Heater with Peeling Paint

[clayartisan]

I've had my tank set up for exactly two months now. It was a 28 Gal kit from Petsmart and came with a Neptune heater. The heater has an aqua colored paint design on the outside of it. Today, I was cleaning the power filter media up a little and noticed these pieces of paint in it. The only thing in the tank that is that color - the heater. I inspected it and found, sure enough, a 1" area that the paint has peeled off of it.

So, my questions for all of you: How dangerous is this for the fish? I lost a platy last week, suddenly, and could see no visible problems with him. I thought it might be caused by paint fumes, as I painted a back room in our house (with an oil based primer) and even though I kept the door closed for two days, the fumes were still strong when I opened it up. I KNEW better and should have thought to turn off the air pumps, but didn't. However, because all the other fish seem to be doing well, despite a hard week of power outages, I wonder if it might have been something else, and now, wonder if the fish may have eaten paint flakes.

2nd question: The amount of paint flakes I found on the filter aren't enough to account for the amount of paint missing from heater. Will I need to do a total tank clean or would a good vacuuming, with ornaments out, be enough? I hate to do either at the moment since it has been a stressful week for the fish with two power outages. (see thread "Survived the Storm).

3rd question: Do you think Petsmart will replace just the heater or will they expect me to bring back whole kit? Is this typical for these heaters or is this a defect (I would think so)? This heater has not been subject to any unusual treatment - was added at set up and has been out of clip holders twice to adjust temp dial.

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

 

[webcricket]

My Marineland Neptune heaters have some paint peel spots as well where the suction cups clip on. One of them has been in use for a couple of years in the same tank with no fish losses. I imagine the paint is non-toxic.

The missing paint pieces may be in the gravel, just give a good gravel vac around where you keep the heater and they should come right up.

These heaters have a 2 year manufacturers warranty, so you could try calling Marineland's customer service to see if this is considered a defect.

 

[Rbishop]

Definitely contact Marineland, wether in the warranty period or not. They replaced my out of warranty Eclipse III hood/filter system no qestions asked. They were even so glad that I contacted them and made them aware of assembly issues that caused them to change their QA procedures, they gave me a years supply of filters to boot.

 

[Peanutsweet]

I wouldn't think that the peeling paint would be unsafe for the fish, I mean its safe ON the heater, it should be safe OFF. As far as the fish eating it, I would highly doubt it, they would probably mouth it, and spit it back out.
I had a heater once that did this same thing and was practically new. I dont know the brand its been too long to remember.
I would get a scotch brite pad or something similar and scrub it all off. Its just for looks anyway, it doesnt do anything functional that Im aware of.
You could try returning it, what would it hurt? But a new one of the same kind is likely to do the same thing.