effects of dry chemical fire extinguisher on fish?

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Chelydra Serpentina

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 11, 2008
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Trempealeau, WI
Well, tonight i had a chimney fire. It was not a big deal, no damage to the house....i heard a low rumble and managed to put the fire out before it could get out of hand. however...i used a dry chemical fire extinguisher to make sure i got the fire out quickly and that covered my whole house in a fine dust from the extinguisher.
It says that it is non-toxic, but does that apply to fish and reptiles? i gave my bearded dragon a bath....same w/ my turtles...and cleaned the cages. but i'm not sure what to do w/ the fish. i did a normal water change....but i am afraid to do anything excessive that might kill all my B.B. i'm afraid that out of control ammonia might be more harmful than the small amount of dust that got in my tanks around the lids.

any thoughts would be appreciated...thanx
 
I would do several large water changes over the next few days just to be safe...
 
Monitor your tanks for ammonia, as the dry chemical generally contains either monoammonium phosphate or sodium bicarbonate. If its an ABC then it is most probably monoammonium phosphate. Water changes are good, but I wouldn't "clean" the tanks too well, you may need the full support of BB to consume any ammonium that entered the tanks.

Burt :)
 
Gr8KarmaSF;2695211; said:
I would do several large water changes over the next few days just to be safe...
Click to expand...


yup 50% or larger... and i would have done atleast 3 in a row right after this... some carbon wont hurt either
 
This morning around 11am a house just a few down the road from me caught fire and destroyed it. Old farm house like mine. Wood stove in the basement is a suspect. Fire started in the basement. Just a idea on the situation here. We are in a small town, no hydrants. 5 alarm fire. Trucks were getting water from streams and ponds, trucking back and forth. They are STILL at the property and there is still smoke everywhere, its now 8:33pm here. They have the place lit up like a circus.

It was on another street but the way the town is setup I could see the house from mine street near my house. I wasn't sure if it wasmy friend rachels or not so I called her and asked her a bunch of questions about what the back of the house and property lot looks like. It was the house 2 down from her. few. They had all the streets closed off so I couldn't check. They kept people from entering the back of the property as well.

There were a few apartments in the building. THe owner (lady) who is about 80 I think ran around to all the apartments to get everyone out. She lost her dog and one man and his dog died.

Wood stoves are dangerous if not taken care off, I personally love them and use them all the time. I almost had a chimney fire as well once. Rumble like you said, I closed up the stove and contained it instantly. It was from fire starter sticks. The package said no chemicals used... BS! I have never seen a fire so damn red in a stove before...

Good move on your part with the dry chemical. Thats what the fire fighters around here use. They put them in small plastic packets and through them down the shimney, the fire opens the packs and the powder smoothers the fire.

I would do water changes. I have never had a problem doing a full change in one day of the course of 2 hours.
 
Burtess;2698132; said:
Monitor your tanks for ammonia, as the dry chemical generally contains either monoammonium phosphate or sodium bicarbonate. If its an ABC then it is most probably monoammonium phosphate. Water changes are good, but I wouldn't "clean" the tanks too well, you may need the full support of BB to consume any ammonium that entered the tanks.

Burt :)
Click to expand...

:iagree: What the pH too, if it goes off scale it will kill the bacteria.

Glad your safe, keep us posted.

Dr Joe

.
 
update:

well, after cleaning the entire house...the reason i havent been online much...there is no damage to show for the small fire. even the inspection of the chimney did not show any damage. the fire only had a couple minutes before oxygen was cut off and then the chemical ended any chance of the continued burn. suspected reason for the ignition...corn. i burn a mix of pellets and corn in my stove, it seems to give the desired length of burn and temp. however the corn does leave a bit of a residue...easily dealt w/ using creosote removing stix. i use them according to the package, though i think that due to my short length of chimney and close proximity of the firebox to the ignition point....the point at wich the chimney leaves the roof and where the most residue collects....i am more likely to have a fire. i am going to increase the frequency of my chimney treatments and cleanings to hopefully remove any chance of a repeat.

as for the tanks...none of my animals have shown any sign of ill effect. turtles and dragon are eating well and allert/active and my fish are all happy, active and hungry. i did 30% water changes every day since the incident. my tanks are fairly well covered so the ammount of chemical that got in to them was minimal. i was concerned about killing off my bb and that is why i didnt do larger changes...i was afraid that an amonia spike would be as or more harmful than the chemical. but thankfully every thing is fine. and...on a side note...my house (and my tanks) are all cleaner than ever...LOL.

thanks everyone for all the advice...mostly i was just a little scared by the whole event and it was nice to hear from people that i was doing the right thing for my pets. thanx again and everyone take care.

jgray152...i'm glad to hear that ur friends are ok
 
Large (100%) water changes will not kill any BB unless they are executed improperly... Good that everyone is feeling good.
 
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