reason?

[sergo]

is it really possible for fish to die after a little over an hour with no power? i lost power last night for a little over an hour last night and when it came back on my bolivian ram was doing the swim dance of death. this is my 55gal moderately planted. can plants take in that much oxygen in an hour that it can start killing fish? all of my other fish seemed fine. i knew i needed to be concerned but i wouldn't think it could happen that fast. surely something else had to make this happen. i have lost too many fish over the last month and this is getting old and each one lost was due to different reasons.

[wijnands]

Was there a significant temperature drop?

[Lady Hobbs]

No. Fish will not die that fast without power.

[hungryhound]

i can plants take in that much oxygen in an hour that it can start killing fish?

No. your plants will not uptake O2 from the water. They pull CO2 from the water and release O2 into the water. The death of your ram is not the result of your plants.

Plus, you said everyone was swimming fine. I would expect that if the water had a low O2 saturation then everyone would be swimming at the top.

all of my other fish seemed fine. i knew i needed to be concerned but i wouldn't think it could happen that fast. surely something else had to make this happen. i have lost too many fish over the last month and this is getting old and each one lost was due to different reasons.

I am not sure what the cause could be, but I am sorry about your loss.

[sergo]

Was there a significant temperature drop?i didn't check it but the house temp was around 73-74 so i wouldn't think it would have dropped much since it's a 55gal.

[sergo]

No. your plants will not uptake O2 from the water. They pull CO2 from the water and release O2 into the water. The death of your ram is not the result of your plants.
it was completely dark in there so the plants would have resorted to respiration, although the amount of o2 they would pull in is unknown.

[hungryhound]

it was completely dark in there so the plants would have resorted to respiration, although the amount of o2 they would pull in is unknown.

Even so, I believe that their uptake is insubstantial. If the plants pulled enough O2 from the water column to desaturate the water then all of my fish would have died many times over every night. I have no oxygen bubbler in my planted tank, and even at night I do not see any problems with O2 concentration.

[sergo]

are bolivians that sensitive. something had to happen, he was fine before the power went out.
i like him a lot too. he would always come to front of the tank whenever anyone would come in the room and just hang out there.
although i never saw him eat anything. he did grow quick so he had to be eating something.
hell i don't know! i guess i'll go get another on this weekend along with another german blue ram since he died a few days ago. my "q" is pretty much done cycling so i don't have to worry about a repeat of this last episode.

[hungryhound]

are bolivians that sensitive. something had to happen, he was fine before the power went out.
i like him a lot too. he would always come to front of the tank whenever anyone would come in the room and just hang out there.
although i never saw him eat anything. he did grow quick so he had to be eating something.
hell i don't know! i guess i'll go get another on this weekend along with another german blue ram since he died a few days ago. my "q" is pretty much done cycling so i don't have to worry about a repeat of this last episode.

I have no clue, but I wish you the best and my condolences for your loss.

[sergo]

thanks.
i'll try one more time with them. i hate not knowing why fish die.

[jeffs99dime]

anything is possible, but not very likely. maybe it was a mere coincidence.

[sergo]

anything is possible, but not very likely. maybe it was a mere coincidence.coincidence is wearing me out right now.

[jeffs99dime]

coincidence is wearing me out right now.

i'm just saying that you really can't out rule it though, unfortunately.

[frizzlefish]

coincidence is wearing me out right now.


Aw, sorry man. :confused:

[Chrona]

Most likely the temperature drop. The size of the tank really does not matter all that much, because a 55g also has significantly larger surface area than say, a 10g.

The plants produce more than enough O2 during periods of light than they take in at night. I've done a 48 hour blackout with no issues. And ammonia obviously can't build up in 1 hour (plants would eat it up anyways)

Although I have read Rams in general are prone to dying for no apparent reason.

[sergo]

that one damn sure did then.

[Willyleigh]

Most likely the temperature drop. The size of the tank really does not matter all that much, because a 55g also has significantly larger surface area than say, a 10g.

Although a 55gal has a greater surface area it has a smaller surface area to volume ratio so it would cool down more slowly than a 10 gal