The Oto Journal
- Thread starter James0816
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Update 08-Feb-2010 - Snow Storm Recovery
Disaster strikes courtesy of mother nature. Major snow storm hit the
region. Power went out around 1330hrs on 02/06 and got it back shortly after 1700hrs today. It was a rough go at it considering we are in winter time. It got cold. Luckily we have a fireplace. Burnt up almost all our wood.
Luckily...casulties were kept low (as of now). Looks like I lost all but (2) wigglers from the Oto world. Other casulties include (4) endlers and (3) white clouds. Fish that are currently in distress are both BNPs, a couple more endlers, looks like (3) cherry barbs and two female Oto's (one of which is the female from the second breeding pair). I have the lights on now and will keep them on throughout the night to help with heating.
Water is way too cold to do a water change at the moment. Will do WCs tommorrow at 25-50%. Have fresh water in all the jugs getting ready to go.
So...here's what I did to help the fishies out:
1) Pulled out all CO2 feeds into the tank.
2) Every (2) hours, I would draw out 10% of the water in the tanks using a 1gal jug. I would fill the jug about 3/4 full, cap, and shake really well to oxygenate the water. I would then pour this water back into the tank from a higher distance to create turbulance and add more 02 to the water.
3) Temps in the tanks gradually dropped. Two of them dipped into the 40s. Crisis time. I scrounged what spare blankets I could find and began covering them up. All the other tanks hit the mid 50s. They are in the basement so kept it warmer longer. I covered them as well.
4) On the 29g tank, I increased the water aeration to once an hour. I also increased the amount of water to 25%. I had two jugs of fresh water left. I drew water from the tank then added the fresh. The water I drew, I placed near the fireplace to get warm. I repeated this cycle until the power came back on. (drawing water and replacing with somewhat warmish water).
5) After the 24 hour mark, I treated each tank with Prime at half capacity (I.e 10g tank was treated as a 5g tank). This was done again at the 48 hour mark.
Fishies look in bad shape when the power came back on. BNPs and Oto's are laying on their sides breathing slowly. The others are either on their backs or just sitting at the bottom. Again breathing slowly. I have air pumps going on all the tanks. Looks like Yellow and CR/B shrimps are ok. Can't tell about the Tigers though. Too many plants in there. I did see a few swimming around. Nothing I can do at this time but wait and cross fingers. I am not feeding at this time either. Will wait until after the water changes.
Here's the bad thing....another storm to hit tomorrow into wednesday! Will be rushing to get the water changes done tomorrow and jugs refilled in the event of another outage.
Disaster strikes courtesy of mother nature. Major snow storm hit the
region. Power went out around 1330hrs on 02/06 and got it back shortly after 1700hrs today. It was a rough go at it considering we are in winter time. It got cold. Luckily we have a fireplace. Burnt up almost all our wood.
Luckily...casulties were kept low (as of now). Looks like I lost all but (2) wigglers from the Oto world. Other casulties include (4) endlers and (3) white clouds. Fish that are currently in distress are both BNPs, a couple more endlers, looks like (3) cherry barbs and two female Oto's (one of which is the female from the second breeding pair). I have the lights on now and will keep them on throughout the night to help with heating.
Water is way too cold to do a water change at the moment. Will do WCs tommorrow at 25-50%. Have fresh water in all the jugs getting ready to go.
So...here's what I did to help the fishies out:
1) Pulled out all CO2 feeds into the tank.
2) Every (2) hours, I would draw out 10% of the water in the tanks using a 1gal jug. I would fill the jug about 3/4 full, cap, and shake really well to oxygenate the water. I would then pour this water back into the tank from a higher distance to create turbulance and add more 02 to the water.
3) Temps in the tanks gradually dropped. Two of them dipped into the 40s. Crisis time. I scrounged what spare blankets I could find and began covering them up. All the other tanks hit the mid 50s. They are in the basement so kept it warmer longer. I covered them as well.
