PLEASE HELP- Heater failure

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sarah5775

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
257
Location
NJ
Hi guys. I know I haven't been on here in a while, but I really need some advice fast.

I have two five gallon tanks and a 29 gallon tank. I came home just a few minutes ago and found that the heater in the 29 gallon tank has failed and the temperature is 66 degrees in there.

Half my fish are dead. The others, 2 black longfin tetras, 4 mollies, 2 gold barbs, 2 platys, and an otto- are just clinging to life- they look awful.

This couldn't have happened at a worse time. My car is in the shop, and it will be a week at least before I can get to the store to get a new heater. This is bad, bad, bad.

Right now I have one of the little five gallon heaters in the
big tank, but I don't expect it to do much.

What should I do? Should I put both five gallon heaters in the big tank, or should I move the fish to the two five gallons? I'll be way overstocked but if I do a PWC every day, will it be ok for a few a little while?

All I have in the five gallon tanks now are 2 half-grown platy fry in one and one half-grown platy fry in the other.

If I move the fish to the little tanks, how should I acclimate them so they don't die immediately from the shock of going from 66-82 degrees?

Please help, I want to save some of these fish. I've raised the platys and mollies from fry.
 
Heat up the room to mid 70's if you can ....

Another option, wrap the 29 in a blanklet & try heating the water with some incandescent lights above the water ... but be careful, you can start a fire in the blanklet if the lights are too close, and don't overheat the tank.

Very short term solution - heat up some tank water in a microwave or stove and put it in the tank, that should bring the temp up for a little while.
 
Good news. By following your advice I was able to keep the temperature at 74 and lost no more fish. I now have a new heater (a friend helped me out and gave me a ride) and the temperature is about back to normal. Fish seem ok.

Thanks a lot for the help!

Sarah
 
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