As you probably all know, Hurricane Ike hit Texas on Saturday night and knocked out power for almost all of Houston. Estimates are anywhere from 2-4 weeks before power is fully restored. We managed to escape to a friend's house, but our puffers had to stay behind. Is there anything we can do to improve their chances of survival with no power for several weeks? We put the filters into the tanks so the bacteria wouldn't die.
Our water was out when we left yesterday, and we're going back today to pick up some things and see if we were lucky enough to have power and water again. If there's no power and no water, is there anything we can do?
HELP! Power out in Houston!
Forum rules
Read this before posting!!
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.
Read this before posting!!
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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t1gerbee
- Fahaka Puffer
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(Non puffs-)
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Re: HELP! Power out in Houston!
oh dear, tjat's not good... whats the temp like over there? Warm enough that the fish don't need heaters?
All you can do is keep the lids down to keep as much warmth in as possible. And feed very sparingly, so your water fouls up slower, the poisons in the water will kill your puffer faster than starvation will..
then just cross your fingers! (Unless you can move the whole tank to your friends until the water/electric are back on? Just a thought....
All you can do is keep the lids down to keep as much warmth in as possible. And feed very sparingly, so your water fouls up slower, the poisons in the water will kill your puffer faster than starvation will..
then just cross your fingers! (Unless you can move the whole tank to your friends until the water/electric are back on? Just a thought....
1 x 90G Juv stars and stripes puffer, Ceylon Puffer + GSP + 2 black clowns
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
1 x 30G LPS Reef
1 x 30G 1 x Blind goldfish
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marfisa
- Dwarf Puffer
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- My Puffers: 3 x GSP - Chunkypuff, Mishe Mishe, Lord Puffington (RIP Mr. Fattykins)
0 x F8 - (RIP ttypuff & Bittypuff) - Location: Houston, TX
Re: HELP! Power out in Houston!
Yes, temperature is good - 80 degrees indoors and humid. We're not feeding them, at least for a few days when the water comes back on. It was on with very low pressure when we went back this morning. I figure the best we can do without electricity is water changes.
No way to move them... tanks are 55, 36, and 10 gallons. Fortunately the fish in the 55 and 10 are quite small so they each have a lot of water to dilute waste. Our 6 inch GSP is in the 36 - we're most worried about him.
No way to move them... tanks are 55, 36, and 10 gallons. Fortunately the fish in the 55 and 10 are quite small so they each have a lot of water to dilute waste. Our 6 inch GSP is in the 36 - we're most worried about him.
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Pufferpunk
- Queen Admin
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suvattii
burrfish
T niphobles - Location (country): USA, Greenville, SC
- Location: Greenville, SC
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Re: HELP! Power out in Houston!
Battery powered pumps or a generator is about all you can do.
You are getting sleepy... you only hear the sound of my voice... you must do water changes... water changes... water changes... water changes...
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"
"The solution to pollution is dilution!"