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

amaranth13

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Yesterday I did a water change. My betta is still pretty new and I was really stupid and forgot to turn the heater back on. Now I came home to find him hovering on the bottom and looking very feeble when he moves at all. The temperature in the house and of his water is 59 F right now :(

I immediately turned the heater back on, of course. I really hope I didn't do lasting harm to him!

My question is, should I let the heater raise the temperature, or is that too fast? Or is it too slow and should I do a small water change with say 3F degrees warmer water and repeat that after half an hour or an hour? What is the best way to go here?

I was trying to be so ethical cycling his tank and everything and my bird-brain just undid all that :(
 
I would add a little warm water , just a few degrees every hour for the next few hours then let the heater do it’s thing.
 
Thank you so much to answer so quickly!!! I will add water of a few degrees more every hour. And you're probably right about not turning the heater off but when I do a water change the heater is not all covered by water anymore (only half of it), or if I would get less water then I couldn't vacuum the tank well enough.. But a possible broken heater is less bad than this..
 
Is your heater mounted at an angle or is it upright? If you mount it at about a 30 degree angle with he bottom of the tank, you should be able to do a 60% water change with the heater still sufficiently covered by water.
 
Mine is upright, I never thought about putting it at an angle, I thought they had to be upright? it's one of those preset Aqueon 78F things. But yeah I do a fifty percent and that is enough to vacuum the gravel, so that would definitely work!
 
I believe that is the heater I use and I have it at an angle. Works fine.
 
The water is now 71 degrees F. My betta is swimming bits now and then instead of laying on the gravel all the time. After a bit he's going back to rest on the gravel, but every few minutes he gets a bit of a swim. I have hope he might not be too badly affected (effected?). Unfortunately i can't stay up, I need to work tomorrow. I will let the heater do it's work now, and will write in the morning how he's doing.
 
I never unplug my heater.

I always unplug my heaters and internal filters before I put my hands in a tank. The only thing I leave on is the sponge filter in the betta's tank as there is nothing in the water connected to the electric mains.
I once cracked a heater during a water change and water flooded into it (yes I am that clumsy). Luckily it was not plugged in at the time.
 
My betta is swimming around as normal and is eating. I might have gotten very lucky.. Let's see if the stress is problematic long-term.
 
Happy to hear he is doing well. I had a Betta that had a really nice personality once, he would rush toward me when he saw me and follow me if I moved. Haven't had one for many years but I read that they like marimo moss balls. I have several moss balls in my tank, they are suppose to be great at absorbing ammonia.
 
Thank you all so much for your help. My betta seems to have recovered completely, he is eating and swimming as normal. We'll have to see what happens long term. I have two big marimo moss balls in his tank as well, by the way. And a very small one, he pushes them all around.
 

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