Emergency! Pond frozen and power outage

[poconojoe]

Hi all, 1500 gallon pond. About 3 feet deep in the deepest part. About 30 fish. Northeastern Pennsylvania. Winter storm and we lost power. Normally we have an aerator and a de-icer always on to vent the toxic gases. How long can the fish survive under the ice without a means of venting the toxic gases? Power has been out two days and they estimate 4 more days of repairs. I have a small generator that I'm running some essentials on. Are my fish in jeopardy? Should I tie that circuit to the generator or am I over reacting?
Thanks, Joe

 

[MitchM]

It depends on the general condition of your pond.
How thick do you think the ice is?
Do you have any submerged plants?
The aerator doesn't take much power. If you can spare a plug for that, it would certainly help.
Clear snow off the ice, the algae will help produce some O2.

 

[Lisak1]

I would if I could, but honestly you have to prioritize - human needs: shelter, food, water, and heat would all come first. If I had any left my fish would be next.

If it gives you any comfort, our pump plumbing failed on us one winter - totally iced over pond and had to shut the pump down. It was two or three weeks before we could get it started again and the fish (including 9 or 10 big koi) were all fine.

 

[Lisak1]

I just noticed you said 30 fish - I hope that's not 30 koi... that could definitely be a problem in a pond your size!

 

[mrsclem]

If you can heat some water to open a hole in the ice, it would help. What's your weather forcast as far as temperature?
We are the exception, our 1st generator was bought for the 2 koi ponds! They had power this week when we didn't! Hopefully, your power will get restored sooner than expected.

 

[GBBUDD]

Break the ice , and in a pinch i'd go with two options an inverter will convert dc plug in an ac air pump. The second option if you have cordless drills id place a paint mixing bit into the drill and make a basket of some sort like a laundry basket or a compound bucket with holes and start mixing up the water. depending on the size of your pond they do have at pet stores or online battery operated air pumps but I am only aware of small aquarium sizes but some 02 is better then none.