Hurricane Dennis is supposed to strike here (I live in the panhandle of Florida) so I took my goldfish out of the pond and put them in a barrel with the lily pads and some mosquito larvae and brought it in the house. I have fresh water in the barrel from the well. Now, they will probably be in that same water for about 3 days after the storm hits. The well pump won't work without electricity. Will the water be OK for them for that long?

How many goldfish? How big are they? How big is the barrel? I have a well pump too so I know what it's like to lose water when the power's out as well as power. It's probably too late for this storm but for next time, you might want to get a battery-operated air pump. I have ones on my aquariums that come on when the power goes out. They are life savers. As far as ammonia spiking in cramped quarters, you can add some Ammo-Lock to help with that. Once you get power back, be sure to aerate your pond well. After large rain falls, the oxygen levels drop in the water. Our power was out yesterday from the remnants of Hurricane Cindy, and the pond fish were stressed a little from the low oxygen after 3" of rain. If your power is out, you probably won't read this message until after the fact. I hope things work out!

You know, the date and time are wrong on this message board unless it's some weird time zone. I'm posting on July 9 at 8:20 pm, and it says it is July 10 12:20 am.

Thanks Robyn. :)

I noticed that about the time, too. Hm. :blink:

So how did things go Margo? Your fish did okay? Did you get any damage from Dennis?

Well, the pond didn't flood from the bayou so the Chinese Algae Eater (Hopsing) was OK. I couldn't find him to get him out, ya know? The goldfish were fine, except when I returned them to the pond, it was yucky-looking because I couldn't run the fresh well water through it because the electricity was off. So they were in stagnant water for a couple of days. When the power came back on, I ran the well water through the pond and they were frolicking. But the next day, one of the goldfish was floating on the surface and dead as a doornail. :( I think the murky water must've done it. Or he might have injured himself on a rock while being transported into the house. All it takes is a scratch and a fish is pretty much history, right?

I didn't get any property damage or any fallen trees. :) One skinny pine is bent over, but that's about it. Thanks for asking Robyn. :)

I'm glad things weren't that bad. Hopefully you'll weather the rest of the hurricans this year too. Deaths after heavy rain and loss of water movement and filtration due to power outages are usually due to low oxygen levels or large changes in pH but certainly your goldfish could have sustained a physical injury. Scratches normally heal or kill a fish after days or weeks due to infection.

I guess the water condition was it then.