Water Is At 88 Degrees!

[attibones]

My betta fish, Phoenix, lives in a ten gallon in my bedroom. He shares this tank with a few snails and a shrimp (but I haven't seen him in a while). I cut the heater off the other day as I noticed the water was much warmer than it needed to be and the bedroom stays warm. Just now I checked the temp of the tank. The strip thermometer is reading between 86 and 88 degrees F, and my glass thermometer is reading closer to 88-90. This is with the heater unplugged, 10:40 at night, bedroom lights off for most of the day (just turned them on). His light has been on for a few hours now.

I noticed he's been looking a little lazy, but I just figured he was just bored. I haven't added much extra stimulus to the tank for a while. Now I'm getting worried.

My instincts tell me to do water changes daily with cooler water, or to freeze dechlorinated water in an ice tray and gradually add them to the tank (but I worry this would shock and kill him?).

 

[Khanna]

Try some cooler water changes. Maybe you could stick some cooler water bottles into the water?

 

[attibones]

I'll try both of those. I may also move the tank to a cooler room to see if that doesn't help. I don't have central air conditioning. In fact, we only have a single window unit in the very back of the house. It's unfortunate, really, because it's averaging over one hundred degrees outside lately.

 

[Khanna]

 That's awful that you have no AC! I know how you feel, our AC was just fixed a few days ago. The Texas heat was pretty bad, and I'm sorry you have to endure the heat.  Good luck moving the tank!

 

[Mamashack]

Try keeping the tank lights off during the warm weather - mine can raise the water temp by a few degrees over the course of any day and in warm weather it might be several more degrees.
The only other thing I was going to suggest has been suggested - freezing water in a bottle then adding the bottle to the tank - then you can easily remove it once the water temp has reached what you want it to be.

 

[attibones]

I just got him moved. He seems a little stressed from the journey in The Terrible Cup (it's actually the same betta cup he was in when I bought him, but now I just use it for moving him, should the need arise). I moved him right next to one of the 55 gallons. Temperature is now just over eighty. I will continue to moniter the temperature before deciding if he needs the heater now or not. In other betta tank news, it appears Jacques The Shrimp has died, as he is no where to be seen, and usually he is on my fingers whilst I change water... 
 
Thanks for the tips, guys!

 

[r.w.girard]

Of course, the evolutionary advantage of labyrinthine fish is that they can get oxygen from the air as expelled from water as temperatures rise. But in the summer, you definitely do not need a heater.  As long as the low is, say, above 75.

 

[attibones]

Precisely. I was worried, though, that he was overheating. I think the lowest that room gets is 78, so he'll be good.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Heaters have thermostats, unless they are broken they should not activate as long as the water temp is above what the heater is set at. Most heaters have some form of indicator light to show when they are heating. In warm weather that light should not be coming on. Unfortunately, filter, pumps, powerheads and lights all add heat to a tank. Usually, we can only dispense with the lights but not the other equipment.
 
Bettas should handle heat better than the average fish. I see them at 86F (30C) in the wild on Mongabay.
 
There are a number of methods one can try to keep tanks cool. One good for smaller tanks is to get an icecube tray and use cleaned water from the tank to fill it. Then you drop in an ice cube or two. I have used larger sizes in bigger tanks. One can also put regular old ice cubes into a baggies or small fish bag with a small bit of water in the bag as ell and let it flow in the tank.
 
You can pit a fan near the the tanks so it blows across the front glass. On some tanks you can open/remove the lid and blow across the water surface- Do Not do this with fish which Jump like bettas.

 

[Sophie]

Oh England, sometimes your poopy weather is a good thing!