Hurricane Katrina....Good News

[clayt101]

Well, I live (ed) in New Orleans. The house had 3 1/2 feet of water in it. I work for a state agency and was able to make my way down to the house in a large state vehicle. Surprisingly, many of my fish were alive. The survivors were:

6 Angels
2 Wild Discus (none of my large domestics made it)
2 L-66 King Tiger Plecos
1 L-134 Pleco
1 Gold Nugget Pleco
Some glass catfish, cardinal tetras, cories, and a male betta

I was in a rush, so I did not grab all the fish. I left several cories, glass cats, possibly 1 King Tiger, and a bunch of otos. Unfortunately, I forgot my pair of albino bristlenoses in a seperate aquarium.

At the house in New Orleans, I called my mom in Baton Rouge and told her to go and get me an aquarium, some water purifier, a heater and a filter. She did well, I got a 40 gallon breeder for the time being.

Definately dead are 4 large discus, some cardinals, and 1 King Tiger Pleco. I believe New Orleans will open back up on Monday, so maybe some of the other fish will survive.

It was really like a war zone down there. There was national guard everywhere. We were in a state vehicle, so we were waved through check points. It was unreal the devistation. I did not see the area where the twin towers fell in NYC, but I imagine that the devistation was similar, except this was on a city scale. There were destroyed cars everywhere, just in the middle of the road.

[suziebow]

Wow! That's amazing. Good luck with everything. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for you and seeing that. Hang in there.

[Larissa]

I'm glad some of your fish actually made it. I hope your house is somewhat salvagable. I don't know much about that sort of thing.

[clayt101]

Its savagable, just the downstairs is a mess. That portion will have to be redone. Luckily, we live on the second floor. :)

[nursie]

Glad to hear some positive news!!
Peoria was chomping at the bit to get evacuatees...and just round out today that they are not going to relocate any here. The city leaders are looking for an area to partner up with becasue we have TONS of stuff donates to ship somewhere to help. Semi full's I'm sure.

[Corax]

Shows just how uneducated the looters were. Leaving Discus and those plecos, no sense of value..

[YoFishboy]

Shows just how uneducated the looters were. Leaving Discus and those plecos, no sense of value..


Hehe..thats right..I only saw one guy with a pacu under his arm on the news..

[clayt101]

More good news. I just found out that my father will be going back tomorrow. He will attempt to get the albinos and some of the other fish (he also works for the state). They are going to the office building to get more state vechicles and supplies from the building. After that, you can go out on your own.

[Dangerdoll]

good for you, clay! It's so good to hear not everything was lost. Good luck with getting things stable again.

[jaylin]

Wow ... it's nice to hear some good news out of NOLA. I hope more of the fishies make it!

[125gJoe]

Shows just how uneducated the looters were. Leaving Discus and those plecos, no sense of value..See - 'dark humor' works once in a while! :D


.... .....
It was really like a war zone down there. .... ....
I hope things continue to improve, and quickly! Best wishes .....

[Matak]

I am surprised to see that many fish made it through all this time. Bully for you!

You mentioned that the water rose three & a half feet in your locale. How close to the bottom of the tanks did it get?

[clayt101]

The bottom of the aquarium is about 3.5 feet above the ground. The top is approx. 5 feet above the ground. The wood stand is in trouble. It was custom made and very sturdy. It will hold, but is not pretty. Probably not worth saving. I will have to go with a 180 gallon or 225 gallon once things settle down.

[tyella]

Remarkable!
That's great news, sorry about the discus though.

[clayt101]

More good news. My dad grabbed my 2 albino plecos and a few otos. He took out the remaining dead discus and dropped some sinking food in there. There may be a few others still in there, but with the dying plants, they should be okay for a week or two.

[Blueiz]

Great, i am so happy for you that you still have something left !!

This just goes to show all of us that fish are not as fragile as we think (on a shortterm basis anyway). I bet you had been takeing excellent care of your fish beforehand for them to be able to survive soemthing like this.

[greendeltatke]

That's true about the amazing survival ability of some fish. A few leafy sea dragons from the Audubon aquarium actually made it when practically everything else died.

[clayt101]

I got back there a few days ago, everything that had not been taken out was dead. There was one baby mollie in there, but I could not get it. The downstairs of the house is now full of mold, it will have to be gutted. Luckily, we mainly live on the second floor, so most of our belongings are okay. It does stink there though, and I dare not open the refridgerator :O

[Swimfins]

I was thinking of all the animals left behind. So sad. Best wishes and prayers for you all.