How long can fish go without air?

Jamilw1989 · Post by **Jamilw1989** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 9:14 am

I know its an odd question to ask but we lost our power this morning for about 3 hours and everything in all my tanks shut off. when it came back on two of my tanks started pumping again but one didnt. the power clicking on woke me up and i was able to get up and re-prime my filter to start working. What would have happened if i hadnt done that? would they have been ok?

Post by **Doug** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:13 am

Depends on a lot of factors: how large the tank is, how crowded, how much unconverted waste at the time, water temperature. Absent a battery-operated pump, you can oxygenate the water by simply disturbing the surface, which is how oxygen actually enters water, atmospheric pressure being greater than water pressure.

Jamilw1989 · Post by **Jamilw1989** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 2:36 pm

Doug wrote:Depends on a lot of factors: how large the tank is, how crowded, how much unconverted waste at the time, water temperature. Absent a battery-operated pump, you can oxygenate the water by simply disturbing the surface, which is how oxygen actually enters water, atmospheric pressure being greater than water pressure.

the tank is twenty gallons and i have one cory cat one male guppy and one alge eater and over 2 dozzen new born guppies. just born yesterday. but we have power now and are good at the moment but with this wind its so ify. my water temp stays in between 78-80 all the time. i didnt know that they had battery operated pumps.

Post by **Doug** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:55 pm

Jamilw1989 wrote:i didnt know that they had battery operated pumps.

They're not too big, usually operate on 2 D cells, and come with a length of airline tubing and an airstone. Sold mostly for bait bucket aeration, but Ger can order you one thru a pet supply wholesaler.

Jamilw1989 · Post by **Jamilw1989** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:55 pm

about how much do they cost? just curious

Post by **Doug** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:09 pm

Jamilw1989 wrote:about how much do they cost? just curious

I'm the wrong person to ask about how much aquarium stuff costs, as I only know what stuff used to cost 20 years ago.

bluwtr · Post by **bluwtr** » Sun Mar 06, 2011 10:10 pm

Less than $20.

Post by **Gerwin** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 7:49 am

I have a selection of them from 11-60$, the more expensive ones either last longer on the batteries or come on automatic when the electricity goes off.
From my decades of running the fish store and staying for every hurricane since 1970 and many power losses, real damage to freshwater does not seem to occur for about 5-7 days depending on temp and amount of fish you have in tank, and as Doug said earlier if you can agitate the water with pouring tank water in, you would be fine. Saltwater in about 3-5 days.
Now understand dead fish is the Real Damage I speak of, your biological bed is dieing as well and it will take days to weeks for it to recover so you will need to water changes for sure if you access to water after a extended power failure.

Jamilw1989 · Post by **Jamilw1989** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:11 pm

ok thanks for the help gerwin.

C-21 USAF · Post by **C-21 USAF** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 2:19 pm

Seen fish go their entire lives w/o air...they can't go very long w/o water though....

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How long can fish go without air?

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