Ouch

[sountfc]

So apparently overnight a breaker blew and cut the power to two of my tanks, a 135G and a 40G. I left early this morning and didn't check the tanks, thought the wife was going to feed them. She didn't, and never checked them. She called me in a panic at about 3:00 'cause they were all either laying on the bottom or breathing laboriously at the top in the 135G. So I lost the following:

* 4 large borleyi, about 8" each
* Four peacocks, including a 3" bi-color 500, which was my favorite (ouch)
* 4" VC hap, very cool fish
* small pleco
* a 13 year-old bala shark (OUCH)

Came home, got it all back up and running, did a big water change. Wife said the 9" venustus male was face down in the gravel, she took an air pump and tubing and actually put the tubing in his mouth, and he perked up and lived to tell the tale. Aquatic CPR!

Crazy thing is, 20 minutes after the water change he was trying to mate with his two females, a dragon blood peacock was busy spitting gravel to dig a mating pit, and a pair of red zebras was actually mating. I guess they've got their priorities straight.

Bright side of all this? I have half a dozen 18 year-old clown loaches in this tank, and all pulled through with flying colors. Whew.

[cichlid1409]

that sucks, glad to hear you didnt lose everything though. Aquatic cpr thats great!

[sountfc]

I'm just surprised I lost as many as I did in 16 hours or less. Guess I'll go buy some more bala sharks...

[cichlid1409]

well, lets cut off your flow of O2 and see how long you survive in a room filled with you and some friends.

[fshfrk]

Change out that breaker for shure. I have nightmares about this stuff.:icon_hang:

[ohmar606]

what happens to the benificial bacteria if this happens?

[jhenry]

Aquatic CPR I love that I've put fish in front of the powerhead before and it worked out great. Sorry for the fish you lost bro. Glad it wasn't everything. Had a breaker trip at 2:00am before luckily it was on the same circuit as my phone charger and I heard my phone beep and got up to see what was wrong. I had three tanks on that circuit. Ran a new line and bumped up the gauge to use a 20amp breaker. Problem solved

[electricblue]

I'm just surprised I lost as many as I did in 16 hours or less. Guess I'll go buy some more bala sharks...

I'll be getting rid of a tank pretty soon and have 2 bala sharks you can have.

[sountfc]

Time to get an electrician out here, definitely. I'm happy about the clown loaches, bummed about the bala sharks. 13 years is a long time, that fish survived two moves, the last from Austin to Sugar Land. Oh well.

Aquatic CPR I love that I've put fish in front of the powerhead before and it worked out great. Sorry for the fish you lost bro. Glad it wasn't everything. Had a breaker trip at 2:00am before luckily it was on the same circuit as my phone charger and I heard my phone beep and got up to see what was wrong. I had three tanks on that circuit. Ran a new line and bumped up the gauge to use a 20amp breaker. Problem solved

[myjohnson]

Man, this happen to me earlier this week too.

I was lucky, didn't lose any fish. Tank had no electricity for two days!

[sountfc]

Wow, that IS lucky!

Man, this happen to me earlier this week too.

I was lucky, didn't lose any fish. Tank had no electricity for two days!

[phaminator]

I have a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), the typical back-up battery used for computer equipment. I have power heads & air pump hooked to it. If the power goes out, at least the fishes can survive for a while. Not sure how long is the run time, perhaps couple hours to few hours. Might be longer if I connect just the air pump. Just an idea to throw out there.

[sountfc]

That's a good idea. I think I may actually have one of those laying around, I just never thought of using it for anything other than PC-related items. I'll need to check the battery to see if it's still good. Thanks for the suggestion.

I have a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), the typical back-up battery used for computer equipment. I have power heads & air pump hooked to it. If the power goes out, at least the fishes can survive for a while. Not sure how long is the run time, perhaps couple hours to few hours. Might be longer if I connect just the air pump. Just an idea to throw out there.

[trbkrb]

That's a bummer on your loss. I had no idea bala sharks could live that long. My son's is about 5 yrs old right now, and several of his other fish are about the same age. I guess we will have them around for quite a while longer.

If anything, having a UPS hooked up when the power goes out will start it beeping. That would hopefully be enough of an alert. Good luck on it.

[Suelovesfish]

I am so paranoid about this happening that I have small backup generators for my tanks. Sorry about the fish that you lost but happy that you did not lose them all. Your wife is a hero! Smart thinking with the airhose.