Power Failure - Help!

[Bugblu98]

32 Gal Coralife BioCube w/ 6 fish, 1 Anemone, corals, and CUC

Yesterday we did a water change and when plugging everything back in, we plugged the entire system into an outlet that was on a switch by accident. When we went to bed at 11:30pm we shut down the whole system. This morning at 7:30 I went to feed my fish and everything was off. I quickly realized what happened and got everything turned back on.

1 fish (Coral Beauty) was dead, 1 fish (Fairy Wrasse) on it’s side curled and breathing heavy, other 4 fish (2 clowns, 1 tang, and blenny) seem to be ok. Removed the Coral Angel. Put the Fairy Wrasse in a breeder net and have and air stone running directly under it to help push oxygen into him. Not looking so good.

The corals seem to look ok, and what CUC I see seems to be ok.

My Anemone is under a rock in the back of the tank and is completely pulled in. I really can’t see him but a few tentacles which are completely deflated and laying in the sand. In order to get to him I would have to completely take my rocks apart. What do I do? Do I chance that he’s ok and leave it alone or a whole or do I take everything apart to see if he’s still alive?

I’m devastated over this. I feel like such a horrible person. I know and will have a battery backup on this system ASAP. This is my first saltwater tank. I’ve done the research and know one should be on there. I’ve even look at them. Just haven’t hit one yet[emoji24]

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Jason mack]

First dont panic ....my first advice do a big water change ...and I'm guessing you've already got power back on ....dont worry about the anamone .. once the tank is back upto temperature and lights are on he will come out again ...I know this won't help ..but dont feel bad and beat yourself up about it ...we all make mistakes ...we understand how you feel right now ...take it as a lesson and keep moving forward ...
#reefsquad ..

 

[Anirban]

Two things ....first aerate the water as much as possible so that you increase the dissolved oxygen amount and bring up the temperature. Then once everything settle down do a water change. Dont worry it happens to everyone.

 

[Brew12]

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this!

Put the Fairy Wrasse in a breeder net and have and air stone running directly under it to help push oxygen into him. Not looking so good.

I would recommend against bubbling directly under the fish. The dissolved oxygen in the water is what matters. The air bubbles could actually hinder the fishes ability to get O2 from the water. If you have good water circulation in your tank you can put the bubbler anywhere.

 

[kireek]

Sorry for your troubles.I agree that the anemone will probably be just fine.Hopefully your wrasse will pull through after he warms up a bit.Definitely raise the temperature slowly.In this regard I think it would be best to wait on the water change as @Anirban suggested.

 

[Bugblu98]

I'm sorry you are having to deal with this!


I would recommend against bubbling directly under the fish. The dissolved oxygen in the water is what matters. The air bubbles could actually hinder the fishes ability to get O2 from the water. If you have good water circulation in your tank you can put the bubbler anywhere.

Thank you! I moved it to under the power head so it pushes the bubbles around.

 

[MnFish1]

What happened in the end

 

[Bugblu98]

What happened in the end

I ended up loosing 1 fish that was already gone when I found the power loss (Coral Beauty). The 2nd fish that was almost gone was a Fairy Wrassle and I was able to put him in a breeder net and run the bubbler close to him to push oxygen back into him. After about 2 hours he began to uncurl his body and sit upright. An hour after that he was swimming so I let him back out of the net. He was back to normal in about an hour (so 4 hours total). My other fish all had little effects so they bounced right back. What I noticed was the larger the fish the bigger the effect.

All my Coral did slowly recover. Took about 3 days before everything was back to normal. My Anemone was also ok. I also did a 40% water change.

Thanks for checking in and asking! Learned a valuable lesson. Hated to loose even 1 fish but in the end it could have been much worse!

 

[MnFish1]

I ended up loosing 1 fish that was already gone when I found the power loss (Coral Beauty). The 2nd fish that was almost gone was a Fairy Wrassle and I was able to put him in a breeder net and run the bubbler close to him to push oxygen back into him. After about 2 hours he began to uncurl his body and sit upright. An hour after that he was swimming so I let him back out of the net. He was back to normal in about an hour (so 4 hours total). My other fish all had little effects so they bounced right back. What I noticed was the larger the fish the bigger the effect.

All my Coral did slowly recover. Took about 3 days before everything was back to normal. My Anemone was also ok. I also did a 40% water change.

Thanks for checking in and asking! Learned a valuable lesson. Hated to loose even 1 fish but in the end it could have been much worse!

The one lesson I think I've slowly learned (very slowly) - is that the more established a tank is - the more likely it is to survive this kind of problem. I have had 4 instances of power problems - after the first 1 (about 3 months into setting up the tank) lost nearly everything. Second - same thing. Then got a generator - and Apex failed - for 24 hours - lost 2 fish - and 1 Acropora. Then I made a mistake with return pump - off for 24 hours (so light and flow but no heat no sump) was on - lost some mdntipora - but no fish - though the temp dropped to 70 or so. This is anecdotal of course - but interesting.