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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Power outage :(

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06 May 2007 10:25 #1 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
Power has just been restored after 3 and a half hours tank temp dropped below 20 degrees. From what I'read this can kill the bacteria in the tank is this true? Should I watch for an increase in Nitrites and Ammonia? If the bacteria cycle has failed will I end up with lower Nitrates?

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06 May 2007 10:55 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Hi Jim,

It's not the temperature that will kill the bacteria, it's the lack of oxygenated water flowing through your filter. 3 hours is normally the max before you have a major bacteria die off. You will need to watch your water closely over the next few days. I reckon daily water changes could be needed until things settle again.

I presume you have a test kit? If ammonia or nitrITE have spiked, I would recommened an immediate 25% water change.

It may be worth your while investing in a battery operated air pump that will preserve the filter bacteria during a power cut (that's if you're lucky enough to be around when it happens). You just open up your filter and pop in the airstone that's connected to the pump. This will keep the water in the filter oxygenated until power is restored and will keep the bacteria healthy. There's no need to worry about the temperature in the filter itself. You can pick a battery operated air pump up for about €20.

You can maintain temperature by filling soda bottles with warm water and floating them in the tank.

What type of fish do you keep and what temperature do you keep your tank at? A drop to 20c is probably ok for a short time with most fish, but you wouldn't want to go any lower than that.

Regards,

Ken.

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06 May 2007 11:49 #3 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
Thanks for the reply. I have Guppies,few differnet types of tetra (Neons Red Eye,Black Widows,Rummy Nose), Sword tails, Minnow,Clown & Cooli Loaches, Plecs and a trio of fighters 1 male & 2 females. Tank is back to original temp of 26 Degrees. I hope this doesnt spell disaster. My guppies have just had a load of fry hope they survive. :cry:

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07 May 2007 05:06 #4 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
Just done a water check everything was fine bar the ammonia which is up to 2.0 now. I changed a 3rd of the water and retested its still showing up @ 2.0. Will I continue the water changes daily till back to zero?

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07 May 2007 05:32 #5 by Coler (Coler)
Replied by Coler (Coler) on topic Re: Power outage :(
Absolutely; 2 ppm is very high. If you need to change more than a third to get it down I would do that.

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07 May 2007 05:38 #6 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
I've read that lowering the temp will give the fish the ability to tolerate more ammonia is this true? Also I'm goin to hold off on feeding? Whats the max period they can go without food? /panic

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07 May 2007 06:00 #7 by Sushi (Sushi)
Replied by Sushi (Sushi) on topic Re: Power outage :(
They should be fine without feeding for 4-5 days, probably longer, there's probably lots of bits and pieces in the tank for them to pick at anyway, don't worry, you won't starve them!

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy!

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07 May 2007 06:38 #8 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
A drop from 26 to under 20c in 3.5 hours is a lot. I presume it's a small tank?

As was said 2.0 ppm of ammonia is very high. You shoud try and keep it around 0.25 max. Check again and do another water change if necessary. Also ease off the feeding for a few days until you have the ammonia under control. Most of the bacteria in your filter would have died off in the power cut.

I would leave the temperature as is. Your fish are probably stressed enough after the power cut so leave it at the temperature they're used to.

Regards,

Ken.

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08 May 2007 15:02 #9 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
Got home from work tonight and the Ammonia has gone up to 4.0. done a 75% water change which has brought it back down to 2.0. How long will it take for the tank to recover I've been adding safe start as well after each change.Is it ok to continue the 75% change daily?

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08 May 2007 15:26 #10 by john gannon (john gannon)
Replied by john gannon (john gannon) on topic Re: Power outage :(
hi jim
you could possibly chemically remove ammonia [interpet ammonia remover]this may not be an ideal solution as it states on the bottle that it is only used in emergencies.hopefully somebody with more experience could come in if u should or shouldnt.just an idea as your ammonia seems to be very high
john

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08 May 2007 15:41 #11 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Hi Jim,

You should see your filter recovering over the next couple of days. Is there anyone near you that can give you some media from an established tank to speed up the process?

I wouldn't add any of the ammonia remover (actually it doesn't remove it, it just modifies it so it ins't harmful to fish). Using this stuff could slow up your cycle as the ammonia won't be in a form that can be used for the bacteria.

Just keep testing and performing water changes. Try two smaller changes, morning and evening if possible, rather than one big one. This will reduce the impact on your fish.

Regards,

Ken.

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09 May 2007 01:30 #12 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re: Power outage :(
one big water change is better than two small one since you will remove more of the ammonia. if you perform two small changes you will only end up taking some of the clean water you added with the first water change out with the second again. With temperate water of the same pH and hardness you will not cause undo stress to your fish. Switch off the lights when you change the water to reduce the stress eben further.

Ken and Sushi are right. Ease off on the feeding for a couple of days.

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14 May 2007 04:27 #13 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
I'm still having probs with the Ammonia.. filter doesnt look like its recovering :cry: still getting spikes up to 8.0. Still performing the 75% water changes each days. What else can I do?

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14 May 2007 04:37 #14 by Tetra (Tetra)
Replied by Tetra (Tetra) on topic Re: Power outage :(
Id suggest trying to seed the filter see if you can get some old filter wool. Have some meself if your out in the tallaght area.

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14 May 2007 05:55 #15 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Sounds like a lot of ammonia considering you're doing 75% water changes. What test kit are you using? Are you sure there are no dead fish in the tank? Are you still feeding?

Regards,

Ken.

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14 May 2007 10:02 #16 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
Cant see any dead fish. Done another change today was back up tp 4.0. checked again have .25 now. I'm using the API master test kit. I've been feeding a little every 2nd day. but I do have over 40 guppie fry which I've been feeding 3 times a day crushed flake.

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14 May 2007 10:05 #17 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
I'd say the feeding is causing your problems. Is there any possibility of moving the guppy fry to another tank?

Also make sure you're not over feeding. The spikes you're seeing would suggest that you are.

Is there anyone close to you where you could get some matured filter media to get your filter going again? That would sort you out pretty quickly.

Regards,

Ken.

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14 May 2007 10:28 #18 by JimMooney (JimMooney)
I'm picking up a 50ltr tank tonight and hopefully since Tetra-Tetra
has offered some media I'll be sorted I'll move the fry to the 50.

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14 May 2007 16:36 #19 by Zoom (Zoom)
Replied by Zoom (Zoom) on topic Re: Power outage :(

I'm still having probs with the Ammonia.. filter doesnt look like its recovering :cry: still getting spikes up to 8.0. Still performing the 75% water changes each days. What else can I do?


I would be careful of doing such big water changes , I know at the moment you have no choice but its not good practice and you could be stressing the fish even more. Did you try that ammo lock?

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37918.asp

This link will give you a rough idea of the product.

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