Came to work to find betta tank at 58F!!

[boozybears]

Hi everyone!

For xmas my hubby gave me a 1 gallon tank for my office at work. My betta's been there doing really well for almost a month now with the office temperature steady at 71-72F. This morning I came in and discovered that for some reason the office heating wasn't on and his tank was sitting at 58F. He's still swimming but not really eating (which is extremely unusual), and his colour is a little bit off (a bit paler).

I fear i may need to buy him a larger tank now so that I can put a heater in to ensure this doesn't happen again. What's the smallest tank that can safely house a heater? Can a heater go in a 2 gallon?

Any suggestions as to what to do with him in the meantime to make sure he doesn't get sick?

thanks!!

 

[BettaMomma]

A heater can go into a 2 gallon. You can get a Hydor Mini Heater, but they only raise the temp up 2 - 5 degrees above room temp. In order to get a tank that has a heater with an actual dial on it, I think you'd want to get a 5 gallon tank. BUT... then you have the whole dilemma of wondering if you need to cycle the tank, if you want to put in a filter, etc. etc.
SO, someone else may come along and recommend something else.

Please make sure you don't raise his temp up too fast. and don't dump in warm water in an attempt to warm him up - warming him up too fast can harm him more than the cold water did. Someone else will probably come along and give you a good rate at which the temp should go back up
Is the heat back on in your office?
what's his temp at now?

 

[boozybears]

Nope.. the heat isn't on yet. I'm renting an office from a different program in our agency, and they're closed on Mondays. The mananger of the program has the keys to the thermostat so looks like nothing will get adjusted until tomorrow. Now the lights in the office are on and the sun is heating up my room, his temp has risen to 60F.. but that's still WAAAAAY too cold isn't it?

I just popped over to a lps who sells cheap tanks.. and was told that you can't put a heater in an acrylic tank.. only glass ones. Is this true?

Thanks for your help!

 

[BettaMomma]

I have a heater in my acrylic tank - but the heater is one of those little hydor mini heaters.

That would help a bit, just cuz it would kick up the temp by 2 - 5 degrees, and at this point anything would help - but you need to start warming him up pronto.

Do they have any cheap little glass tanks? We have them here at our pet stores for about 8$. You'd have to get a lid, then too of course or he'll jump out, and one of those mini hydor heaters (they cost about 12$ or so) - see if they have a glass tank. That'd help you (maybe call them and ask)

I just popped over to a lps who sells cheap tanks.. and was told that you can't put a heater in an acrylic tank.. only glass ones. Is this true?

And by the way - I think they were trying to scam you into buying a more expensive glass tank. All the eclipse tanks are acrylics - there are several types of acrylic tanks on the market - they have to be able to have heaters in them.

 

[boozybears]

ok thanks! I have time this afternoon to to go the lfs that i trust.. they'll know what to do. In the meantime, i might add just a little bit of warmer water to his tank.. he's losing his colour and i'm quite worried

 

[BettaMomma]

don't add too much warmer water - especially if he's swimming around - he could swim into a warm pocket of water and be in trouble.

Good luck to you!

 

[lopeva]

Another quick fix, which has been working well for a hospital bowl I have it to place the bowl on a heating pad.

My poor little guy is suffering a bit of fin rot and so he's in a 1/2 gallon bowl. The water was much too cold yesterday morning, and he became listless. We have a 3 setting heating pad, so I placed the bowl on the heating pad, and in an hour or so, he was swimming around, very happy. It's necessary to monitor the water though, to ensure it doesn't get to warm.

Hope all goes well.

Penny

 

[OohFeeshy]

Where do you get heatpads from and how much do they cost? Because if they're cheaper than a heater, I might get one for the killie tank I'm planning.

 

[boozybears]

Ok..just got back after being out for 2 hours. Someone was able to poke a straw into an opening of the thermostat cover and turn it up.. so his tank is now 68 degrees and raising! Finnigan is looking much better. His colour is back to usual, he's eating again and very active. I went to the fish store, but they weren't able to provide much help either. The best suggestion I heard was to take him home. Might have to do that.

Thanks again to bettamomma, lopeva and everyone in live chat who have tried to help me!!

 

[rdd1952]

I don't know if you have a filter moving the water or not but you could add warm water very slowly so that it has time to blend with the current water. As long as you raise the temperature very slowly he should be fine. If possible, you probably need to take him home for the night so he won't have to stay there another night without heat. You maybe could get a small 15 watt heater rated for a 5 gallon tank and set it up for the time being. I have a heater in my 5 gallon acrylic. Any tank that has rounded corners or bow front are acrylic so you can definitely put a heater in one.

 

[nashnut]

I have the 2.5 mini bow tanks for mine and use a 25 submerged heater in each one without any problems.

 

[rdd1952]

Most any pharmacy or place like KMart (don't know what you have on England) should have heating pads. They will probably run $15 or more depending on how good or fancy they are. I wouldn't advise leaving those on while your not home or while your asleep though. I don't quite trust them.

 

[wrs]

I do have to ay that acrylic tanks usually cost more bettamomma

 

[boozybears]

Just as an update.. Just found out that the furnace guys were here on Friday while I was out and discovered something wrong with one of the blower motors which is why the temp dropped so much over the weekend. I've decided to take Finnigan home until it's properly fixed.

thanks again.

 

[BettaMomma]

Acrylic tanks cost more because they usually come as a kit - including the filter and all kinds of stuff so they're more, but I always buy the glass ones and pick out my own stuff. The 2.5G glass tank is usually about 8$, the heater is about 12$ and the decs are usually around 15 (or less, depending on how much I wanna dec the tanks out) then the glass tops are 3$. So, all in all you can get a pretty decent glass tank setup for less than 40, including decorations and fish.

Glad to hear the fishy is improving!
I'm sure he's really glad to be getting warmer