As I woke up early Saturday morning to begin my day, a trip to Walmart (Corona Prep) for more supplies, I noticed that the variety of a species of snails in one of my tanks were all ascended to the top of the tank.  That tank houses MS, Assassin, Nerite and Rabbit snails.  I immediately recognized that this was due to a lack of oxygen in said tank.

The tank is home to 4 small Frontosa’s and Cory cats; needless to say I am not over stocked and it is really a breeding tank for the time being.  At 75 gallons should everything run smoothly there should not have been an issue with oxygen.

As I looked over the tank I noticed that my canister filter worked fine despite me keeping the outtake under water, the hang on back filter, which is what produces the oxygen exchange was backed up and not running properly.

I immediately checked for replacement filter pads and to my shock and horror I was out (rookie mistake).  Not knowing how long the tank was without oxygen and knowing that I had to act fast I turned to old reliable….a battery powered air pump.

I grew up on the lakes of Florida; I am truly a Florida man.  Fishing was in my blood which was passed done to me from my father.  I remembered that as a child when we would catch fix and house them in buckets and later the living well on the boat he’d have battery powered air pumps to keep our catch alive.

During storm prep for one of the many hurricanes that threatened Florida recently I ordered an abundance of battery powered air pumps in case of a serve power outage.

I dug into my stash, located the pump and a new air stone and powered the unit.  Almost immediately air bubbles flooded the aquarium and the short term fix was in.  I was able to confidently leave the aquarium to oxygenate as I went to the nearest pet store to purchase replacement filter pads for my hang on back.

Once I arrived home I could notice that the snails had began their decent while I was away.  I had adverted a tank crash due to a lack of oxygenated water and I promptly completed and water change and maintenance to my hang on back filter.

A keen eye on my livestock, quick thinking, and having the necessary backup supplies on hand allowed the prompt response that saved the Frontosa breeding tank from crashing.