Total travesty....

[Chriznat20]

I had a Marineland Stealth heater in my 30g FW tank... it was recalled last year, so I contacted Marineland and they sent me a new (not under the recall) replacement. It worked well for months until....

I got home today and noticed a dead sword tail floating in the tank Open the lid to net him out and go bury him, and feel a whoosh of HOT air come out - look at the in tank thermometer and it was 102F!!!!!

I quickly put in a 2nd air stone and overrode the timer for the air pump to be on all of the time. I did a 25% water change and refilled with 80f water. (I keep the tank at 74f but dont want to shock the rest of the fish seeing that it was at 102f).

Looks like the heater, which was set at 74, went total whacky. Bummer. It must've happened sometime in the late night/morning because when I fed them last night, I always put my fingers in the water to get their attention, and the temp was fine.

I ended up losing 1 swordtail, 1 tetra that Ive had since I started the tank two years ago (I was just admiring him the other night) and my 2 very personable corys, which were my favorites

To people who say creatures dont care for each other - my 2 corys were always tank-partners in crime, have had them for about 2 years now. I found them both in the hollow part of a stump decoration. They never hung out there, but they died there together .. Im sure either one didnt want to leave the others side.

Moral of the story: I need a temperature alarm for the tank. I didnt think I'd be this bummed, but Im really upset over this.

EDIT: My 2 silver dollars look stressed... breathing very slow and staying in one spot (which is unusual for them - one is kind of listing sideways)

 

[skiweeangel]

So sorry for your loss. I didn't know they made temp alarms.

 

[alLexX]

thats horrible im sorry about your fish did you contact marineland about this?

 

[Chriznat20]

So sorry for your loss. I didn't know they made temp alarms.

I dont know if they do or not, but if not - me and you are going into business!!

thats horrible im sorry about your fish did you contact marineland about this?

I called after I was able to stabilize the temperature and, of course, they were closed at 6pm. No problem, they will get my wrath tomorrow

 

[Chriznat20]

I feel awful because after all I do - weekly water changes (sometimes twice weekly!), feed them veggies and some treats occasionally, always keep the room air conditioned in the summer so the temp never spikes, etc.. and look what happens - the stupid heater wigs out and kills them.

Its like the old adage - eat healthy, exercise, die anyways.

It was accidental, but preventable I suppose. I guess I should check the fish every morning now too. I was just bee bopping around in my daily life while my buddies in my tank were boiling Makes me feel like crap.

 

[librarygirl]

Yep they do:
Marina Aqua Minder - Aquarium Monitoring System by Hagen - Amazing Animal Accessories - Online UK
Amazon.com: TOM Aquarium Temp Alert Fahrenheit Digital Thermometer: Pet Supplies

Sorry for your losses, that's awful. I had a Marineland Stealth too; I called to get the info to return it and get the refund, didn't trust a replacement from them. Sorry again.

 

[librarygirl]

I feel awful because after all I do - weekly water changes (sometimes twice weekly!), feed them veggies and some treats occasionally, always keep the room air conditioned in the summer so the temp never spikes, etc.. and look what happens - the stupid heater wigs out and kills them.

Its like the old adage - eat healthy, exercise, die anyways.

It was accidental, but preventable I suppose. I guess I should check the fish every morning now too. I was just bee bopping around in my daily life while my buddies in my tank were boiling Makes me feel like crap.

Not your fault. We have to rely on the products that are supposed to keep our fish safe and we can only do so much. Tanks break, heaters explode, filters fail, things happen. You replaced it with a new heater, like they suggested and it still went badly which is on them, not you IMO. Your fish had a great life with you and a much better one than they would have had staying at the LFS or going to another owner who may have neglected them.

 

[skiweeangel]

I hope they give you a good compensation for this. Two years is a long time to suddenly loose a pet. I like this idea of an alarm though.

 

[Gboy66]

Such a terrible thing to happen. Honestly the last thing id expect to happen..

 

[Chriznat20]

Yep they do:
Marina Aqua Minder - Aquarium Monitoring System by Hagen - Amazing Animal Accessories - Online UK
Amazon.com: TOM Aquarium Temp Alert Fahrenheit Digital Thermometer: Pet Supplies

Sorry for your losses, that's awful. I had a Marineland Stealth too; I called to get the info to return it and get the refund, didn't trust a replacement from them. Sorry again.

Thanks for the links. I like the TOM thermometer with alarm and I think Im going to buy it.

 

[George9]

Not your fault. We have to rely on the products that are supposed to keep our fish safe and we can only do so much. Tanks break, heaters explode, filters fail, things happen. You replaced it with a new heater, like they suggested and it still went badly which is on them, not you IMO. Your fish had a great life with you and a much better one than they would have had staying at the LFS or going to another owner who may have neglected them.

after all these "horror" stories about the stealth heater, I'm not going to buy one. It was on my list.

 

[Chriznat20]

Wanted to update the thread...

Contacted Marineland, they werent particularly over apologetic but they are sending me a return label to send back the defective heater. I asked for a refund vs. a replacement heater. They had me in the computer from LAST time the heater they sold me went whacky.

I had ANOTHER Marineland Stealth PRO heater that Marineland sent me last year. It was the replacement for one that I had that was being recalled. I plugged it in the other day, the little green/red LED lights were working BUT despite any temperature, it wouldnt heat the tank past 69f degrees!!! Talk about bad luck with heaters!

I ended up going to my LFS and buying a stainless heater with a remote thermostat.

I also ended up returning the ORIGINAL stealth that cooked my fish and got store credit. I hope Im not confusing anybody here.... lol. The stealth that cooked my fish I bought from a LFS. However, I had a spare Stealth PRO that Marineland sent me last year from a totally different Stealth heater. The stealth heater that cooked my tank was one that I bought when I had sent my original back to Marineland (I was impatient and didnt wait for a shipping label) but I needed a heater until the new one arrived.

What it came down to was BOTH Marineland heaters I had - 1 that Marineland had sent me, and 2 I had previously bought - were BOTH defective and at least 1 was dangerous and not only killed my fish, as you've read - but couldve caused much much more damage! Im so grateful nothing else bad happened!!

And after reading what happens to the Stealth heaters before they blow up and bust your tank to pieces or catch your house on fire, is it superheats the tank... I probably caught mine just in time!

Either which way, I have a new SS heater that is working capitally, and I also just bought an "Marina Aqua Minder" with the store credit $$ I had. It has a high/low temp alarm and beeps and flashes if the temperature goes out of range.

I hope this never happens to me again!

 

[Nubster]

hmmm...I need to check to see if my Stealth is on the recall list. It's not in my main tank but being used in my QT bucket. I did use it in my marine nano tank though. Worked great then but that was a couple years ago.

***Just checked it...I'll be darned if it's not one of the recalled units. Guess I need to call them and see what I need to do.

 

[redsea]

Sorry about your loss......