potential emergency

[rainyg]

I have a floating thermometer in my aquarium. I just noticed that it has broken and a lot of the little mercury balls from inside have fallen to the bottom of my tank. I tried to vacuum them out but they are too heavy and the vacuum can't suck them out. All the vacuuming did was bury them deeper into the gravel. Will they hurt my fish? Or is there any other way to get them out? Thanks for your help.

 

[BrookeLea]

I'm not sure if they'll hurt your fish, but to get them out, I'd try to clear the gravel away from around it and scoop it out with a cup or something.

 

[Tolak]

If you are talking about the little round metal balls that weigh down the thermometer, they are not mercury. They may be lead, which shouldn't pose a problem, as they make aquarium weights out of lead. They may be steel, which can be picked up with a magnet. The colored liquid in thermometers is usually alcohol. It's definitely not good to have that in aquariums, if that got in there I would do a large water change to dilute it.

Tolak