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Did anyone experience any problems with the first really cold evening of the year this past Thursday night? I hope not, but I sure did.
I have the majority of my tanks in my garage, which is seperated from the house and not to well insulated.....well why lie, its like swiss cheese there are that many holes.......LOL. I checked my tanks and heaters before leaving for work Thursday night and got home around 8AM Friday. I walk out to the garage to check on my tanks before going to bed and immediately I see one of my tanks, that holds my Red Empress male and Semi-adult females, with fish lying in the bottom on their sides of upside down.
Man, I flew into action. They were all stressed out in that tank I knew some were already gone. I check the temp and it was like 56F degrees. I immediately dumped some of the water and added some from another tank that was warmer, about 20% worth. I tossed the heater that was in the tank and added two other heaters I had. Added stress zyme. For the next two hours, using a long plastic tool I use for reaching in the tanks, I gently kept the fish moving. They would swim or try to swim away from me and lay sideways or upside down again. I repeat this process for two hours as the water slowly warms up and I get colder. I didn't want to move them to a warmer tank because I was afraid the immed. temp change would be too much for them and I would lose them all for sure.
Out of 1 adult male and 12 others, I lost 4 of the others, 1 I got from Scott and 3 from someone else.
I've been keeping a close eye on them and the rest are doing fine. That was a close call. I almost didn't go out to check on my tanks that morning, it was cold and I was tired and wanted to be under covers asleep.
All other tanks have needed adjustments with the heaters, but no problems.
Raul
I have the majority of my tanks in my garage, which is seperated from the house and not to well insulated.....well why lie, its like swiss cheese there are that many holes.......LOL. I checked my tanks and heaters before leaving for work Thursday night and got home around 8AM Friday. I walk out to the garage to check on my tanks before going to bed and immediately I see one of my tanks, that holds my Red Empress male and Semi-adult females, with fish lying in the bottom on their sides of upside down.
Man, I flew into action. They were all stressed out in that tank I knew some were already gone. I check the temp and it was like 56F degrees. I immediately dumped some of the water and added some from another tank that was warmer, about 20% worth. I tossed the heater that was in the tank and added two other heaters I had. Added stress zyme. For the next two hours, using a long plastic tool I use for reaching in the tanks, I gently kept the fish moving. They would swim or try to swim away from me and lay sideways or upside down again. I repeat this process for two hours as the water slowly warms up and I get colder. I didn't want to move them to a warmer tank because I was afraid the immed. temp change would be too much for them and I would lose them all for sure.
Out of 1 adult male and 12 others, I lost 4 of the others, 1 I got from Scott and 3 from someone else.
I've been keeping a close eye on them and the rest are doing fine. That was a close call. I almost didn't go out to check on my tanks that morning, it was cold and I was tired and wanted to be under covers asleep.
All other tanks have needed adjustments with the heaters, but no problems.
Raul
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