Quick! Overheating

[TheCatsMeow]

AHH!!!!!!!!!!! Some of the fish in my tank are dying currently. What should I do?? I've alraedy turn off the heater, and I will turn it on again with a lower temp, but is there anything else I can do before the fish die?!?!?

 

[Pufferpack]

Open the lid, or if there are no jumpers, remove the hood and place a fan so that it blows over the waters surface to help speed up the cooling. If you want to try and cool it faster (and I don't know if the fish would survive this type of rapid temp drop) put a few ice cubes in the filter. You could also use ice packs around the tank to bring the temps down. Remember the faster the temp changes the less time the fish have to adjust, therefore more stress on the fish.


Good luck.

Don

 

[dolphin]

Hi TheCatsmeow.

What temp has the tank got too. What fish do you keep.

I would go with pufferpacks idea of adding ice cubes to the tank.
I feed my fish on frozen food, which is put into the tanks still frozen. They attack it as soon as it hits the water. They never suffer from any problems.


Dolphin

 

[Pufferpack]

Good point dolphin...that completely slipped by me about the frozen food...and I've commented to my wife many times that I'm surprised our Jewel Cichlid doesn't get brain frost, the way she scarfs down 3 chunks of frozen food before the rest get their first mouthful ...I probably never would have put it togther

 

[cichlid_freak]

I once made the mistake of putting hot water in my tank as a water change. I was new and it felt ok, kinda like a nice bath. Then I check the thermometer, and its in the 90's. I put one scoop of ice from the freezer in the tank and just replace the melted ones for about an hour. The fact that the hot water just hit them from the water change ment that that was what they didn't like. So, I see all of my fish swimming within two inches of my ice cubes. It kinda looked like the Titantic without the sad ending. Luckily, none of my fish died, but then again they were African Cichlids. Now, I check the temp with an extra thermometer I have around from an old tank. Learn the leason and move on. What is it they say? Life's a hard teacher?

 

[Tanked]

if you are going to use Ice I would put it in plastic baggies. you don't want the chlorine or chloramine entering the tank as the ice melts. (ice is generally made with your local tap water)

 

[gadazobe]

Tropical fish are used to high temps - my heater broke once and the temp went up to 32 C. I did a gradual water change and the only fish I lost were my neons (they were already quite old and I think the stress killed them more than the water)