# Termite Fumigation - Will Fish Survive?



## rjf (Oct 23, 2008)

Hi, I'm new here. I've been keeping Central American Cichlids for 20 years though.

I'm making plans to have my house fumigated for termites and I can't figure out a way to move my largest fish out of the house. It's a Manguense that's almost a foot long. He lives in a 100 gallon tank that isn't going anywhere. I had thought I might buy a large rubbermade lidded storage container and put him on my patio for a couple of days, but it's dipping into the 50's at night and there are feral cats and 'possum in my neighborhood that might molest the fish.

Now I'm thinking there might be a way to leave the fish in the house during the fumigation. I can place plastic over the tank and seal it well. I can put an automatic feeder in the enclosure. I don't have an air pump on the tank, but I have a few pumps laying around. I have a friend who's done this with no problems. I'm wondering if I need to pump fresh air from outside into the enclosure or if it would be OK without doing that for a couple of days. If I do I would run an airline with a check valve for exhaust so I didn't blow the cover off.

Has anyone got any experience with leaving their fish in their home during a fumigation? Any advice?


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2008)

Where are you staying while the house is getting fumigated?

Why not take the fish with you, or see if your LFS (not a box store) can hold your fish for few days...

If you take the fish with you, all you have to do is lightly feed once every other day or not at all if it's only for like a week or so, or even feed just once a week. You'd also have to have a heater in the container the fish is in, and if you don't have a sponge filter then just use an airstone and keep an eye on the water parameters...

Personally though I would NOT keep the fish in the house with the fumes... Plus I'd give the tank a good cleaning before you put him back in to in case any of the fume poison gets in the water or on the glass, etc.

~Ed


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## rjf (Oct 23, 2008)

I plan on staying at a motel. I'm hoping they tent my house during the week while I'm working. I have 3 tanks to worry about.

20g - small Jack D, small Green Terror, Med Pleco
50g - med/large Green Sevrum, Large Pleco
100g - Large Managuense, 2 Large Pleco's

I expect to be tented for 3 days and 2 nights, maybe less. I have to call my termite company with a list of questions.

I've got 2 spare small glass tanks I keep to set up hospitals. I have enough spare heaters, hang on filters, air pumps, etc to set up the two tanks and a neighbor on the street said I could use some space in his garage. I don't want to leave the big fish with him though. In fact I don't even want to leave any fish with him because I don't want to owe this guy a favor. He's needy and a bit off. But anyway...

I wasn't to keen on leaving them with a LFS because they ususally have one filter system with several hundred gallons and all the display tanks are basically one big tank. I see sick fish and ich in their display tanks and I don't want my fish to get sick. Still, I should call around and go inspect a few store's facilities.

I have also been considering buying a big lidded Rubbermade storage container and bringing the Managuense with me to the motel. But then a friend who's successfully kept Cichlids longer than I have told me he just covered his tanks with saran and the fish were fine. That made me think I could do something similar.

The gas may not even be that poisonous. Not that I wouldn't take great measures to keep it from contacting the fish, but I read an article by someone who experimented with exposing their invertibrates to Vikane and several survived. They also left a monitor on an unprotected tank while their home was fumigated and they recorded a 1 point drop in pH (form about 8.5 to about 7.5) and some flourides being formed in the water.

I know it sounds a little dicey, but I really think I can make it work and that it would be the least effort. I'm just wondering if others have tried to seal up tanks and leave them in a tented house and what their experience was. It's a risk vs. reward thing, though with livestock I'm obviosly very averse to risk.


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## rjf (Oct 23, 2008)

I just finished having the house fumigated and I did leave my fish in their tanks. They all came through the fumigation with no ill effects. I had to sign a waiver regarding the fish for the fumigation company and they asked me to cover the tanks so that if the inspector from Agriculture came around he wouldnâ€™t see there were fish. The fish were sealed in their â€œlife-support systemsâ€


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## rjf (Oct 23, 2008)

This is my first attempt to link to pictures. In fact I opened a photobucket account today so I could show how I protected my fish from the gas. If you cut and paste the url in my post above, it does go to the small album I made.

Maybe this will link...


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## rjf (Oct 23, 2008)

Maybe this?

http://s627.photobucket.com/albums/tt355/rjf_01/


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2009)

That's good news. Glad to hear everything turned out okay!


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