Struggling with this heat!

[IndiaHawker]

As anyone here in the UK knows, this heatwave is madness right now, don't think I've ever known anything like it, and even my 62-year-old mother says she's never known it this hot for this long. Typically, this is also the first time I've ever owned and maintained my own aquarium, right on cue! My aquarium was staying at ~29-30, I was originally going to try adding some cooler water in but going by the advice I've been given I've learnt that that can cause more stress for the fish and that I should stay away from doing that. As of today the temp. has now increased to 31c. I've lost two Harlequin Rasboras (literally lost as I've found no bodies but they're no longer there) in the last week, I can only assume this is due to the heat? As I've been watching them all regularly and saw no obvious signs of anything wrong, they all seemed to be eating normally, haven't seen any physical signs of illness, and then I do a headcount and realise there's one missing. Been checking water parameters mostly daily and water is okay, a little more nitrate than ideal but 0 nitrite and low ammonia. Could the deaths be for another reason or is the heat the most likely cause?

I'm increasingly worried about the heat considering it could get up to 38c on friday, the hottest ever on record. What can I do, if anything, without stressing out the fish, to help this heat? Should I just leave the tank light off all the time or would it mess with the fish and their day/night cycle? My tank (Fluval Flex 57L) has different lighting colours; could a darker light help? All I can do to cool the room temp. is leave the windows open when there's someone home, which won't make much difference (but trying it) as there's practically no air outside. Any tips would be great!

Also a different, but related question: Why am I not finding any bodies? This is the second fish to go, and I can't see any trace of a body. I've checked the back section of the tank as well and can find nothing - but I've been headcounting most days so am noticing fairly soon when the fish is missing. Could the Bristlenose Plec be eating the bodies? He's only about 3 inches long, but it's the only conclusion I can come to... help really appreciated, please and thanks!

 

[mikey11]

What can I do, if anything, without stressing out the fish

nothing,

unplug your heater, leave the tank light off, and stop worrying.....thats it

fish are very tolerant to a wide temp range as long as the change is gradual,

adding cool water will do more harm then good,

the death of your fish was not cause by warm water

 

[fluttermoth]

There's no point unplugging the heater; it will only come on if the temperature drops anyway.

It is very unlikely that the heat has killed your fish; any ammonia present is a far more likely culprit. Tropical fish can cope with high temperatures, as long as the change is gradual, but warmer water holds less oxygen so you might need to increase aeration (or drop the water level so the filter makes more of a waterfall).

Don't have the windows open during the day; that just lets heat in. The best thing to do is have the windows and curtains open at night, when it's coolest, and close both the windows and curtains during the day.

You can keep the lights off all the time for a few days; if you have live plants, you'll have to switch them on for a few hours after a day or two, or they'll start to suffer.

Fish corpses can disappear very fast; they rot very in warm water, and nearly all other fish will eat dead ones.

 

[Colin_T]

38C in the shade or the sun?
we have 45C in the shade here, and I have a photo somewhere when it hit 56C? in the shade

1. turn the tank lights off and remove any hoods on the tank.
2. remove the coverglass if you can, and drop the water level down an inch or so to reduce the chance of the fish jumping out.
3. have a fan blowing air over the tank. You can spray a light mist of water on the glass and as it evaporates it can help reduce the temperature, or put a wet tea towel on the front of the fan so the air blows thru the wet towel and cools the air that way.
4. do not use any electrical appliances in the room, besides the fan blowing air over the tank.
5. reduce feeding because the water goes off faster when it's warmer.
6. increase aeration/ surface turbulence to increase the oxygen in the water.

On a bright note, if your water is at 31C it will kill any protozoans in the water so you will get rid of them

Harlequins are small and could be getting eaten or they could be stuck under a rock, wood or in a plant.

