Housefire - Next steps in the hobby

[Chaos_Corrupter]

Hi guys,

Just to start off with some background. I had 6 tanks. (PS some of the stocking isn't ideal and I know but I was in the middle of moving fish around)

• A low tech planted 55 gallon with a colony of sunrise guppies, a breeding pair of bristlenose plecos, and a pair of japanese blue ricefish
• A 55 gallon with 17 buenos aires tetras and 2 bolivian rams
• A low tech planted 30 gallon with 3 petricola catfish, 10 dwarf chain loaches, 3 florida flagfish, 7 zebra danios, and 2 flagfish fry in a breeder box
• A low tech planted 10 gallon that was divided with a male betta, a habrosus cory, and 6 cherry barbs on one side and a male betta and 5 emerald dwarf rasboras on the other
• A 2.5 gallon fry growout with 3 smaller flagfish fry
• A 3 gallon Back to the Roots aquaponics tank with guppy fry

Anyways yesterday afternoon, an accidental fire started at my house. The tanks are intact but lights, some rims, and anything plastic is warped or melted from the heat. I went in this morning to salvage what I could and as I surveyed, I found almost every single fish was dead. Either from heat or smoke. The only fish that managed to survive were a few of the juvenile sunrise guppies but I'm not hopeful they will survive. They were lethargic, gasping for air, and all the filters melted and powers off so ammonia poisoning will kill them all. There's no way for me to save them right now. Silver lining - this kinda proves in my mind that guppies are some of the hardiest fish ever.

But I was looking for some advice or other peoples experiences with housefires and fish. Smoke got everywhere and I'm not sure what is still safe to use. I was thinking if I had the time, to try to save the plants from the tanks since I spent a good amount of money on them but it might be easier and less stressful to just let them be and hope they'll last until we find a longer-term solution for temporary housing.

Honestly with the melted rims, I don't feel comfortable reusing many of those tanks and the smoke damage on all my supplies makes me uncomfortable too. This might have to be a complete reset from here but thats okay, I've learned a lot so I won't make as many mistakes this time and I can create even better systems.

I guess the thing that sucks the most would be losing the 30 gallon. Everything in that tank was ready to breed so I had plans to move the flagfish and catfish to other fish tanks and hopefully breed them all, especially those loaches. Plus it was my best planted tank. It's just a terrible situation but no need to sit here and cry. I'm gonna look ahead and start brainstorming for the future. Definitely want to rebuild that dwarf chain loach colony and make it even better than before. Has anyone had experience with this kind of situation or has any advice?

 

[DMD123]

So sorry for your loss. I would not use any tank with damaged frames. The way they are designed the frames help support the weight of the water. Best to replace the tanks. Petco will be doing the $1 per gallon sale on their tanks again soon. Might be a good time to replace tanks then.

 

[sir_keith]

I feel for you; been there myself. The bad news- any equipment that has fire or smoke damage should be discarded; the good news- homeowners/renters insurance should cover this loss. Unfortunately, 'pets,' broadly defined, are not covered.

Every challenge is an opportunity; this is a chance to start over. Good luck.

 

[Chaos_Corrupter]

Thanks, it's unfortunate but I'm looking forward to whats in store for the future. I'll probably end up throwing out most of the stuff but maybe some stuff is still usuable. For sure gonna throw out any food and most of the tanks. I might be able to turn some of the smaller tanks into rimless tanks if the glass and silicone are intact. But the 55 and 30 tanks are gonna be scrapped. My dad actually had them since before I was born so they're atleast ~15-20 years old.

Thanks again for the kinds words and advice! Definitely have tons of ideas and will make some changes when I get the chance to get my tanks up and running again.

 

[sir_keith]

...Thanks again for the kinds words and advice! Definitely have tons of ideas and will make some changes when I get the chance to get my tanks up and running again.

I have several 20H tanks and a couple of 10's that I am not using; you are welcome to any of them when the time is right.