Shiver Me Timbers

[Fishmanic]

Ahoy Mateys

Aaaargh
I did a water change on two of my tanks yesterday and after refilling tanks, I forgot to turn on filters and heaters. Eek... Iceberg on starboard side. Blimey!. Checked temperatures today on tanks as I frequently do this several times a week and noticed the temps were down to 66 degrees. Shiver me timbers! Batten down the hatches! Realized my error. Started up filters and heaters immediately. Fish all look fine...just hope no ich develops. Do you think the fish will have problems with the temp fluctuations?

Methinks I should invest in digital thermometers with built in alarms (just have stickons which have been fairly accurate)... Any suggestions on what model to get?

Aaaargh!

signed;
Captain Hook

 

[SnailPocalypse]

10/10 would read agin hope your tanks are okay.

 

[NickAu]

Try this
https://thermometer.co.uk/home-ther...meter-with-max-min-and-temperature-alarm.html

or this
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006JM0WG/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[TekFish]

Which of your tanks is it? Regardless, all of them are tropical fish, so they certainly won't like the temp drop, but they might survive. Time will tell I guess.

 

[Ch4rlie]

If temperature drops are only of a few degrees and only occured on one occasion then would not worry a great deal but of course this depends on a number of variables such as fish species you have and how large the tank is and so on and so forth.

But on the whole hope no ill effects will take place with your tank stocking. Just keep an eye on them for any changes in their normal behaviours.

A digital thermometer is no bad thing, I have them on all my tanks and can see temps at a glance and easy to read, just gives me a little peace of mind. Not expensive either.

Never had a digital thermometer with an alarm alert (am deaf anyway so would not hear the alarm beeping away ) so I cannot vouch for those since I have no experience with them.

 

[Fishmanic]

It was my 29 gallon tank and my 35 gallon tall hex. Stocking is in my sig. Temps back to niormal...about 75 degrees. Alll fish seem fine and also didnt seem stressed when it was at 66 degrees. No signs of ich on any of the fish. Glad I caught it within 24 hours.

 

[TekFish]

Seems like it worked out OK, that's lucky!

 

[Gruntle]

I've been in a smallish stream searching for fish just after a rainstorm, and felt the water cooling as the rainwater came down stream. It felt like a drop of about 5 degrees Celsius (25 to 20, or 77 to 68 Fahrenheit). I assume the fish were able to cope with this sudden drop (none of them died while I was watching), and I also believe the sun would warm the water back up to about 25 within a day or so.

 

[San O Fisher]

Ahoy Mateys

Aaaargh
I did a water change on two of my tanks yesterday and after refilling tanks, I forgot to turn on filters and heaters. Eek... Iceberg on starboard side. Blimey!. Checked temperatures today on tanks as I frequently do this several times a week and noticed the temps were down to 66 degrees. Shiver me timbers! Batten down the hatches! Realized my error. Started up filters and heaters immediately. Fish all look fine...just hope no ich develops. Do you think the fish will have problems with the temp fluctuations?

Methinks I should invest in digital thermometers with built in alarms (just have stickons which have been fairly accurate)... Any suggestions on what model to get?

Aaaargh!

signed;
Captain Hook

I have started to take a huge interest in what life is like in the wild for a significant amount of our tropical fish and while steady temps are ideal many of the fish we keep cope with temperature fluctuations in the wild. Many of our fish are considerably more resilant than we give them credit for.

Had a fuse blow in the house and my tank temp went from 81 to 70 with no filters and everything was fine. A quick water change a day later it was like nothing happened. Most aquarium fish are fat and happy because they have an easy source of constant food so they can deal with stuff pretty easily.

 

[julielynn47]

I agree, I think they are hardier than people give them credit for. I have a cousin who has 2 Angel fish, no heater...ever.. house temp stays between 72 and 74 year round ( central heating and air ) and her fish are fine. One of them is 8 years and as big as her hand. The other is around 5 years, I believe and just as big.

I guess my point is, 76 to 80 may be ideal for Angels, but obviously so is 72 to 74.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I matie, land lubbers jus dont know their port from their starboard!

I've lost track of the numbers of times that I've briefly forget to plug the heater back in after a water change...or the few times a heater failed and I didn't notice right away. For the latter, I recently invested in an external controller with high/low alarms so I'm not longer relying on the heaters internal thermostat. The added advantage is that both heaters energize when the unit calls for heat.
BUT it has to be plugged in! I'm not aware of an inexpensive thermometer with alarms, but they must be out there.
Perhaps a checklist would help? or put a post it on the tank front that simply says 'heaters 'n filters' that you stick on before tank maintenance and only remove after everything is done

 

[Fishmanic]

I am willing to bet some here (like me) have at least once left the tank while being refilled and had water overflow onto the floor. And once I even overdrained the tank using my python water changer to the point the fish were barely able to swim upright. Luckily I caught it in time to save the fish.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Yup, I've done that once, overfilled the tank and had a nice water feature on my floor :x

Annoying but taught me a lesson and have not made that mistake again so far (touch wood! )

 

[Gruntle]

I've had a small child get distracted when I told him to "just hold the end of the hose in the tank here and I'll be back in a second" while starting a siphon for a water change. It's a nasty experience to have to re-start a siphon when there's about a litre of water in the hose that won't come out, so you get the small child to put the hose back in the tank, go to the other end, suck on it, and get a mouthful...

Lesson learned. Pick a larger child (or long-suffering spouse).