My fish have survived a major crisis

[Irishdancer]

Our hometown had a major ice-storm and 8 inches of snow on Christmas. Around 9:30 pm on Christmas Day, our power went out and as of now (around noon on the 28th) it still isn't back. Without their heaters or even the furnace running, the water in my fish tanks got dangerously cold pretty fast, so I was doing partial water changes every few hours and then covering the tanks with towels to keep the heat from escaping too quickly, but that wasn't working very well because the house was just so cold. Then our pilot light went out, so there wasn't even hot water. We evacuated the fish to a friend's house yesterday, and my Mom drove there again this morning to charge her phone, and she said all of the fish seem to be doing fine. None of them are showing stress and my tail-biters haven't even done any damage.

The rest of the family went to my aunt's for our annual Christmas family reunion, but my Mom is staying at home because she wants someone to be there to clean up the fridge and all when the power comes back on, and she doesn't want to leave the cats alone either. She said that the newspaper says it might be several days more before we have power because there are just so many homes without power that it'll take the city that long to do all the repairs. So we're still worried about my Mom and the cats, but it sounds like all of the fish are going to be fine.

[SnowySurface]

I'm glad you were able to move you fish and I hope you get power back as soon as possible. :)

I had a similar problem when Sandy hit. All I could do was wrap the tanks up in throw blankets and only unwrap the tanks at 1PM (when it was "hottest" T_T) to check to see if they were alive and feed them. The blankets didn't keep the water at optimal temps, but it did keep my fish alive for the 4 days I didn't have power. Unless I know power is coming back on in 12 hours or less, I just wrap up the tanks in something warm and cross my fingers. The fish are healthier in stable temp water than water that is warm then cold then warm again until it get cold again and so on.

I would also suggest cleaning the fridge before the power comes back on. I waited until I got power back to clean my fridge and discovered that the ice cream that melted re-froze on the freezer. I had to scrap off what could have been easily wiped off while warm.

Besides those two tips, the only other advise I can give is just wait it out.

[bryanacute]

That's bad. At least you could get your fish out.

[Irishdancer]

Originally Posted by SnowySurface

The fish are healthier in stable temp water than water that is warm then cold then warm again until it get cold again and so on.

My Mom and I were discussing that, because she was wanting to do a full water change with warm water every day. I'm really glad that our neighbors were willing to take them in (five fish tanks take up a lot of space!) because I was at a loss of what to do, and had to internet to ask. Of course it's still killing me to not be able to see for myself that they're okay, but these friends have had bettas before, so I know they're in good hands. In fact, my Mom said that if the power comes on before we get home, she thinks she'll still wait until I'm back to bring the fish home.

I'll pass on the advice about the fridge to my Mom.

[Irishdancer]

The power came back on last night! My Mom said that it had dropped all the way down to 45 degrees inside our house, so I'm really glad we moved the fish. We'll be home late Sunday night, so I'll probably go get them back Monday morning.