 

[IndiaHawker]

This is all great advice, thanks so much! I will keep the light mostly off then - I do have live plants so will turn the light on for a short period of time when I'm in the room at night, for the plants and to observe the fish. Also will keep lid off when I'm in the room (I have a cat so can't leave it unattended with no lid although she doesn't seem too bothered bless her - but can't risk it!). Will also try and be brave and leave windows open at night - yes I'm a wimp when it comes to certain bugs coming in - although as an animal lover I'll never kill them

Surprised to know it likely wasn't the heat that killed the fish! They'd been okay for a couple of weeks in the current setup before this happened so will try and work out other causes... I don't think they could have been eaten as all the fish I have are small, the largest is the Bristlenose. The ammonia is low but present - stupid question but when I read the test, the outer edges of the patch turn darker than the centre after waiting 60 secs - what should I go by, the middle or the edges or inbetween? I've been kind of going with inbetween. Also a possibility that they could have got stuck somewhere, maybe I'll have to examine my tank a bit and see if there's any tricky crevices? I did a 50% water change on Sunday, should I do another since another fish has passed? I will test the water parameters tonight, should I change water regardless?

Thanks so much for the help so far! And OMG Colin!! How do you even function? What does the temperature get up to in the sun - or does everyone just stay out of it at all costs?! To be fair, us English don't tend to fare well in hot weather... or cold... and we complain about either at any and every opportunity

 

[Colin_T]

Don't leave your windows open at night if you live in a bad neighbourhood. You don't want human bugs creeping in at night while you sleep.

The temperature here in summer is usually 10-20C more in the sun than the shade. You get use to it but try to stay indoors between 10am & 4pm, which is when it's normally hottest. Although sometimes it remains hot after 6pm.

Most people can tolerate temps in the mid 30s C, but it gets a bit much when it sits on 40C + for a week or more. That's when people start going a bit funny. Most people also drink a lot of beer and that helps them cope. They are all blotto and dribble on about whatever. Cold beer on hot days.

 

[IndiaHawker]

Changed my approach with lighting - was going to leave it off for most of the time - I did for a few hours but made no difference to temp - I assume I didn't leave it long enough though anyway. The reason I changed my mind is because of something I meant to mention earlier - someone mentioned that warmer water holds less oxygen. Lately I've feared my oxygen levels are dodgy (buying a test kit and air stone/pump at end of month), as fish are fine in the day but when I wake up and turn the light back on they're swimming at the surface - which I've put down to low oxygen levels. I also learned lately that aquarium plants take in oxygen and let out CO2 at night, in reverse of what they do in the day - I have a fairly-well planted aquarium so lower oxygen levels at night, especially without an air stone, would make sense. I'm wondering if the lack of oxygen could have killed the two Harlequin Rasboras - particularly as the temp has increased even more recently, the lack of oxygen in warmer water could mean the fish died from an indirect result of the heat maybe? And if so, I'm glad I made the decision not to leave the lights off longer than I have been. Also my tank isn't long, so has a relatively small surface area - I've adjusted the filter outlet nozzles to make more of a disturbance on the surface and hoping it'll suffice for now.

Don't leave your windows open at night if you live in a bad neighbourhood. You don't want human bugs creeping in at night while you sleep.

The temperature here in summer is usually 10-20C more in the sun than the shade. You get use to it but try to stay indoors between 10am & 4pm, which is when it's normally hottest. Although sometimes it remains hot after 6pm.

Most people can tolerate temps in the mid 30s C, but it gets a bit much when it sits on 40C + for a week or more. That's when people start going a bit funny. Most people also drink a lot of beer and that helps them cope. They are all blotto and dribble on about whatever. Cold beer on hot days.

Haha human bugs - it's no worries, it's an upstairs window and it's pretty quiet around here for the most part! And wow, I honestly can't imagine being in heat like that! My brain pretty much stops functioning in the late 20Cs, it's far gone right now Call me stupid but I didn't realise Australia got so hot (I'd like to think I'm relatively intelligent in some ways but Geography was never my strong suit haha)! In my 24 years on this planet I've never experienced such high temperatures and for such prolonged periods of time... you Aussies are clearly tougher than us English Not a beer person myself but does an increasingly warm cider on a hot day count?? Working so far

 

[Colin_T]

mmm warm cider on a hot day, not sure that would go down well here

You are correct about plants using oxygen (O2) and releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) when it's dark. And if you don't have sufficient surface turbulence then the harlequins might have suffocated.

