Re: lesson learned the hard way !

["Bjorn H S" <bhsm@telia.com>]

Hi!
My first post here! Interesting to hear that certain Apistos survived such low temperatures. Once in a while, rare cold spells may hit parts of the Amazon, and millions of fishes die from this. As this is a natural, even if rare, happening, some species are probably adapted to survive such disasters. 
A. borelli survived, and this species have a rather southern distribution. 

If the cold weakend the fishes immune system, they could face the danger of diseases, but as Tundra Johnny told, his fishes spawned after the cold period! That doesnt sound like weakened fish! :) 

In younger years, I were ice-fishing for Perch (Perca fluviatilis), and several carp-relatives, and they were covered or rather glazed in ice, when I eventually came home. A slow acclimatisation to a little warmer water, and I had them in my tank for years. They are coldwater species, but they were almost frozen, and had no ill-effects! 
When things are cold, the metabolism goes very slowly. I know certain tropical plants can take low temperatures, but only for shorter periods. If these periods are extended to many days, they die. 

Once, when we lost the electricity in Oslo, I was probably the first to call; the company delivering electricity, had aggregates to lend out for free! They delivered it on my doorstep, and this saved my fishes!

For warming up things, aggregates are perfect, but there are also bhutane gas-heaters available, some even with a termostate! They off course need slight ventilation, to keep up the oxygen level. If you have windows in the fish room; cover them with some insulation, as the heat will leave there first!

I used a trick in my cactigreenhouse 3 years ago; strong northern winds and -18degrees Fahrenheit/26Celsius for 14 days! I covered the greenhouse, and put in as much electric heaters as I could without blowing any fuses, and even that wasnt enough! I lighted a lot of fat wax candles, and as each of these produce maybe 60 watts(?) of heat, I managed to keep the temp high enough!

I'm lucky to have a fire place in my house, and this keeps the heat up if the electricity is out. Hope your re-heated fishes will survive!

Bjørn H. Smevold
Norwegian in Stockholm, Sweden


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Trescak" <aquapassion@sympatico.ca>
To: <apisto@v2.listbox.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: lesson learned the hard way !


> Hi,
> 
> I'd go with John's advice, insulate that house!!!
> 
> For power backup, I'd recommend a nice big generator!! Wish I had one!!
> 
> I'm actually using some APC Back-UPS for backup power. Only running the air 
> pumps on these things, should last about 10 hours straight, but I'd turn 
> them on maybe 5-10 minutes par hour to have a longer reserve. Not too 
> expensive, especially if they are on sale, or you buy them used.
> 
> 
> David
> 
> At 03:47 04-01-10 -0500, you wrote:
> >Yvan
> >
> >My first investment wouldnt be a generator but some insulation in that
> >house of yours..... Oh my lord, a drop inside of 10 hrs without power to
> >an internal house temp of 42F... wow, thats really bad... might as well
> >open the windows!!
> >
> >in 1998 the Northeastern USA and eastern provinces of Canada experienced
> >the ice storm.
> >Many ppl were without power for anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks.  I
> >personally lost power for over 6 days.... fortunately for me, outside
> >temps that January storm only went into the low 20s F at night ... temps
> >in my house dipped to around 38°F.... i only lost a couple of dozen
> >fish in the 100+ tanks i was maintaining.   Temps went down slow and
> >then leveled off.... Im not sure if Neptune... or some other Fish God
> >was watching over my house.. but when the power came back on, i did NOT
> >rush to warm the tanks back up.... i allowed the tanks to gradually come
> >back up to heated room temperature...  Im sure this is what saved most
> >of my fish...i didnt even have an Ich problem when things finally came
> >back to normal.... funny thing was, several pairs of apistos immediately
> >spawned after temps returned to normal.    A key thing i learned to do,
> >when you lose power and temps in tanks fall, do not attempt to feed
> >fish. they dont eat in cooler temps and the food only rots and causes
> >the water to foul... Hardest hit by the storm and power outage were my
> >Adult Angelfish and my Tropheus Duboisi group that i had raised for 1.5
> >years... Those guys really hurt me alot!!  I barely lost any apistos,
> >nor saw any ill effects from the cold water..
> >
> >Insulate your house better or buy a portable Heater... something that
> >will keep your house warm during power outages....
> >
> >We had a power outage here in Tupper lake today  for a good part of the
> >day. several hours as a matter of fact... temps inside my apartment
> >didnt even drop below 68F.... Us North eastern ppl know how to insulate
> >our homes..!!!   My only concern with the power outage today was if i
> >would wake up in time to go to work,  not my fish, i knew they would be
> >fine!!  Oh and outside temperature yesterday was around -25°F when the
> >power went out...  Presently its -32°F...  Im just waiting for spring
> >to arrive!!   its supposed to warm up alot by Monday, may even break
> >20F..... a heat spell in the Tundra..
> >
> >Tundra Johnny
> >
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