HELP power outtage

[Ztrain]

I had a power outage while I was at work tonight. By the time I got home the power had been out for 45min - 1hour. I got the pump on the UPS asap and the battery powered thermometer said the temp was in in tolerance. But my clowns that are always together one was doing laps around the tank bumping in to the walls the other was on the bottom barely moving. I quickly moved them to the 3g salt water bucket that I had ready for this weekends water change. After about 10 minutes or so they started their normal swimming right next to each other behavior and started moving regularly again. After about a half hour I put them back in the main tanks and they soon returned to the strange behavior. One barely moving on the bottom and the other swimming erratically banging into things. So I moved them back to the bucket which is where they are currently.

It is 12:40 am right now and my local fish store opens about 10am. How long can they survive in the 3g bucket without live rock filtration? I don't know if I want to risk another trip to the 20g until I at least do a full water change. I don't know if it is oxygen starvation but that would be my guess. Not sure what to do really don't want to loose these guy's. If anyone has any idea's at this hour it would be much appreciated.

I also have a backup heater in the bucket and a Koralia nano 240 in the the bucket keeping it moving. The fish are two Ocellaris about .5" long.

 

[sc50964]

HELP power outtage

Put an air pump in the bucket as well. They should be able to stay in the 3G bucket for 8 hours. As far as your DT goes, water quality must have gone back so a 25% WC is in order.

 

[DDon]

They should be fine overnight as long as you have surface agitation and the heater. If it drags out though keep an eye on ammonia. You can add prime or another ammonia detoxifier if needed

 

[Ztrain]

How much surface agitation do I need. I have mug in there incase they need to get out of the current and the nano 240 on the bottom of the bucket pointing straight up.. The surface is getting a bit of a ripple but nothing huge.

I was planning my first water change tomorrow since getting the fish. There was a decent build up of algae on the glass. Could see through it still and was planning on scraping it off right before the water change. I did the cleaning now while waiting to see how the clowns did. The water is back to clear all the algae off the glass. Water "looks good" But don't want to risk the clowns in it till I do a massive 100% water change tomorrow. I hope the clowns survive in the bucket.

And yes I do have a 50watt heater in there too.

 

[gbru316]

How long has the tank been set up , how big is it and what livestock do you have?

I'm not sure an hour without power is long enough to cause major problems unless it's a very small tank. My 10g has been without power for 4-5 hours in the past and I haven't had issues.

I'd run a bunch of carbon and do a full water chemistry test.

 

[apexkeeper]

I was gonna say the same thing, I can't see how 45 mins to an hour without power could crash a tank. Sometimes when I do water changes and cleaning I'll have everything shut off for that long. Need to figure out exactly what happened before you go nuts.

 

[Ztrain]

Yeah not totally sure yet. Temp was still 79 when I got to the tank. One fish was swimming around not as usual bumping in to things other was laying on the bottom near motionless. So I moved them to the bucket holding todays premixed water for today's water change. They survived the night and after only a few minutes were swimming together again as they had for the week I had them. I woke up way earlier this morning to see them both doing their sleep swim but on opposite sides of the bucket. This morning one was charging and I'm assuming nipping the other one because it was running away and jerking out of the way.

I moved them both back to the display tank and while they are not showing the dieing behavior that they did last night. (The tank has been running all night even without fish in it) They are still continuing the fighting in the display tank. One is hiding on the left hand side of the tank and the aggressor is prowling on the left. Every once in a while they find each other and start fighting. I don't know if the night in the 3g has started their dominance battle yet even at this early age. Either way the two that were near inseparable the last week now seem to be enemy #1 to each other. But at least they are swimming strong again in the 20g tank.

Tank inhabitants are just the 2 clowns and some CUC. 20 gallon completed cycle 2 weeks ago. Got the 2 clowns a week ago today. So a very new tank.

 

[Ztrain]

Thank you guy's for the help. The LFS thinks that it was an oxygen depervation in such a small new tank. I have the clowns back in the main display and they are not inseparable anymore and doing a bit of fighting with each other but they are both swiming strong and not lathargic. The LFS tested all my parameters and they all looked good.so the tank is safe and I now have everything on battery backups.

 

[acabgd]

I don't think it was oxygen deprivation, rather that your tank is/was not properly or fully cycled. Even this small disturbance (power outage) might have disrupted the delicate balance. As for clowns fighting, they are just establishing who is a female, which is normal behaviour.

 

[Ztrain]

I don't think it was oxygen deprivation, rather that your tank is/was not properly or fully cycled. Even this small disturbance (power outage) might have disrupted the delicate balance. As for clowns fighting, they are just establishing who is a female, which is normal behaviour.

I did the cycle correctly as agreed with by my LFS. However yeah it is a very new tank and there are probably delicate balances that I need to be extremely careful about. Which is why I went to extreme measures to make sure of their survival. I took water samples to my LFS for them to test and my Nitrogen cycle parameters were perfect so it wasn't a cycle issue. Not sure what it was but the LFS did agree that as the tank ages such issues will be reduced as things build up. Having this happen on such a new tank is being blamed. So I got 3 more Troch snails, and another hermit to work on the build algae.

The clowns are back to swimming with each other right now though they occasionally peck at each other. They are also spending more time this evening exploring more areas of the tank solo and duo.

I also picked picked up a Green Star Polyp to start growing as my substrate instead of sand on the bottom. It hasn't opened up yet.

Thank you for the quick help! Love this forum!

Edit: Okay not totally back together one clown is in their former normal sleep spot and the other clown is out sleeping in front. On the couch it seems.

 

[Silvergryphon]

Don't trust your LFS.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Regarding your fish, keep in mind that a 20 gal tank with live rock is going to be pretty cramped quarters for even the smaller species of clownfish. Percula clownfish, for example, get to be 3" regularly, with 4" being about the max size for the species. And cramped quarters for territorial fish like clowns can lead to some pretty serious aggression.

If these fish are your pets, you might want to consider setting up a larger tank for their eventual home (a 40 gal breeder at least).

 

[Ztrain]

Regarding your fish, keep in mind that a 20 gal tank with live rock is going to be pretty cramped quarters for even the smaller species of clownfish. Percula clownfish, for example, get to be 3" regularly, with 4" being about the max size for the species. And cramped quarters for territorial fish like clowns can lead to some pretty serious aggression.

If these fish are your pets, you might want to consider setting up a larger tank for their eventual home (a 40 gal breeder at least).

There is a significant upgrade to their accommodations planned for next summer.

 

[acabgd]

I did the cycle correctly as agreed with by my LFS. However yeah it is a very new tank and there are probably delicate balances that I need to be extremely careful about. Which is why I went to extreme measures to make sure of their survival. I took water samples to my LFS for them to test and my Nitrogen cycle parameters were perfect so it wasn't a cycle issue.

Cycled doesn't mean ready for everything. If there was only minimal amount of bacteria in your LR, the power outage and lack of flow might have caused it to die. Not saying that is really the case, rather noting that while the tank might be cycled, it is also not ready for whatever you throw at it.
As for LFS testing your water, I would rather get my own test kits. LFS will "agree" with whatever you want to hear in order for him to make the next sale to you. Also, "perfect parameters" doesn't mean anything without proper numbers, and you need to know them.

 

[Ztrain]

My test kids were testing 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite etc. Had the LFS check them just to make sure there wasn't a problem with my kits giving me wrong numbers then what was actually in the tank.