Power Outage

[corw314]

Last night the power went out for about 3 to 4 hours. I didn't think anything of it as the tanks started fine. Today, I fed Gimpy, and he was still out pacing like he wanted more food. Squirting water up at the hood, knocking the magnet off everytime I fixed it. I finally checked my ammonia and it had risen to .50. I really believe Gimp was trying to tell me the water was going bad. This is the second time he has done everything is his power to get my attention. After I did a 1/2 waterchange, he settled down to normal behavior and now has retired to his den to rest.

I think it is so important for octo owners to be aware of what is considered the norm for thier particular pet so should their behavior be off even a little bit that gives the heads up something could be in the early stages of going wrong with the tank.

 

[cthulhu77]

Thank heaven's !!!!! Good thing you have a smart octo!

 

[sorseress]

And good thing your octo has a smart owner!

 

[Nancy]

Yes to both previous posts!

Octo owners must always be prepared for emergencies!

Nancy

 

[William Tyson]

i agree it is great when octo owners are as smart as their octos

 

[Feelers]

It's awsome that he associates you with maintaining the tank parameters, not just acting stressed but activly getting your attention to fix it. Is an octos size related to intelligence? I ask because I will most likely be getting a pygmy club octo, which is pretty small ( up to 8 cm arms)

 

[WhiteKiboko]

i agree it is great when octo owners are as smart as their octos

was that a compliment to gimpy or a dig at carol?

 

[William Tyson]

complement for both

 

[tjohnson]

At a 50% water change, is there any risk of breaking the tank cycle? I thought this was a very risky idea... However I understand the curciumstances, would it be better to use products like Coral-Vital LSB, or Bacta-Vital and a smaller percent of water change? Im not knocking you, just wondering for myself, if I ever run into the same problem.

 

[corw314]

Interesting question. I have always run my tanks with Eheims which I donot touch if I need to do a major waterchange. I have also always done an extreme waterchange in the face of life threatening conditions. I would be interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this. I do know I would not touch my Eheim also at the same time as a major waterchange. Maybe this is why I haven't (knock on wood) ever had a major problem from correcting a problem drastically.

 

[DHyslop]

At a 50% water change, is there any risk of breaking the tank cycle? I thought this was a very risky idea... However I understand the curciumstances, would it be better to use products like Coral-Vital LSB, or Bacta-Vital and a smaller percent of water change? Im not knocking you, just wondering for myself, if I ever run into the same problem.

I'm under the impression a 50% water change is a pretty common emergency practice. Most of the nitrogen cycle bacteria live in the filter media, LR, tank walls, etc, so a big water change shouldn't have much effect on the system's nitrogen processing capacity. I think the biggest worry is that the new water has different concentrations that might shock all the critters. I would be more inclined to do a water change like this than add a chemical.

Dan

 

[Feelers]

A water change to fix water parameters has to be large, 50% is a good amount, - if you only do a 25% change, there is still 75% of the problem left in the tank.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html

this is talking about how water changes are not as good as a lot of people perceive them to be, a least with small changes.


It doesnt mention about breaking the cycle tho...