Heater Malfunction Fish about to die

[Richard M]

Help,
My heater has malfunctioned. Temp up 10 degrees. Flame angel is about to die. What do I do?? FOWLR Tank

 

[Heliarc19]

Float some ice bags to bring it down a little quicker, hope they make it

 

[Jeff_Toronto]

Help,
My heater has malfunctioned. Temp up 10 degrees. Flame angel is about to die. What do I do?? FOWLR Tank

Hmm. I'm new but I would say replace heater ASAP. I have a spare on hand just for this reason and based on other posts I have two of them in tank connected to an apex controller so can react quicker.

Do you have a qt tank running? Assume not

Hmmm how about temporarily turning off heater and let temp drop a bit then Turn on to bring back up.

Might give you time to get a heater replacement

I've been in the hobby for 4 weeks so just thinking what I might do and sure others Will pipe in

Maybe move fish to small container out of tank temporarily and keep replacing water to control temp and ammonia? Again, all temporary until heater resolved

Do you have spare heater for preheating water for water changes? Even if smaller might get you by temporarily.

I decided early to have spares and backups for all critical components

 

[cgdcinc]

Get a fan to blow across the top of the water on the tank or sump.

 

[Richard M]

Ok tank is down to 81 but Flame angel and PJ are MIA

 

[brandolphjr]

I would start making up saltwater for a big water change,,.. And aerate the aquarium..ASAP...

 

[rob safron]

How hot did it reach?? Don’t remove fish, use ice bags but 81 isn’t terrible. Don’t reuse that heater.

 

[Jeff_Toronto]

How hot did it reach?? Don’t remove fish, use ice bags but 81 isn’t terrible. Don’t reuse that heater.

Curiosity from new guy. Why not remove fish? If I have full time qt with matched parameters would that not be ok. Just building my knowledge

 

[rob safron]

You don’t want to put fish in a 85 degree tank immediately in a 78 degree tank. Plus the stress of catching them. Slow decrease is best in my view.

 

[rob safron]

What was the max temp the tank hit?

 

[Jeff_Toronto]

You don’t want to put fish in a 85 degree tank immediately in a 78 degree tank. Plus the stress of catching them. Slow decrease is best in my view.

Ah makes sense. Added to my list of do not. Thanks

 

[Richard M]

PJ cardinal has reappeared, Flame Angel is not moving but still has color. Tank hit a max of 86 but that was after it went down to 75 because somebody unplugged the heater. It must have been temperature shock.

 

[rob safron]

Yep. And depends how fast it went for 75 to 86 as much as it was 86. Sounds like it’s back to tolerable, just keep dropping slowly. This is why I love my Apex. I have had heaters get stuck on.

 

[Richard M]

Do fish go into hibernation or something when it is too hot?

 

[Richard M]

Ok, The angelfish is visible, he is lying on a rock and breathing heavily what do I do?

 

[rob safron]

That I don’t know, maybe someone else will chime in. I’m sure under stress they will act weird. If it were my tank I would just keep a close eye on the animals and watch for ich outbreak. I think if they were going to die from heat that already would have. Probably they will be OK.

 

[Jeepguy242]

Put ice in ziplock bags. Float them in the tank


And aerate heavily

 

[Richard M]

Ok I will monitor closely.

 

[rob safron]

Flat on rock or upright. That does not sound great but not sure what you should do. Not sure much you can but wait and see. Is the temp still slowly coming down. Don’t let it go much lower than 79 or could shock them the other way.

 

[Richard M]

All fish except Angel are normal