Just want to rant about heaters

[ianryd]

So due to a heater failure, my 29 gallon QT dropped to 68 degrees today. I stuck a new heater in ASAP, and was back up to 77 within a couple hours. I had a healthy Yellow Eyed Kole (keyword HAD) who was almost ready for transfer to my DT. When I left home around 6:30 to go see the new Avengers movie, I noticed he was breathing fast, so I turned the bubbles up on my powerhead, hoping to introduce more O2. I got back around 10:00 to find him upside-down on the bottom of the tank. As if he was waiting for me to see him one last time, he did a little maneuver for me in the water, then died right in front of me. I'm so upset. Upset that I didn't have a backup, or at least some kind of alert set up. And upset that with all this modern tech that we still rely on a heater that is guaranteed to fail eventually. Isn't there anything better out there?

Now, as for how I handled the temp drop-did I bring the temp back up to fast? Could that have sapped the O2 level? Should I have brought it up slower? If I don't end up giving up on this hobby, I'd like to know for the future if this happens again.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Do you have an ammonia alert badge in your qt? Fast rapid breathing can be a sign of heightened ammonia levels which can kill fish. That mixed with the temp swing could have done it. Sorry for your loss

 

[Rakie]

Do you have an ammonia alert badge in your qt? Fast rapid breathing can be a sign of heightened ammonia levels which can kill fish. That mixed with the temp swing could have done it. Sorry for your loss

I have to second this.. 68 degrees is not ideal by a long shot, but if coral can be shipped like that fish can survive it. 68 over the course of a day shouldn't be too much for a healthy fish. Will he be stressed and uncomfy? Absolutely. But dead? That's a stretch, or a very unhealthy/unlucky fish.

 

[ianryd]

Do you have an ammonia alert badge in your qt? Fast rapid breathing can be a sign of heightened ammonia levels which can kill fish. That mixed with the temp swing could have done it. Sorry for your loss

Thanks, no badge, but I did check and ammonia was at zero

 

[Rakie]

Thanks, no badge, but I did check and ammonia was at zero

That's atypical and unfortunate

I've had fish in pretty cold water due to failures and they made it. Maybe he was just too stressed out. Hard to anticipate how something will react.

 

[Hemmdog]

I’m thinking it’s the turning the air mixture up on your powerhead, microbubble city = dead fish.

 

[ianryd]

That's atypical and unfortunate

I've had fish in pretty cold water due to failures and they made it. Maybe he was just too stressed out. Hard to anticipate how something will react.

Yeah. when I got him I didn't realize they needed to graze on nori, so I was just feeding spirulina brine, thinking that it had enough algae in it to keep him happy (thanks for the "advice" LFS). He got quite pale for about a week, but I started him on nori and he got his color back and was doing great for over a month. Perhaps he was still recovering from the malnourishment and the temp disaster was enough to do him in.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Thanks, no badge, but I did check and ammonia was at zero

Were you running any treatments?

 

[ianryd]

I’m thinking it’s the turning the air mixture up on your powerhead, microbubble city = dead fish.

Even though he was breathing fast before I turned them on?

 

[ianryd]

Were you running any treatments?

No treatments. Just regular water changes for nutrient export.

 

[Crabs McJones]

No treatments. Just regular water changes for nutrient export.

Ok. Just curious because if copper was being utilized, it will mess with ammonia tests.

 

[ianryd]

Ok. Just curious because if copper was being utilized, it will mess with ammonia tests.

I started the QT off dosing copper, but my last dose was well over 2 months ago. Good to know though! I like that you're thinking of all the possibilities