Hello from sw CT

Hello 3reef,

This is my first time posting, but I've been browsing the forums since shortly before I began reef keeping in 2008.

I'm the proud owner of a 4ft. 120 gallon mixed reef which my wife and I have greatly enjoyed for the last 3+ years.

I'm writing my first post as a sort of confessional, which I could tell my friends and family, but they just wouldn't understand the pain of losing fish you have grown attached to.

Hurricane Irene hit my home head on, and knocked our power out for 21+ hours. Being from CT, and only experiencing hurricanes on the order of every 12 years or so, I was grossly unprepared for longstanding power outages. I didn't have a battery powered air pump, and never bothered to buy a vortech battery back up (aka I'm an idiot).

During the power outage I used my arm (with tank gloves of course) to stir the water vigorously every half hour or so, but every fish keeper needs to sleep sometime. I awoke in the morning to discover 5 of my 9 fish had passed away during the night. This included my 4.5in Kole tang, 5.5in Yellow tang, cherub angel, six line wrasse, and bicolor dottyback. They were survived by my 4in bynoe gobie, purple firefish, and mated pair of ocellaris clowns. All corals and inverts also survived the outage. I'm confident the cause of death was a steady decline in dissolved O2, as the fish that passed away were all active swimmers, with high oxygen demands.

I'm really not looking for sympathy, just looking to memorialize these fish in some way, especially my tangs, which could recognize me from the doorway to the room (sigh). It was my responsibility to be prepared for any situation, a responsibility I accepted when I bought these fish, and accepted my role as their caregiver. A responsibility I did not live up to, compounded by the fact that I had two tangs in a 4 foot tank, with no way to provide emergency oxygen.

I have since ordered both a vortech battery backup, and battery powered air pump in case an event on this magnitude ever happens again. I'm determined to not only continue reef keeping, but to make sure my tank is prepared for scenarios such as this from now on.

I'll never forget these fish, or my role in their demise. Sorry for the lengthy post 3reefers, I just really needed to get that off my chest. I welcome any comments or concerns, including statements about how irresponsible I was, I deserve it.

 

Hi There
Firstly welcome to 3reef;D
Im sorry that the Hurricane did that too you & sorry to hear of your Fish loses but glad You or your family were not hurt.
Dont be so hard on yourself you aren't the first to do this & wont be the last & really how long will anybody loose power is unknown so most backups wont last every-time especially in a situation like that & not everyone will be at home to help things along.
Hopefully it all goes well for you now.

Cheers
Rick

 

That post communicates to me that you were very fond of your fish friends and are taking a lot of responsibility for the sad outcome. Something happened, a force of nature that you had little control over, could you have planned a little better, sure. In a natural disaster almost all individuals could have planned better. You have now taken steps to prevent the same outcome should you loose power for prolonged periods of time.

When I have had power issues, usually pouring water back into the tank from an elevated height roughly every hour or hour and 1/2 kept my fishes alive, but they were not larger tangs.

Good luck to you, and thank you for sharing your story.

 

Hello and welcome to 3reef

 

Hello and welcome to the reef!. On the down side sorry to here about you troubles with Hurrican Irean. May you fish rest in peace.

 

Thanks so much for the support guys.

I'm reassured by the fact that others continue reefing in the face of hardship. It's also true that we have no control over the forces of nature or length of power outages, all we can do is beef up our level of preparedness which I most certainly am and will continue to do.

Thanks for the tip corailline, I will make use of it next time we lose power.

Thanks again everyone

 

Hello and welcome to 3reef!, I too am sorry for your loses but glad to know that you and your family and the remaining fish and corals are alright. You have confessed your fish sins, as notated before you are not the first nor the last to make these types of mistakes. All any of us can do is learn (as you already have) and keep moving forward, don't continue to beat yourself up.