Power Outage Story

["Chris Ferrell" <ferrell_chris at hotmail_com>]

While I'm sure I'm not the only one, I lost power for about 4 days in North
Carolina.  The fully planted 20 gallon tank was thrown into some turmoil.
I'll recap in case people wonder what kind of conditions fish and plants can
deal with.

Around the 1st I moved and set the tank back up (Saturday day).  I just
drained it to around 2" of water, left the fish and plants in the tank as
they were and moved the tank.  It was only w/o full water for around 45
minutes so everything went quite well.  Tried to hook up the co2 system
after moving (Eheim) and I realized that I broke another one.  Time for low
pressure system.

About 4 days later (Wednesday night), once the tank had come to grips with
it's new pH, the power cuts off in the night.  Temp went from 78ish to
somewhere around 40 degrees (guess, themometer didn't go that low).  I
didn't get a chance to wrap the tank in blankets and it dropped quickly.
After 4 days (Sunday evening), the power came back on and the tank
"rebooted".

As of today (Tuesday), the plants (java fern, moss, various crypts, anubias
and a sword) look pretty good.  The sword, which wasn't looking so hot
before looks even worse.  In truth, the java moss and fern look better.  The
crypts, surprisingly, look none the worse for wear at this point.  As far as
fish, I lost 2 angels, 4 neons, 2 ottos, 2 SAEs, 1 platy (f) and 1 rosy barb
(f).  1 rosy barb (f) and 2 platies (both m) survived to this point.  The
snails (pond and ramshorn), not surprisingly, seem just fine.

Just thought I'd share.  The fish were pH hardy but the cold got 'em.  I
wouldn't be shocked to have seen a couple more survive if the pH had stayed
steady or if the drop could have been slower (blankets).  Makes the "drip
method" of introducing a new fish for an hour or two look a little menial.

Chris