# Fish slowly freezing



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I'm writing this from work, but when I left my house this morning my Malawi Mbuna tank was at 68 degrees and dropping. The power has been out since 10 PM last night (when the tank was 79 degrees) and it may not come back for another 24 hours. It's -17 Celsius (2 Fahrenheit) outside.
I poured a small amount of hot water in the tank before I left.
I guess my plan is to head back home and keep heating up water (on the gas stove) and trying to balance the temperature.
Alternatively, I could rehome the fish (6 yellow labs, 1 demasoni, 1 acei and 2 BN, all adults) in a large plastic container and run my emperor 280 off it. This would involve moving an uncovered plastic tub in my car on the highway to get to a house with power - so I'm not keen to do that.

Any idea out there? How long can these poor guys last at this temperature?


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

I'm really sorry to hear about your situation.  
I take it your water heater is natural gas powered? 68 deg. and falling probably means you don't have much time left. Is your house heated with natural gas too? if so, can you crank the thermostat up to 75? I would have a hard time being at work thinking about that. If it were me, I'd stay home and keep exchanging doses of hot / warm water. The only other thing I can think of is to insulate tyhe tank with blankets to help slow the cooling.


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

We're hot water/gas but our furnace is dependent on electricity.
I'm working as fast I can to get home and heat my poor guys up!


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

Well I wish you the best of luck. Sounds like it's out of your hands for the time being, so the best thing to do is try to put it out of your mind until you can race home. Be sure you heat 'em back up slowly so as not to shock them and stress them to death. Let me know how things go. 
I feel for ya; If you lived closer I'd happily donate replacements for all of your Mbuna in the worst case scenario.


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks. If they pull through I'll wear my "F#ck 'Em Bucky" t-shirt tomorrow.

(My uncles all went to UW)


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

ridley25 said:


> Thanks. If they pull through I'll wear my "F#ck 'Em Bucky" t-shirt tomorrow.
> 
> (My uncles all went to UW)


 :lol: cool


----------



## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I was wondering if we would hear from someone up your way this morning...I thought I heard them say they had found the problem and might have the power back on sooner??? I hope I heard them right. This was on the news right before I walked out the door at 7:45 a.m.!

When I heard the power was out, the first thing I thought of was my TO fish buddies...It's awful cold today...

If it's not fixed by now, I'd risk moving them in that container to a house with power.

Normally I would suggest wrapping the tank in blankets, but I don't think that would make alot of difference in the temps we're having today.


----------



## Groovylad (Dec 1, 2007)

Am not too sure if you can do this but if possible you can plug in an inverter in your vehicle and run an extension cord to your tank heaters... This is pending you can park close enough...

Sounds a bit out there but it would work...


----------



## Heyguy74 (Aug 11, 2005)

Try insulating the tank. Styrofoam or anything to help keep the heat in.


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

All good ideas. Thanks for the concern, everyone.
My wife and kids have taken the car to a house with heat.
I've wrapped the tank and am trickling warm, conditioned water in to slowly get the temperature back up. It was 60 when I got home, but I don't see any casualties yet.
I hope to not travel with a sloshy bucket of fish anywhere. Staying here bundled up all night is more fun than getting back on my bike again. My toes!!!


----------



## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

> I don't see any casualties yet.


That good news! Tough tittle buggers. I think they've made it through the toughest part.


----------



## cindylou (Oct 22, 2008)

We used a UPS-Back-up and a battery out of the car to keep the tanks going...Since we installed a whole house generator...I worried more about my tanks then my food or heat.. :lol:


----------



## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

ouch, you're caught in that. Heard about it on my way into work this am....hope they pull thru.


----------



## ry05coupe (Dec 30, 2008)

one thing i had to do in ireland way back when was, when the power went out (it was a yearly occurance) fill up like, plastic water bottles or hot water bottles or whatever up with boiling water, and just float them in the tank. I guess it worked better than nothing.


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

The power came on 1/2 hour ago and everyone seemed to pull through. I was never able to get the temperature in my tanks over 70, but now the heaters are doing their thing and all looks okay!

kevin


----------



## cevvin (May 2, 2008)

Gratz on the power, we know how that feels, occasionally! Glad your fish pulled thru.


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I wish I could say this chapter was closed. Although I have electricity my heat WILL NOT come on. It's now 4 celsius in my house!


----------



## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Oh, Kevin, I hope your heat comes back on soon. I can't imagine with these temps we're having! 

As for the fish, watch them closely for a bit. I've seen more adverse affects from overheating them than I have cooling them off for a bit, but it's still worth keeping an eye on things.

I hope you're warm this morning!


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

I can see my breath, but that makes my coffee taste _that_ much better.

Blankets are back on the tanks. Everyone had a nice pellet breakfast this morning since at least the filters are running. The temps are holding (I've got a Yellow Lab in my hospital tank as well) in the mid 60's.

I've managed to find an emergency heating service that can deal with my furnace. It's a water tankless thingy that's great when it works. I hope the service bill doesn't cut into the budget for my 120 gallon too badly!


----------



## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

Are you warmed up yet?


----------



## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

It took another 24 hours for my pipes to be warm enough to deliver hot water to my radiators.

Everything and everyone is now at their desired temperature. And my pipes didn't burst, so i can keep spending my discretionary income on cichlids.

Thanks for asking Kim!


----------



## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

I'm glad you're thawing out... :thumb:

I can't imagine being without power as cold as it has been.


----------

