OH Bad News/ Another First

BradSD

I have a little 28 gallon planted bow front tank with just red shrimp from Knubbs and 18 neons in the tank. Well this morning I wake up with my grandson, he touches the tank and then says why is it hot papa. The light hadn't came on yet. The heater went crazy and the temp of the tank went to 92 degrees. Lost all but 3 of my neons but only lost one red shrimp out of maybe 12 to 14. I didn't know this could happen! I will never trust these heaters again. I wonder if it will affect the plants long term? I have some Bronze Crypts, Sword compacta, and some asst other plants in there. Had it happened to one of my larger tanks I would have caught it on time but this little 28 heated up overnight. Was a full blown panic might have launched a couple bad words.

Byron

I had this happen in my 33g about 4 years ago, lost most of the fish.

I now always buy the best heater I can, and in a higher rather than lower wattage. I have had 3 or maybe 4 heater failures, and with one exception they were the 50w less expensive heaters. The higher wattage in a good brand tend to be relable.

Byron.

Olympia

Should be fine. This happened to me in a betta tank a few months back. Tank hit 90F, what a shock when the glass feels warm. Plants didn't notice (was just anubias and java fern however). The betta just seemed to be super hyper, no other effect, but they are warm water fish, they do fine at higher temperatures. Unplugged the heater and opened the lid to let the temperature drop slowly.
All I can say is, watch those max/min lines on the heater, and don't forget most heaters say to unplugged for 15 minutes before draining water. Of course, freak accidents happen too, such a shame.
Really sorry about your tetra and the one shrimp.
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BradSD

I ended up putting a bunch of ice from the ice maker in the tank. Worked pretty good, dropped the temp down slow and steadily without to much shock. Shrimp seem normal and the three neons left seem okay.

redchigh

Next time (and as a guide to others), I wouldn't add ice to a tank- the drastically different hot/cold areas can be quite dangerous to the fish and plants. Next time, I'd just place a bottle of chilled water in the tank..

Sorry for your fish loss. What brand of heater was it?

BradSD

It was a topfin heater. All that survived is fine, now I have to go buy some more neons to bring them back to normal numbers. The three left look a bit lonely.