Do you add carbon dioxide for the plants?
If yes you should turn it off at night or have an air pump come on to flush out the excess CO2 when the plants are resting and not using it.

In warm weather, like you have now, an airstone bubbling away will definitely help maximise oxygen levels in the water much more effectively than any power filter outlet.

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*NB* in warm weather, water supply companies increase the levels of chlorine/ chloramine to compensate for the increased bacterial growth in the mains water supply. So be careful doing water changes when the weather is hot and make sure you dechlorinate any new water, and aerate it well for 30 minutes or so, before adding it to an aquarium.

 

[seangee]

I have tilted my filter outlet nozzles up to create more surface disturbance which means more oxygen.
Chamber 1 in my flex is empty and a 500 ml bottle fits in there perfectly. If you freeze a bottle and put it in there it will mix with the warm water and pass through the filter before going into the tank. One bottle drops the temp by 1C over half an hour. Mine is on the ground floor facing the street so I can only open the windows in the evening. I use this to get to 25C when I come in in the evening and put the tank lights on, changing the water bottle every time it has melted.

There is no point in making the temp lower than room temp unless you were there all the time to keep changing the bottles. Water takes longer to freeze than it does to melt so you need a lot of them and a big freezer. I just bought the cheapest water I found in Aldi and have never opened the bottles. By the time I go to bed and close the windows the room is close to 25 and stays that way until the sun comes up.

Before I did this my shrimp stopped reproducing as the tank never got below 30. Now I have several berried females so I think they are better for having a longer cool period than if I did nothing

 

[IndiaHawker]

Thanks for the help! I think I'm putting the deaths down to suffocation - when I woke up and turned the light on today, I noticed one Rasbora in particular had gone very pale in colour - something which happened when the fish were in bags when I got the tank (got the setup pre-cycled, secondhand, including fish) and after asking on here learnt is caused by stress (possibly from lack of oxygen?). I don't add any CO2 for my plants and there is surface disturbance - which I've increased since the deaths - but the way the fish are acting when the light has been off for a while says it all; they're often all (minus the Cory and Bristlenose) at the top when I turn the light back on, and Dory the Cory often darts up for air (like she's constantly struggling) earlier in the day. Until I get an air pump I will be leaving the light on as much as possible to try and minimize the 'night hours' of the plants' respiration and stop the oxygen levels dipping as much. Really don't want to lose any more fish, and as mentioned, they unlikely died from the warmer than ideal water.

seangee, I'm intrigued about the frozen water bottle idea! What do you mean about the first compartment being empty though, how is it not full of water? Sorry I sound stupid but I've only had the tank a few weeks! Do you just mean as in the bottle has displaced the water? I may try this if possible as I have time off work currently and am home a lot of the time. Good idea!

I feel awful that two of my fishes' deaths have been caused unknowingly by me - I've tried to do as much research as possible and totally re-aquascaped the tank to make it a lot nicer for them, I just didn't realise what a necessity an air pump would be. It never had one in its previous home, but wasn't so hot then - I know a fair few fish did die with the previous owner though, whether through lack of oxygen or other means (it was very overstocked) I don't know. In a few days I'll be paid and definitely getting an air pump - I'd like to get one that includes everything as I'm new to this and don't want to buy things separately and have them not fit/work. I'm looking at this air pump:

https/www.amazon.co.uk/Hidom-Aquarium-Adjustable-HD-603-Accessories/dp/B00QSJH43S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1532548857&sr=8-4&keywords=aquarium+air+pump&refinements=p_72:419153031

What do people think? For my 57L Fluval Flex. I have no idea what I'm looking for really, but this seems to include everything, has return valves so the water can't flood the room in a powercut, and has good reviews. Do you think it would be suitable?

It has two tubes and stones - if I only wanted to use one, could I block the other tube off or what? Also the only thing that bothers me a bit is the bright blue colour of the air stones in my natural themed setup - would I be able to change the stones with more subtle ones if I wanted to?

