Survival, a month without lights or food and they survived

[Basile]

This is just an account of a visit my buddy and i made to another "friend" who had been depressed and hasn't been himself. And what we found was surprising to say the least.

He hadn't been to his tanks downstairs, for a month and without real automation not even for lights they remained in the dark all that time. Well without food of any kind or WC , skimmer was a mess, the shrimps where still alive, so where the babylonian snails, a few bubble tip anemone, pink orange, and green orange, flower anemone as well, some polyps, and in a seperate tank a 26" in diameter clam had died, what a smell! The algae growth in that particular was insane even without lights go figure, and a couple of clowns where still swimming in there, a rescue followed of course. We took what was alive and said bye and good luck.

The nem i rescued; how did it survive without light for a month is beyond me.

Anybody have similar stories of survival of this nature or freaky survival conditions. It shows how resiliant some of are little critters can be( anemeno in the dark for a month..) ​

 

[DaveK]

You had a case here where the tank got neglected, and they were also lucky nothing went that wrong. Sometimes things work out in your favor.

I wouldn't care to press my luck here though.

 

[Basile]

As i feared the nem is not responding . She's hiding in the shadows and wont eat. She seem alright for a while but she was looking for darkness. no wonder, after a month without light. Not sure whats going to happen. Are buddy is keeping contact. The fishes are doing fine. Some snails have died . Thats about it for the update on the survivors.

 

[DianaKay]

Sad for the losses I guess this happens way more often than we hear about. I'd think in a rescue like this, it would be most important to do the rescue in a QT. Seems like way too much of a risk putting stressed life in a DT to recover. Glad you saved some of the life left in the neglected tank

 

[Basile]

Success



Very happy today the nem came out she set herself up and fully extended a nice pinkish orange and she took a small piece of fish in less than 2 min it was gone.

The yellow tang is eating now everything and the convict is giving room, not pals but he's letting him eat in peace. and he eats like crazy. Mysis, brine, i have 12 kinds of algaes , so far he eats all those i gave him so far. Very active i think they both are going to make it.

Thanks for your support guys.

 

[Knight waters]

Shows that that having a strong will to live can be found not just in humans but all life no matter what the size. Ty for sharing I'm definitely keeping an eye on this. keep us informed and updated.

 

[Snid]

Hooray for the rescue operation! Pet neglect is a horrible thing that sadly happens to all types of animals. Glad to hear that in this case there are some survivors that might pull through.

For all you reefers out there! Take notice that if you ever find yourself in a place where you can't take care of your tanks anymore, there are probably others on these forums that can come to the rescue like Basile.

 

[Woodstock]

Yay for the surviving fish/inverts!!
How is the guy doing? I hope better now.