Power Strip exploded now fish are dying

nrannalli

New member
Had a power strip literally burn until there was nothing left today. I guess GFCI don't actually work... 2 of my tangs and a sunburst anthias are lying in the sand breathing there eyes and fins are moving but they are just lying there. All my chromis and shrimps died but my 2 clown fish and 2 fire fish some hermit crabs and brittle starfish are still alive. All the corals are still alive too. Is there anything I can do for the tangs and anthias? or are they just going to die eventually not sure if they got electrocuted or if there may be something in the water.

Thanks
Nick
 
When you mean burn, do u mean smoke and fire? What kind of power strip was it? I would start doing several major water changes..I dont know how hot it is there but, I would also get some fresh are into the house.
 
If they are lying on the sand so that you can catch them, can you move them to a qt or frag tank?

Otherwise, large water changes, carbon and a polyfilter.

Good luck!
Joyce
 
I came home to this.
DSCN2030.jpg


There was one other small piece with the cord attached but I had already thrown it away. I think my ORP controller was the cause and not the power strip.
DSCN2031.jpg


It has been unplugged for a couple of days and not in use but I still has the Power plug for ozone dosing plugged into the power strip. The protein skimmer pump was the only other thing and that was still intact when I found it but the ORP power plug was completely destroyed burned from the in side out.

I found 6 of the 8 Chromis and they look to be electrocuted. I also found 2 more survivors in the overflow a golden head sleeper gobbie and a mandarin. The only fish not looking so good are the Anthias and Tangs.

The weather is not too hot here right now and the fish room door and garage have been open for about 6 hours but it still smells. This sucks I just did a 60 gallon water change last night.
 
Your telling me... The fish room is made with 60 minute burn walls but I don't know how long it took for this to happen. I just can't believe it made it that far and none of the circuits pop powerstrip/gfci/circuit breaker. Everything was still running like it never happened.
 
If they are lying on the sand so that you can catch them, can you move them to a qt or frag tank?

Otherwise, large water changes, carbon and a polyfilter.

Good luck!
Joyce

+1

If the powerstrip was powering your pumps it could be from lack of oxygen in the tank or maybe fumes from the burnt power strip are poisoning the tank. Either way I'd do what Joyce recommended.
 
Wow..You are lucky..I would definetly suspect water poisoning from the fumes released from the plastics in the power strip..
 
After a couple of hours waiting for the RO system to make 30 gallons of water to do a 10% water change. I had removed 6 of the 8 dead chromis and was able to get the dead shrimps out. The fish started to swim in one spot at around 11pm and as of this morning they were hiding in the rock work. So I guess I will have to wait till I get home to see if they made it.
 
I am sorry for your losses..As a Firefighter, I know the damage that smoke can do. Do as many water changes as you can, run carbon and keep fresh air in the room. Hopefully some of the fish will survive.
 
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When I got home both tangs and anthias were swimming around their fins look a little beat up but no other visible damage. Miraculously one of the cleaner shrimps I couldn't get to came back to life that sucks for the other ones I could get too.:sad2:
 
Did you install them correctly? I use the same brand and they just work yesterday when I accidentally spill water on an florescent lamp.
 
Did you install them correctly? I use the same brand and they just work yesterday when I accidentally spill water on an florescent lamp.

With the 'Lock-Out' feature I was under the impression they wouldn't even let power through unless they were installed correctly. 2 of the others circuits trip fine when I overload them with lights and a chiller and they were all installed the same way. I have a feeling the circuit is fine and that the short happened with one of the other devices and not the power strip.
 
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