Thanks for all the help so far, really appreciate it!

 

[Essjay]

Don't forget that fish change colour when they are 'asleep', so if the room is dark when you turn the light on that could account for the pale harlequin. And cories do dart up the surface for air. They swallow it then absorb oxygen from their gut.

Just to warn you that some air pumps can be very noisy. I have a sponge filter driven by an ait pump in my batta's tank and the first one I bought was so noisy we could hear it upstairs. I now have an Eheim which is almost silent

 

[IndiaHawker]

Don't forget that fish change colour when they are 'asleep', so if the room is dark when you turn the light on that could account for the pale harlequin. And cories do dart up the surface for air. They swallow it then absorb oxygen from their gut.

Just to warn you that some air pumps can be very noisy. I have a sponge filter driven by an ait pump in my batta's tank and the first one I bought was so noisy we could hear it upstairs. I now have an Eheim which is almost silent

Okay will bear in mind about the fish changing colour when sleeping, didn't know that! The room was relatively light by the time I got up, was about 11am, but the tank light had been off. I know Cories are meant to dart up for air occasionally - but it's worrying watching him/her in the morning as she'll keep darting up to the surface constantly, most of the time she doesn't get the entire way up (tank about 40cm tall I believe plus built up with rocks in places), but often darts back down suggesting it's not that it's too high for her to swim and maybe she doesn't like the bright light at the top of the tank (can dim it if I need to)? She'll keep trying to swim up over and over, and then even when she gets a gulp of air she'll keep doing it over and over for a while. This is earlier in the day - by the evening she's usually acting totally normal - I'm hoping an air stone could help with this?

Thanks for the warning about the noise! I'm not too worried as I sleep like a log - but will bear in mind and check reviews! Thanks for your help

I'm guessing it wouldn't be a good idea, for the fish or plants, to leave the light on 24/7 for the next few days until I get my air pump? I'm just so worried about turning it off and causing more fish to suffocate - but can only imagine leaving the light on all the time may do more harm than good?

 

[seangee]

seangee, I'm intrigued about the frozen water bottle idea! What do you mean about the first compartment being empty though, how is it not full of water? Sorry I sound stupid but I've only had the tank a few weeks! Do you just mean as in the bottle has displaced the water? I may try this if possible as I have time off work currently and am home a lot of the time. Good idea!

Yes it has water . I just meant I have nothing else in there like extra filter media. Drop the bottle of frozen water in and the level goes up a bit. (Heater is turned off). FWIW I haven't had to put in an air pump - I do have one but as @essjay says its noisy. I have the same one you mentioned and its VERY noisy.

 

[IndiaHawker]

Yes it has water . I just meant I have nothing else in there like extra filter media. Drop the bottle of frozen water in and the level goes up a bit. (Heater is turned off). FWIW I haven't had to put in an air pump - I do have one but as @essjay says its noisy. I have the same one you mentioned and its VERY noisy.

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Awesome, thanks! Hahah I see what you mean now Will try this asap, the simple ideas are often the best!! As a fellow owner, will the tube from the air pump fit through the gap where the wires pass through the back of the lid with no problem? And thanks for the tip - now looking at this Eheim one:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/282859201888?chn=ps&var=582264198238

which looks great, will likely go for the 200 model as the 100 isn't in stock on Ebay and the 200 only costs a couple of £ more than the 100 does on Amazon. Was only put off before as didn't realise there was an option that came with tubing and air stone - like the look of the air stone as well - simple and with the sucker, perfect! Thanks all for the advice, feeling much more confident in what I'm doing now!

 

[IndiaHawker]

Ordered the Eheim 200 model I mentioned above - had some money paid in earlier than expected, thankfully! Just to be certain - if I hang this up on the wall, higher than the top of the tank's water level, I don't need to get non-return valves, right? Or am I better off getting them just to be safe, as they're cheap anyway? Please and thanks! Hoping my fish'll be a lot happier soon. Especially with the awesome frozen bottle idea!