HELP I forgot to turn my Betta's heater back on when I did a water change

[Retired Viking]

I have 15 moss balls in my 55 gallon tank-I ordered some on-line and got a few extra thrown in. The tetras I have seem to like them and move the small ones around the tank.

 

[Jan Cavalieri]

I always unplug my heater and my filter when doing a large water change. I hate the smell of burning fish flesh on the heater or of burning plants that touch the heater when there isn't any water between the air and the heater - I also don't want to risk cracking the heater and it cools down slowly during a water change if you unplug it first. I put the cords for both my filter and my heater on the same extension so I know exactly which two to plug and unplug - that way if you plug in your filter you can see immediately to plug in your heater. Good luck to the cold little guy. Why is your house so cold? Even if I forgot to turn on my heater my water temp shouldn't go below 67 or 68 degrees - but that's just me and that's still a little cold for the fish.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I always unplug my heater and my filter when doing a large water change. I hate the smell of burning fish flesh on the heater or of burning plants that touch the heater when there isn't any water between the air and the heater - I also don't want to risk cracking the heater and it cools down slowly during a water change if you unplug it first. I put the cords for both my filter and my heater on the same extension so I know exactly which two to plug and unplug - that way if you plug in your filter you can see immediately to plug in your heater. Good luck to the cold little guy. Why is your house so cold? Even if I forgot to turn on my heater my water temp shouldn't go below 67 or 68 degrees - but that's just me and that's still a little cold for the fish.

I run my heater horizontally and keep it at the bottom of tank. Even with 75% water changes the heater remains submerged. It’s still a good idea to unplug them. Do as I say and not as I do. Lol!

 

[Retired Viking]

I plug all my power cords into one heavy duty power strip and just turn off the power switch when I am doing any tank work. I have it hanging on the wall next to my tank so no water will get to it.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I plug all my power cords into one heavy duty power strip and just turn off the power switch when I am doing any tank work. I have it hanging on the wall next to my tank so no water will get to it.

I actually do that too in my Goldie tanks for the filters sake. I don’t even have heaters in those.

 

[amaranth13]

Thank you all for sharing all those ways to deal with heaters and water changes. My Betta is still doing very well so far. I'm so glad I didn't cause anything horrible!

By the way my house is so cold because we don't have central heating, we use space heaters for which you need to be there to be safe when they're on. We were both out to work, I use several heaters to make sure that the fish stay at the right temperature, but that doesn't help when you forget to plug in the heater!