Major Fish Loss

[rarefish]

I had my prized cory cats, young male guppies, planorbid snails, and a medium/large pink kissing gouramis in my 2.5-year old 20-gallon setup. Yesterday my golden severums laid eggs so I took the heater out of the 20-gallon and put it in with the eggs to keep them warm. I put a Hagen Elite that I had never used in the 20-gallon. I specifically set it on the lowest setting. It fried my fish. Literally. I have been crying over it and blaming myself, but nothing will bring my beloved fish back. The heater was not too large for my tank- I've had it for a little over a year, but it was brand new and just sitting around. And it cooked my fish. On the lowest setting. I'm a little bit shocked. I have been working with many different aquarium heaters over the years, and not one has been this bad. I'm upset more than anything that my fish had so much more life to live. I can't stop thinking about how they ate when I would feed them, the way they would look at me with those little eyes. I talked to my dad on the phone as he's "electronically-savvy." He said that it sounds like the heater was stuck on the highest setting internally despite the dial's setting, if that makes sense. I'm really upset and am currently trying to contact Hagen. I don't know what to do.

rarefish

 

[modaz]

that is such a massive shock to experience something like this, dont blame yourself, what you were doing was what all of us would do in the situation, sound like your dad has a point with the internal setting, without sounding harsh b/c i dont mean it, it couldve happened a lot sooner if you suddenly had to change your heaters over remember your fish had a great time in a loving home, there are so many fish that are uncared for due to neglect and yours were well looked after. I would get in touch with the supplier and get the heater sent back to them so they can test it, they might need to do a complete recall on that certain product and this would save it happening to anyone elses fish.

really sorry you had to go thru this

 

[ArauraDiscus]

Hmm next time, if you can, stay by the heater and double check it multiple times over a few hour period. What I ALWAYS do when adding a new heater is turn it on slowly until the red light comes on, then turn it back down so that it finally turns off, and get a feel for where it needs to be set. I'm so sorry for your lost. Hagen, I'll avoid them in the future, thanks for posting it.

 

[Peacelover]

What a terrible loss, you must be heartbroken, very unlucky, I bought a new heater myself last week as the heater I had in my tank was a bit to small and working to hard to keep the tank the right temp so I bought the next size up put it in that afternoon when I got home and kept a good eye on it, before going to bed I noticed that the red light had not gone off once and that it was heating the tank to a temp higher than what I had set so I turned the heater down to 22deg to see if the light went out and it did so I went to bed but got up through the night every 2 hours to check on it and by 4am the next morning it was up to 29deg, I turned it off straight away, I had it set at 24, so I took it back to the store and told them that the thermostat was not working properly and they replaced it for me with the same brand and this one is working fine, like I said so sorry for your loss but always keep a good eye on new heaters when you put them in, I had the same thing happen about 20 years ago too, ( showing my age here, LOL ). you do get the odd one that does not work properly.

 

[TylerFerretLord]

That's terrible!

It's not your fault, you could not have known what would happen.

 

[Lorna]

That is really terrible. I know we can all get attached to our pets! Experience is something that is learned painfully though sometimes. I suppose you can look forward to having some new ones even though I know that they won't replace the same friendship you had with your first, all the best.

 

[borissimo]

That's awful, so sorry to hear. I lost a lot of my own fish recently and was/am very upset about it.
I shall now be more wary of heaters and potential problems than I have been.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

oh how horrible

little fishies

but it's not your fault, even the best technology doesn't work 100% of the time, you are not to blame.

 

[rarefish]

Thanks everyone. From now on I will definitely be watching my new heaters more closely. Hagen still has not replied to me about the matter. I have already removed the bodies out of the tank and today I face cleaning it. It seems like some snails have survived, but I'm worried about moving them in case of shock. I feel the need to keep this tank running even though there are no fish in it because of the biological filtration I have in it. After a while, possibly a few weeks, I will probably move my female guppy collection over to it. But only after it is clean. It also looks as if my severum eggs did not survive, and now my breeder pair of severums will not eat . I can't lose them too. At least one of my female mosquito fish is due any day now. Maybe I'll get some babies to take care of. Thanks again everyone.

rarefish

 

[Gatorbait]

I never ever trust heaters. I've never lost fish from them but I've had friends that have and I have heard of hundreds of people that have online.

It's not your fault and a very hard way to learn a lesson. I'm sorry for your losses.

I'll give my standard post in heater threads... If possible, always have 2 heaters in your tank with each rated for half your tanks volume. That way if one sticks on it won't get hot enough to kill your fish for a few days and if one is faulty where it won't turn on the other will keep it at living levels for a while. Both instances will give you time to find out before anything bad happens.

Never ever trust heaters no matter what brand or what anyone says.