Just lost an entire tank of fish :-(

[sarah5775]

The most horrible thing happened.

I just moved my goldfish into a bigger tank and had a tank free, so I moved a bunch of my tetras and a few rasboras into the tank. I cleaned the tank, put a heater in it, made sure the temperature was ok, and moved in the fish.

Well, I just went to feed them just now, and every single fish is dead.

I freaked out, horrified. I know I dechlorinated the water, and the fish had been in it less than 12 hours. I know the tank was cycled and the readings were fine yesterday. When I went to scoop out the poor dead fish the problem became clear- the water was so hot it almost burned me.

I don't know how this could happen. The heater was not turned up full blast and it is not hot in my apartment. The heater, which I had not used before, may have been faulty. That is the only thing I can figure.

I am furious with myself, I should have checked the temperature. The thermometer was off the chart, but I didn't notice when I passed the tank throughout the day.

I am really upset. I never had a disaster like this before, except for the time I lost power in the middle of winter and lost a bunch of fish due to the cold and that was about six years ago. Some of those fish that died I had for three or four years. I was really attached to them.

I know there is nothing anyone can do, I just wanted to share and tell everyone to always check the temperature of your tanks throughout the day when you use a new heater. Don't have the same disaster I did.

 

[TCool]

Sorry to hear that, that is horrible.

 

[Lowryder]

OMG thats horrible. It seems like the simplest thing can reek such havoc. I have read soo many post where heaters have malfunctioned...what doesit take to get a decent heater!

Was it one of those thermometers that have no adujustments but keep a constant temp? I had one of those and the SOB boiled my fish as well.

 

[TCool]

I have a heater in my tank that has adjustments but it doesn't seem to do much good. I always had to have it set at the lowest, which it said was 72, to just keep my tank around 80. Well, the other day I checked it and my temp was up to about 90, so I unplugged it. So, I'm with you Lowryder, must have to spend a ton of money to get a decent one.

 

[DragonFish71]

I'm so sorry to hear this. That truly does suck.

 

[Ilikefishes]

this depresses me. A big stomp on my confidence. I'll be skeptical of every heater from this point :/

 

[mfdrookie516]

Im sorry to hear that I had a close call like that, only i was about to put fish in when i felt the water, felt like hot bath water... What kind of heater was it? If it was relatively new, i'd contact the manufacturer and ask for some sort of compensation.

 

[Craigthor]

Always a sad loss when you lose them all...

 

[dkpate]

+1 for Rookie, I would also get ahold of the manufacturer and let them know what happened.

Sorry about your fish....

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

that is horrible, im sorry to hear that.

 

[bigfish93]

Sorry to hear about your loss sarah. I am going to be more carefull about all the equipment I buy for my tank now

 

[Jason7894561230]

I have had an incodent with that i lost mny of my fish in a heat snap when we were not at the house so many dead =( im sorry for your losses

 

[jessibell]

oh god, that really sucks!! I'll be paranoid from now on. I'm going out of town this weekend too starting today. I would definetly contact the manufacturer - they might have had other complaints as well. If there is something not right with the product it sometimes results in recalls, which protects others from the same fate.

I had a chicken egg incubator do the same thing to me once. My eggs were cooked

 

[Viper]

I had a heater fail on me, but it didn't raise the temperature. It just stopped working in the dead of winter and luckily mom noticed the temperature on the thermometer on the glass and I was able to rush out and get a new one quickly. I pulled the old one out and noticed that it was filled with water which means that it had a leak somewhere.

Sorry about your loss, I lost my whole tank once because I stupidly forgot to put the dechlorinator in after a PWC!

 

[strokinbyeu]

i had the sam e thing happen to me but i have both cooler water fish and tropical and i keep the water around 74. i came home late one nite and went to turn the lite off and could feel the heat off the glass from a foot away. the water was up to 109. i unplugged the heater bucketed out a gal of hot water and put in a gal of cold water and a big chunk of ice. the only fishi lost were my cat fish my tropicals survived im sorry to hear that u lost all ur fishies i give you my regards

 

[sarahh]

Dude, that's horrible. I'm sorry for you and the poor little fish.
+1 for dk and mfd

 

[jestes]

That sucks! I just got up and checked my thermometers.... Is there any kind of a fail safe for something like this? I was thinking about something that could disconnect the heater, almost like a light timer, only connected to a thermometer.

 

[lake_tuna]

This is one of my fears.. because both of my heaters were bought used really cheap.

 

[Egress]

Is there any kind of a fail safe for something like this?

There are temperature controllers like this one that can be used alongside an adjustable, thermostatically controlled heater for an extra layer of security. The heater can be set a couple degrees higher than the controller, so if the controller fails in the ON position, the heater's thermostat should then prevent a catastrophic heating situation. Another option is to use two smaller heaters instead of one larger heater. If one heater fails in the ON position, it will not overheat the aquarium as much as the larger single heater setup.

 

[eyring2210]

+1 egress