Filters off for several hours

[GiveMeABMW]

I'm having some rooms in my house painted and today when I was at work they
unplugged all of my tank 'stuff' (filters, heater, air stones) for god knows
how many hours. Needless to say when I got home I yelled a very loud expletive
(scaring my dogs) and ran over to plug it all back in. The fish seemed a little
lethargic, but perked up quickly with the filters on.

Is there anything I need to be worried about?

[Vissy Dartae]

You should probably do a substantial water change right away and keep
checking your parameters every day for a while. If you have an open
hang-on filter you may be OK, but if you have a closed canister it can
go toxic pretty quickly. You might get an ammonia/nitrite spike if
the biobugs started to die off. Also check the pH.
I'd give the filter media a fair rinse in the old tank water when you
do the change--just to help get rid of any dead bio bugs. Of course
if you rinse TOO vigorously you could also get rid of any live ones,
so be Moderate.

Also, remember that any paint fumes in the room can get into the
water. Keep the ventilation going in the room where the fish are.

Hope everything turns out A-OK.
--



(GiveMeABMW) wrote in message >...
> I'm having some rooms in my house painted and today when I was at work they
> unplugged all of my tank 'stuff' (filters, heater, air stones) for god knows
> how many hours. Needless to say when I got home I yelled a very loud expletive
> (scaring my dogs) and ran over to plug it all back in. The fish seemed a little
> lethargic, but perked up quickly with the filters on.
>
> Is there anything I need to be worried about?

[[email protected]]

what Vissy says...... keep a close eye on em. keep doing partial water changes for a
few days. add a bit of salt it you havent already... 1 teaspoon salt per 5 gallons,
no additives, dissolve first, add slowly. Ingrid

(Vissy Dartae) wrote:

>You should probably do a substantial water change right away and keep
>checking your parameters every day for a while. If you have an open
>hang-on filter you may be OK, but if you have a closed canister it can
>go toxic pretty quickly. You might get an ammonia/nitrite spike if
>the biobugs started to die off. Also check the pH.
>I'd give the filter media a fair rinse in the old tank water when you
>do the change--just to help get rid of any dead bio bugs. Of course
>if you rinse TOO vigorously you could also get rid of any live ones,
>so be Moderate.
>
>Also, remember that any paint fumes in the room can get into the
>water. Keep the ventilation going in the room where the fish are.
>
>Hope everything turns out A-OK.



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[GiveMeABMW]

This morning my biggest oranda had red streaks in his tail. It's my own fault
for not changing the water earlier but after seeing that I changed about 40%
and cleaned out the filters. Afterward the ammonia tested at 0 and the nitrite
was of course not matching any of the colors on the strip but I'll say it was
around .25.

Would another 40% change tomorrow bring the nitrite down?

Also I don't have any salt on hand but I did add Stress Coat. In any event the
oranda does seem better now, less lethargic.

[Elizabeth Naime]

Pick up some salt -- I use pickling and canning salt, nice safe stuff
with no additives, and you can get it in your local grocery store
(sometimes with the salt, sometimes with the canning supplies).

Personally I would add just a little salt (maybe a teaspoon per ten
gallons) to help them get through the nitrite spike. A little insurance,
and you'll have the rest of the box of salt on hand if you ever need it
(we hope, of course, you never do). Dissolve it first of course and add
to the tank, not through the filter, but I bet you knew that.

I bet the water change alone has made them much happier fish. Keep the
salt in there until the nitrites read 0 again, and keep testing daily so
that you know where you are at.


-----------------------------------------
Only know that there is no spork.