IOPsurfer
New Member
TLDR: can soot be cleaned off aquarium equipment and how or do I need to scrap everything?
Sadly, there was a fire in my kitchen while I was at work. The response time putting out the fire was amazing. Fire fighters are heros! By the time I was allowed into my home, I expected to find all the fish dead due to excessive heat. The temperatures in the tank were hot - around high 80's if memory serves me and if the sensors were working properly - but thanks be to God the fish were alive. I put some ice in bags to try to cool the tank. I didn't have any power but I had someone bringing me a battery bubbler. In the meantime I was scooping water and dumping it back in to try to let oxygen in there while thinking of what to do next. Before I knew it the fish in the 55 gallon were all laying on the bottom. The tank doesn't have a lid. The fish in a 30 gallon (with lid) and smaller Qt tank (also with lid) were still doing fine. I assumed soot got into the open top tank and was poisoning the fish, so I quickly moved them out of the tank and into the 30 gallon. They recovered nicely from there, except for my yellow tang. It didn't survive.
While I recover, my question is: how poisonous is the soot? Can it be cleaned from the tank and other equipment and if so how? Is there any media I should use to remove the contaminants? Is there a home test I can do to see if there are still contaminants in the tank?
Thank you in advance!
Sadly, there was a fire in my kitchen while I was at work. The response time putting out the fire was amazing. Fire fighters are heros! By the time I was allowed into my home, I expected to find all the fish dead due to excessive heat. The temperatures in the tank were hot - around high 80's if memory serves me and if the sensors were working properly - but thanks be to God the fish were alive. I put some ice in bags to try to cool the tank. I didn't have any power but I had someone bringing me a battery bubbler. In the meantime I was scooping water and dumping it back in to try to let oxygen in there while thinking of what to do next. Before I knew it the fish in the 55 gallon were all laying on the bottom. The tank doesn't have a lid. The fish in a 30 gallon (with lid) and smaller Qt tank (also with lid) were still doing fine. I assumed soot got into the open top tank and was poisoning the fish, so I quickly moved them out of the tank and into the 30 gallon. They recovered nicely from there, except for my yellow tang. It didn't survive.
While I recover, my question is: how poisonous is the soot? Can it be cleaned from the tank and other equipment and if so how? Is there any media I should use to remove the contaminants? Is there a home test I can do to see if there are still contaminants in the tank?
Thank you in advance!
