Loss Electricity for 7 days HELP!

Scarlette · Mar 16, 2017

Hi Guys.

So My house lost electricity for 7 days so after 2 days of waiting I transported my fish to a local fish store, wasn't able to get my clean up crew which is now dead. SO my question is this tank going to re-cycle? It was 50 degrees for 5 days straight with no oxygen or anything. Yes yes we bought a generator after this. What do I need to do to get my fish back home safe?

Thanks

buckroe07 · Mar 16, 2017

I'm sure there will be some sort of cycle you will have to go through again. It shouldn't take as long but I would definitely test from ammonia, nitrite, nitrate again. I would take out as many of the dead clean up crew you can and add more bacteria like Dr. tim's. Sorry but at least you're fish!

Sabellafella · Mar 16, 2017

Scarlette said:
Hi Guys.

So My house lost electricity for 7 days so after 2 days of waiting I transported my fish to a local fish store, wasn't able to get my clean up crew which is now dead. SO my question is this tank going to re-cycle? It was 50 degrees for 5 days straight with no oxygen or anything. Yes yes we bought a generator after this. What do I need to do to get my fish back home safe?

Thanks

I went through the same think and its very discouraging, actually quit the hobby for quite some time after that. I would test for a couple days before adding them to make sure theres no ammonia.

Good question lol. Stuff died so ammonia can spike yea, but i dont think its something like having to recycle your tank again. Itll prob take like 5 days to a week at most to come back. Can reduce some days with water changes, Run some carbon or wet skimming if you run a skimmer.

buckroe07 · Mar 16, 2017

Meant to say, at least you saved your fish. Sheesh what kind of auto correct does my phone have?

Scarlette · Mar 16, 2017

Thank you!

redfishbluefish · Mar 16, 2017

I would approach this as a cure / cycle problem. You're going to see a spike in nitrates and phosphates as all the dead stuff decays, and at the same time a cycle while new, alive bacteria begin to grow. I'd monitor Nitrates and Phosphates, and do occasional water changes until they show signs of declining. And for the cycle, I'd be testing for ammonia, waiting for that to go to zero.

ca1ore · Mar 16, 2017

Yeah, protracted power loss is a major problem. Whether your tank will re-cycle depends a bit on how much died. Bacteria will survive, so depends a bit on how much they have to process on whether you will see ammonia or not. A genny really is required equipment once you get to a serious livestock level. My power-loss plan is almost perfect, unless I'm out of town, then the tank is borked.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 16, 2017

redfishbluefish said:
I would approach this as a cure / cycle problem. You're going to see a spike in nitrates and phosphates as all the dead stuff decays, and at the same time a cycle while new, alive bacteria begin to grow. I'd monitor Nitrates and Phosphates, and do occasional water changes until they show signs of declining. And for the cycle, I'd be testing for ammonia, waiting for that to go to zero.

ca1ore said:
Yeah, protracted power loss is a major problem. Whether your tank will re-cycle depends a bit on how much died. Bacteria will survive, so depends a bit on how much they have to process on whether you will see ammonia or not. A genny really is required equipment once you get to a serious livestock level. My power-loss plan is almost perfect, unless I'm out of town, then the tank is borked.

+1. Get it running again and see what happens. Get ready for a big water change. Don't turn on the light, it will just grow algae really fast. If you have a fuge run that. After the big water change maybe consider Probidio startup or Bio digest.
The cold was actually probably a good thing. Better than heat.

And Im so sorry to hear about the tank..

Scarlette · Mar 17, 2017

Thanks! Is this zoa dead?

redfishbluefish · Mar 17, 2017

I'd leave them.

Some corals are pretty resilient, and could bounce back. The second reason is it's toxins....dead or alive, if you start to play with them they'll likely release their toxins. If you still wish to take them out, wear gloves.

buckroe07 · Mar 17, 2017

They are definitely hurt. Looks just like mine when my system crashed. I did pull them out looking just like those and put them in a tank I set up to try and rescue what corals I could and a few managed to come back around.

Joshua Hurst · Mar 17, 2017

Not completely... hed have some better odds if you gave him a dip. the part that looks like its spread on the rocks looks dead to me, but corals are pretty amazing at looking dead sometimes so who knows