Back from vacation...all is not well.

[SCFatz]

And its my fault.

I had asked for advice on what to do with the tanks while gone for four days.I was advised to not do squat and they would be fine.That was the plan until the wife hired the neighbors kid to feed the cat so I figured what the heck and made up some food portions for each tank.

The 29g is doing fine...except I can't find one otto,but thats not unusual.The problem is with the newer 50g.I'm down a toltal of four fish.Two tiger barbs,1 cherry barb and the algea eater.
About 40% of the total population I suppose.

The problem was heat.I was busting the ich with heat with a 300 watt heater that held my tank nicely at 90 degrees for the last two weeks or so.
That was doing fine....UNTIL I TURNED OFF THE AC for this trip.I mean who leaves the AC on when your gone for half a week??I should have....i just didn't consider it.The tank got up to at least 92 degrees (thats where it was when I got home anyway).The AC was turned on yesterday after the neighbors kid called about the dead fish so it may have been hotter at some point.

Thought I'd pass it on in case someone else is in the same shape this summer.

 

[tropicfishman]

dang thats rough, sorry to hear about that, and what a time to be fighting ich right before you go on vacation, talk about bad timing, hope everything gets back to its proper conditions

 

[IceH2O]

Having the heater turned up that high probably didn't hurt as much as you think. The problem was the AC being off. Its been hot this week in SC near 90, even with the AC on sometimes the temp in the house hovers at 80. Last year when the AC went out it got up to 95 in the house easy before it was fixed.

Never turn the AC off. When we go on vacation we just turn it up to about 80. Nothing worse than coming home to a hot house after driving for hours. Not to mention other pets in the house need to stay cool.

We all make mistakes, chalk it up to a lesson learned.

 

[joannde]

SCF - thanks for posting this. Its a very good point and one that might not be thought about. Sorry about your losses

 

[Zagz]

So sorry to hear about your losses. Thank you for posting this as I'm sure it will help others to avoid the same tragedy.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sorry to hear about the losses. I'm sure the temp had gone above 92 degrees, as when doing ick treatment, if 87 doesn't work, you sometimes may need to go to 91-92. They should have done fine at that temp. Also, did you have a bubbler going while away? At those temps, a bubbler is usually a necessity. But my guess is that it got much warmer than that.

Again, sorry for the losses.

 

[SCFatz]

Thanks for the kind words guys.Sadly the last tiger barb followed them into the light last night.

fwiw I was sure my last cherry barb was going too,but he looks a little more active this morning.

 

[rich311k]

Sorry for your losses, that really stinks. But I will learn from your experience so Thank You for posting this.

 

[SCFatz]

Also, did you have a bubbler going while away?

Woops...missed this question.Yeah I have a bubble wall in each tank running all the time.Imo it looks good and encourages gas exchange.

I wish I knew how hot the the thing got...whats the max temp before death would you think?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Unless you have warm-water fish, I think anything above 92-93 will start affecting the fish, and definitely above 95. Let's see if any others will give us a better insight on this.