Poor Fishies

[DailyDi]

The pump/filter went out on my mom's fish tank. Can't afford to replace it until the 1st, hope the fish can survive that long with less than clean water. The water is still being oxygenated by a small air pump that runs a cabin/water wheel decoration.

[AwakenEvil]

They should be fine. A few days shouldn't hurt them. I had a pump go out over a weekend and they were happy.

[Crinklz Kat]

What about a water "transplant"?   Just remove some and replace with fresh... should help. 

[rusty pins]

As long as you have fresh air from the airator they will be OK.

[beallucanb]

If you have enough plants the fish should be fine.

[DailyDi]

1 hour ago, Crinklz Kat said:

What about a water "transplant"?   Just remove some and replace with fresh... should help. 

Yeah, I'll do that in the morning.

[oznl]

2 hours ago, rusty pins said:

As long as you have fresh air from the airator they will be OK.

Not necessarily.  The biggest risk from an inadequately filtered display tank is ammonia/nitrite build up which amazingly toxic to fish, even though they're the ones that made it!  The biggest function of a power filter is biological filtration whereby bacteria that colonises the filter converts these toxic nitrites into less harmful nitrates (metabolised by plants). 

The fish MAY run low on oxygen (if the tank is heavily stocked) but any kind of surface agitation (by an air pump) should take care of that.  Ammonia-affected fish tend to look like they are "gasping" up near the surface (where oxygen levels are highest in the water column) because the ammonia hits their gills.  It can LOOK like an oxygen problem but it isn't.

2 hours ago, Crinklz Kat said:

What about a water "transplant"?   Just remove some and replace with fresh... should help. 

I agree.  Frequent partial water changes (25 - 30% using an appropriate tap-water conditioner to kill off any chloramines your water company might be putting into your drinking water) should stave off disaster.

Remember when you replace or restart the pump, the nitrite-converting bacteria in your filter will have either been removed (new filter) or died (old filter with no circulation for a while).  You'll need to keep up water changes for a while (14 days or so) whilst the tank "cycles" with the new filter (a new colony of good bacteria is established).

I know a little bit about this.  I run a few tanks.

This of course unless you have goldfish (underwater rats) which are indestructible.  I'm not sure they even need water.

It's amazing to me how this stuff always seems to break/run-out during the "dead" zone between Christmas and New Year...

[AwakenEvil]

3 hours ago, beallucanb said:

If you have enough plants the fish should be fine.

Totally forgot to mention that if he didnt have plants. Fish love plants!

[ValentinesStuff]

Swim diapers for the fish!