gone into a kind of hibernation almost. He's still alive -- just. But for how much longer?

And this is the first power cut we've had here in nearly 8 years.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by StormySkiez »

I have no Idea. Lets hope he makes it. Have you done a water test? I'd be very upset if my power was out that long. Someone would get an ear full from me. Why can't they get the power up in a decent amount of time? You might have to prepare for water parameters spiking in the tank :(.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by StormySkiez »

heh, you must have a battery powered lap top?
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

StormySkiez wrote:heh, you must have a battery powered lap top?
I do, I have 4. It's not until now, i realised why i was keeping them :)

Water stats going through roof. Ammonia is high, which concerns me. would a water change help do you think? Could always use the water from the hotwater tank - think it's still warm, I've banned everyone from the shower this morning, in case we need the water for something else!!

Reason power off, company say, is because Transco cut through the main power line when doing their customary digging up the road -- oops
But they#ve told me that if anything happens, there will be a compensatory payout -- not that that's much help at the mo.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

Power came back on at 12.30pm.

Hope everything ok now. we wait and see.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by StormySkiez »

Thank goodness! You got to get the water change done and hopefully you use prime. If you do add the max amount. IDK if you have a have ever used bio spira to help a tank cycle. If you can get your hands on some that would help as well.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Agnate »

I wish I would have read this earlier, as I would have suggested that you take out the filter media, and move it around the main body of the tank sort-of slow-ish. It would allow some of the bacteria to grab the ammonia and nitrites in there, which would have helped reduce some of the toxins.

Also, blowing into straws and tubes is more likely to add CO2 into the tank than it would O2... I would have opted for a turkey baster or something and swooshed air/water around. :)

I hope he's okay! I'm not sure what else I would do if the power went out! I'll have to invest in a little battery power supply or something.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by Ikkle1 »

Well, everything is more or less back to normal. Power is back on, tank has settled after a large (50%) water change, and what do you think of my little guy now?
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I think heshe looks a 100% better already, and...

he's just devoured 1/2 a tiger prawn!!

Thank goodness he's ok, I was really starting to get worried there.
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Re: URGENT ADVICE PLEASE. How long can Buffy survive......

Post by StormySkiez »

Aww, He looks Great! I would ck the water parameters daily until all is normal.
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