House sitting gone wrong!

[MikeDeL]

Ok so I just got home from Christmas vacation and found my tank about half a gallon low so my SG is at 1.030+. To top it off the electricity went out sometime this week and some of my SPS is looking alittle faded.

I know I need to slowly get the SG back to where it needs to be, but what about the lights? Should I have a shorter photo period and slowly lengthen it, or just turn it back on to 12 hours a day?

So far I have lost that cool looking mushroom I just got at Fin-Addict, all of my nassarius, but maybe one or two, and my neon goby is MIA as of now. :?

My 3 year old betta is also on the verge of death. Hes bloated, pale, and breathing hard. Looks like dropsy. Looks like he was fed about a months worth of food while I was gone. :cry:


Thanks,
Mike

[JimD]

Man that blows, although a specific gravity of .030 is on the high side for an aquarium, its not completely out of the norm for some areas inhabited by corals and fish, I honestly suspect something other than a high SG, like the power outage causing 02 levels to plumet. The shroom might just be coincedence. Possible?

[NaCl_H2O]

I would be more worried about oxygen & water temp than SG. A small powerhead with venturi in the sump would help the gas exchange. If your temp dropped way down, take a day or so to bring it back to normal. Slowly adjusting the light cycle back to normal might do the trick on the temp climb too?

[MikeDeL]

Well I checked the PH about an hour after the lights came on, and it was fine. Im sure the water level only being about a quarter inch from the powerhead and the bak pak made plenty of O2. When I said the SG was at .030+ I meant it was above that, the hydrometer only goes that high. I just checked it with my glass hydrometer after adding about 3 cups of top off water to it (normally takes about a pint a day of top off) and it is at 1.032. Im still about 3-4 pints low.

How long should I drop back the light cycle? Should I start at about 8 hours a day and work back up to 12 over the next couple weeks? Its all PC lighting if that matters, no halides.


Thanks,
Mike

[donniekim]

I've heard that an instant cure for a power loss ,(meaning no oxygen), is to add hydrogen peroxide. the extra oxygen molecule does wonders for the fish etc.

Might be worth looking into!
Donnie