View Full Version : Reason to keep thermometers in tanks
I woke up the other day and passed by my fish tank. I just glanced at my thermometer and it read 90F. I must have bumped the hetaer while cleaning it the night before (watch out for cheaper heaters) and it turned on. This is my white cloud minnow tank so I assumed the worst. The day before the temp had been 70F.Well the guys were all still alive. I turned the heater down, turned a fan on for across the water surface and did a small water change to get some fresh water in there. By the time I came home after work the temp had dropped and all the fish were doing fine. I guess I roasted off any potential ich and I have shown that white clouds can survive higher temps for short periods of time.
Anyway make sure to have thermometers in the tanks everyone.
NJ Devils Fan
11-09-2003, 8:34 AM
LoL, good lesson. That heppened to me in the beginning of the summer. I looked at the thermometer at night, and it read 83. I got an old fan and had it bow across the surface. After a few hours, the temp dropped to 78. I kept it on the lowest setting the entire summer and it stayed at 77-78.
Miersix Meerkat
11-09-2003, 11:23 AM
I keep a thermometer in the tank because I like to make sure the temp is perfect for my pleco. I was a bad girl with my baby tank and had 2 pleco's in there with no heater.... it was bad...they died in no time.
125gJoe
11-09-2003, 11:37 AM
For $28.50 this is well worth it!
http://www.marinedepot.com/IMD/tk_timetemp.jpg
The ALARM feature is great! ;)
The smaller one on the right may not have the Alarm feature..
Spydermsd
11-09-2003, 11:54 AM
Great thermometers, I have the larger one on all my tanks, excelent choice. Got mine from BigAls.
valerie
11-09-2003, 12:41 PM
I also had a heater problem this past week. I stuck my fingers in the tank when feeding and noticed the water was warmer then usual. I check the temp and it was close to 90(supposed to be 80). I haven't touched the heat and the temp came back down by itself after unplugging and plugging the heater back in. It hads stayed at where it should be for the past week. I dont' know what caused it to raise.
I now can't find my female ram. I have taken everythign out of my tank and still no ram. I'm thinking she may have died and the plecos ate her? Don't really know. She just disappeared. i'm going to by a new ebo jager heater as soon as i can make it down' to the LFS.
Rometiklan
11-09-2003, 1:00 PM
Yeah, I've had this sort of thing happen to me before years ago when I was starting out in the hobby and I was buying cheaper stuff. As a kid, I couldn't really afford anything better, but it really pays to get the best heater your budget will allow. As for themometers, I also have the Rainbow digital thermometer that 80gJoe recommended on my 80 gallon, but I can't justify getting it for all my tanks, so I just stick with the old tried and true: the floating thermometer with a suction cup. I make it a point to check the temperature every time I feed the fish, which I normally do once or twice a day.
Sorry to hear about your ram, valerie...beautiful fish.
valerie
11-09-2003, 3:24 PM
Thanks, I jsut dont' know what happened. She must have died from teh shock of the temp changes and then the plecos must have eaten her. Otherwise where would she do?
Prometheus
11-09-2003, 3:30 PM
I lost electricty while I was at work one day in S. Fla. When I got home the tank temp was 90+ degrees... **** shame, lost quite a few fish...
I had a frozen bottle of water in the freezer, I dropped that in the tank to help... but with no power, and room temp pushing 96 by the time I walked in the front door, I was screwed...
Anyways, that frozen water bottle helped.. I keep two in the freezer now at all times (even though I moved to NW Indy...
I also keep two wal-mart 'elcheapo' $1.19 therms in the tank.. I'm parinoid over water temps now...
Had a scare last year, we lost power and the temp inside was 40 degrees... Luckily our gas water heater keep the water up and I put hot water bottles in the tank to keep it <barely> above 70...
Never underestimate electricty or bottles of water or old school thermometors... :cool:
Spydermsd
11-09-2003, 5:40 PM
Valerie, sorry to hear about your Ram. What type of Ram was she. I have Bolivian Rams and they love the heat. I'm suprised that the Ram would have trouble at 90 degrees. They usually do better in warmer temps.
JSchmidt
11-09-2003, 8:15 PM
For $9.99, Radio Shack sells large-display indoor/outodoor digital thermometer that are great for use in aquaria. They don't have an alarm, but they are easy to read and reliable. All my tanks have one.
Jim
fishdude
11-09-2003, 10:24 PM
happened to me when first started out with a couple of goldfish one day my temp was 68 and the next it was 78 and then they all died:(
valerie
11-10-2003, 2:36 PM
My fish was a female blue ram. I don't know if the temp killed her or if it was how fast the temp rose and fell. My male blue ram for the past week has shown very drab color. Dont' know why, must be sad from loosing his girlfriend :(
I'm getting a new heater jsut incase.