rrrrrrrr.... Im such a dork....

[Melody]

I have been treating for an outbreak of ich for the last few days upped the temp to 84 and last night my last fish was spot free. So I did my water change. I got under the tank, and unplugged the filter and what I thought was the heater. I have most the water that Im changing out of the tank and Im moving around some rocks and pruning some plants. I hear this odd noise that sounded like gravel clinking against the glass. I FIGURED it was just a spooked fish and I keep moving rocks around. I heard it again and happened to look at my heater which was halfway out of the water....WITH THE LIGHT ON!!!! ACK!!! I yank my hand out of the tank dive back under the tank and unplug it... shew.... close one.... then POW!!!! 8O glass all over my tank, fish freaking out.... argh.......300W marineland, there went 40 bucks down the drain.... errr tank... so I round up my daughter and we go to the LFS. pick up a new heater and when I get home my daughter is helping me find all the little pieces of glass that are now scattered about my tank. I pieced it back together and I seem to have all bits. Whats really killing me is with the new heater (Rena 300W) the numbers are easy to read, but whats on the heater is not what is on the temp. strip. and now the tank temp isnt even showing on the temp strip. The fish are fine, I plugged in my air stone just in case. and keep turning down the heater a few clicks every 6-8 hours hoping that the temp will lower enough to register. Now I understand the need for two heaters. I could have avoided all this. Now what Im worried about, being that they just got over Ich, and now all this stress with variable temps... that its going to stress them further and the Ich is going to come back. rrrrrrr........ Had I just been paying attention

 

[MACATUA]

i hate when that happens, you think you grabbed the right plug and you start around and all the sudden you realize what you wanted off is on. That sucks, sorry to hear that........

 

[TankGirl]

That's terrible! I'm glad it did not shatter while you had your hand in there, at least. I've been sticking with the fully submersible heaters now, and placing them more horizontally so they are always under the water, even when I do a water change, but I still unplug them anyway out of habit.

Thanks for posting your story so others can take heed

 

[FawnN]

The best way to make sure everything is turned off when your doing your water changes, is to get a power strip and plug everything in there.

I turn off one switch and that's it.

As for the Ich, you should be ok. What does your therometer say? Just make sure that if your using meds, you should put the proper dose back into your tank.

 

[Melody]

Even tho I have the heater set on one temp, its NOT what Im reading on the temp strip. The temp is so high that its off the strip..... I keep putting my hand in to make sure the water is not hot, and my fish are active, doing their fishey thing.... so I know Im not cooking them, but I cant get a reading off my temp strip. I now have the heater adjusted at 80, and it has not clicked on yet... so maybe this will bring it down.

I had been dosing and doing water changes, I was done with treating, and doing my big water change...


I kept telling myself that I needed a power strip, and another heater for back up... Just never got to it.

well its on my Santa list... along with my RO unit...

 

[Meredith]

I bought one of those visi-therm "stealth" heaters. Its fully submersible and the whole thing is plastic, so it wont shatter. The only thing I dont like about it is there is no indicator light. But so far it has kept the temp very stable.

 

[pkremer]

Just so you know, my temp strip never gives me an accurate reading. It was always reading at 76 even though I know I had the heater set at 79. I put in a submersible thermometer and it quickly read 79. It's not as easy for a temp strip to gauge a temperature from the outside of the glass!

Also, don't feel too stupid. I did that myself a few months ago. Pulled the heater out while it was still plugged in without thinking, set it on top of the filter box. All of the sudden I hear a cooking sound...the heater is on and is boiling off the water that was on it. I panic and quickly shove it in the water and KABLOOIE! it blew into 4 pieces!

I think it is a common mistake and a lot of people on here have done it once...

Paul

 

[thartley]

Ebo Jager heaters (at least the TS model) have a low water safety switch built into them that turns the heater off if the water level gets too low. They also have an accurate, easy to read dial that makes it easy to set the temperature without guessing. You pay a little more, but not that much more. They are totally submersible too, despite what the box says. I'm guessing the TS stands for Totally submersible. The glass is thicker than normal, according to their literature. It's the only model my LFS uses in their own tanks. They have them mounted in all kinds of positions - vertical, horizontal and some even just laying on the gravel. They get knocked off the glass sometimes while they are catching fish and they don't bother to reattach them. I think they can take a beating. I've read a lot of people have owned them for ten years and they are still going.

I saw a posting here a while ago that discussed whether or not they were submersible because the instructions say not to submerse them. From what I recall, the warning may be so they can sell the heaters in Canada.

 

[mayreee]

Wow I am glad I read this thread. I have been doing water changes without turning the heater off.

 

[Melody]

and heres some more stupidity on my part...

Well mayree Im glad my stupidity could help someone....

and on to some more stupidity on my part. I feel like I have been doing water changes all day... I have had a few rough weeks with my tanks lately, first I had a tiger come down with pop eye, so I transfer him to the ten gal and treat with tetracycline tablets and he clears up fairly quick, although it looked like someone got killed in my tank. The water was bright red. I had four other fish in that. Im changing the water and it was pretty dark in the room with that red water. I inadvertantly scooped up a fish and didnt know about it untill... I saw him going down the toliet.... ARGH!!!!!
It was one of my daughters skirted tetras. I feel HORRIABLE!!! I flushed a perfectaly healthy fish. It was an accident, but I still feel absolutly horrid. Im such a bad fish mommy.... Im about ready to swear off water changes. I see a python in my VERY near future!!! Lets hope my week turns better. Im going to go now and cry...

 

[mayreee]

I am sure everyone does stupid things. When I got a canister filter I took the lid off with out turning off the water flow things. WATER EVERY WHERE! When I got my first few fish (I had no idea about anything) one of my neon tetras had Ich and I thought it was neon tetra disease from internet research. I almost put him to sleep. Then I put crushed coral in my american cichlid tanks because I though all cichlids liked a higher pH. At least you learn from them so it doesn't happen again.

 

[Melody]

Well, Im sorrt used to making dumb mistakes... Happens plenty... but geesh. How many can one make in a couple days!?!?! RIP my little fish. I hope he didnt suffer to bad... gives me shivers thinking about it.

 

[mayreee]

Off topic...

I thought it was only me also. I booked a flight for my mom online, a month later than the day I was supposed to. So she had to get another flight that very day and did not get her money back from the first flight. She spent over $1,600 because I did that. I thought she would be furious but she wasnt that mad. Could you imagine if she didn't have to money to buy a new flight home. She would have been stuck. Then a few days later I pay for something with my debit card that did not have enough money on it. I ment to use my credit card. That night I got a $30.00 bounced check fee Believe me it's not only you.

 

[draX]

I have got all my plugs plugged in to a multiplug...then I took a permanent marker and labeled each plug...H for heater, F for filter, L for lights. saves much confusion!