You are not gonna believe this!

[peaceablegarden]

Okay, so a week or two ago I posted about some white calcium build up on my heater. Someone suggested the possiblity of some stray electrical current accounting for the build up. I don't have anything to test the heater with and thought about maybe replacing it.

Today I noticed a strange spot on my MM Platy attributing it to a jump in pH as a result of shifting some fish between tanks (posted it in the sick fish forum). Tonight I've been watching my two male platies. They often chase each other around taking turns being the aggressor.

I'm watching when I see them both put their noses to the heater and jerk away. They keep going back to the same place on the heater, touch their nose, and violently jerk away seemingly enjoying it. They were doing it in tandem but the Red Wag has now been doing it by himself sometimes touching with his nose and sometimes rubbing against it with his body both with the same result of jerking away. I've never seen this behavior before and it's only with the heater.

It's making me wonder if there is some stray electrical leak of sorts and the platies are kind of having fun with it?! Any thoughts about this strange occurance?

[FastFly67]

Oddly enough I saw one of my female platies doing this earlier this week (the nose touching and jerking thing)

[peaceablegarden]

Was she doing it on anything in particular? Maybe this is one of their behaviors? My Red Wag has been at it off and on for about two hours now.

[FastFly67]

Originally Posted by peaceablegarden

Was she doing it on anything in particular? Maybe this is one of their behaviors? My Red Wag has been at it off and on for about two hours now.

the heater

[peaceablegarden]

So this could be a case of stray voltage? I'd welcome any other thoughts out there.

[Dekz]

This seems a bit obvious to me but, maybe they are enjoying heat and not electricity?

[peaceablegarden]

Hmm, perhaps, my thoughts were of electricity because it was suggested to me that the build up may be caused by that. Their jerking movements also led me to believe that as well. To be on the safe side, I'm replacing the heater (which was old/used and some generic brand when I got it). I'm sure it could be the heat as well. I'd like to know if anyone else has seen this kind of behavior around their heaters?