temp. spike killed my fish....need advice

[solson]

Hi everyone, came home today to sadly find out the thermostat stuck and the temp. spiked to over 100 degrees. I've had this heater for 2-1/2 years with no problems then this. This is a 30g planted tank housing 8 tiger barbs and a pleco.

My question is, did the temp spike also kill the beneficial bacteria or will I need to cycle the tank again. So far I did a 50% water change and cleaned it up a bit.

I have an eheim external canister filter and I was thinking about swapping it with one from my 90g tank (which has 2 of the same).

I probably will not be getting any fish for a couple of weeks. Just hoping I can add them without having to cycle the tank. I'm I on the right track? Oh yeah, do you think my plants will be ok....java ferns and amazon sword?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Crepe]

A recycle is in order. 100F degrees will not have killed your bacteria but it would have severely hurt them.

 

[dkpate]

What kind of a heater was it?

 

[Crepe]

Your plants on the otherhand, might be fine. Only time will tell.

 

[solson]

Thanks, I'll re-cycle. It was a visi-therm stealth heater.

 

[dkpate]

I just had a Visi-Therm overheat too about 2 weeks ago. I e-mailed the company and they replaced it within a week. If you do e-mail them, include all the info off the heater because it will make things MUCH faster.

 

[solson]

Thanks! I'll dig it out of the trash.

 

[BigJim]

Check the status of your tank before you completely recycle it. Add 4ppm of ammonia and see how long it takes to be completely converted to nitrates. If your tank can handle that amount of ammonia in 24 hours or so, I'd say you're good to go.