4) On the 29g tank, I increased the water aeration to once an hour. I also increased the amount of water to 25%. I had two jugs of fresh water left. I drew water from the tank then added the fresh. The water I drew, I placed near the fireplace to get warm. I repeated this cycle until the power came back on. (drawing water and replacing with somewhat warmish water).
5) After the 24 hour mark, I treated each tank with Prime at half capacity (I.e 10g tank was treated as a 5g tank). This was done again at the 48 hour mark.
Fishies look in bad shape when the power came back on. BNPs and Oto's are laying on their sides breathing slowly. The others are either on their backs or just sitting at the bottom. Again breathing slowly. I have air pumps going on all the tanks. Looks like Yellow and CR/B shrimps are ok. Can't tell about the Tigers though. Too many plants in there. I did see a few swimming around. Nothing I can do at this time but wait and cross fingers. I am not feeding at this time either. Will wait until after the water changes.
Here's the bad thing....another storm to hit tomorrow into wednesday! Will be rushing to get the water changes done tomorrow and jugs refilled in the event of another outage.
I find it extremely insulating to wrap as many blankets and large towels around the tanks the moment the electricity goes off. With all that glass those tanks cool down fast without something to help insulate them from the dropping room temperature. I am fortunate to have a lot of blankets from 4 boys who always had a hoard of friends sleeping over. Hope all goes well James, 40 is really, really low.
Morning update: Temps just about normal now in all tanks. I found no further casulties and the fishies that were distressed now appear to be on their way to recovery. The BNPs were getting active again. I moved a piece of driftwood out of the way and they zipped off. Both lady Oto's are now on the glass and no fishies are at the bottom of the tanks. Feeling much better now. Major water changes on tap for today. Snow will be falling soon and near blizzard conditions due to high winds are expected. This time around, the snow will be light and fluffy instead of the heavy wet stuff. The winds will be what we have to watch for with everything still out there on the trees and such. Could have more outages.
I'm sorry you've had troubles. I have a battery powered air pump I got a Walmart in sporting goods. Not enough for 8 tanks though...
Glad to hear your fish are recovering, I went through pretty much the same thing here. Thought I had lost way more fish than it turns out I did though, as far as I can tell I only lost my rummys, BN, 2 otos, 1 neon and a betta. Since the 29G and 10G are now empty, I pretty much shut them down for now (not sure what to do with them yet) and carried out a big water change on the 555G this morning.
Keeping my fingers crossed the power does not go out again with this next storm on the way.
Afternoon and evening checks turned out well. All appear to be just fine. 25% water changes for all tanks. One tank left to go.
On the plus side, found (2) more wigglers that survived in the main tank. That puts the count at (3) for the main and (1) in the test tank.
Jugs are filled and treated with fresh water and ready to go if need be.
A nice wintery mix falling at the moment. Major portion to fall tomorrow morning.
On the plus side, found (2) more wigglers that survived in the main tank. That puts the count at (3) for the main and (1) in the test tank.
Jugs are filled and treated with fresh water and ready to go if need be.
A nice wintery mix falling at the moment. Major portion to fall tomorrow morning.
Update 11-Feb-2010
Well...looks like we are no longer in the danger zone for power loss for this go around....yea!!!!
Check of the tanks revealed all fishies and shrimpies doing well.
Placing fresh DIY CO2 bottles back on the tanks. Prepping Zucchini for feeding.
Didn't spot the wigglers in the main tank today. I did find one in the test tank and boy has he grown! He is about the size of the biggest one in the main tank but a couple weeks younger. Wow!
Well...looks like we are no longer in the danger zone for power loss for this go around....yea!!!!
Check of the tanks revealed all fishies and shrimpies doing well.
Placing fresh DIY CO2 bottles back on the tanks. Prepping Zucchini for feeding.
Didn't spot the wigglers in the main tank today. I did find one in the test tank and boy has he grown! He is about the size of the biggest one in the main tank but a couple weeks younger. Wow!
