electricity in the water?!

cadencealex

I put my finger in gently with a pellet on for my Oscar.. and felt a prick.. I don't think it was a Fish ..could it be electricity off something?!

was like a mini shock... fish are all fine though! Help!

coley

Make sure there's no water leaking or dripping around the power outlet.

If the tank is insulated from ground the fish would be fine if there is electrical current in the water. Think of staying inside a car if a power line falls on it. The rubber wheels insulate you from ground.


If you have a volt meter you should be able to test the water to ground to see if there's a short somewhere. If there is a reading, I would turn off the breaker that supplies power to the equipment on and in your tank. If you do this yourself, PLEASE BE CAREFUL. If you know nothing about electric, find someone who can test your light, heater, filter and anything else that requires electricity. By the process of elimination you can find the problem.

Lupin

Well said. You have pretty much summed up what everyone would try to say.:)

You have to be careful with most electrical appliances. Defective products have a very high chance of causing damages to you and your tanks (and even fish).

Trishfish

Just to add one more thing--make sure you have a drip loop. In a nutshell, you make sure the electrical cords come down in a "J" shape below where the outlet is. This way, if any water runs down the cord, it will drip off the bottom and not into the socket.

mHeinitz57

with oscars too it isn't uncommon for then to knock a heater and crack the glass. At one store I worked at we had heaters in every single tank (pain in the butt) and i've had my fair share of electrical shocks when I go to clean tanks. It was always because a heater went bad or had been cracked somehow. You can crack a heater just by doing a water change and allowing the heater to get dry while turned on. Checkout your heater...but carefully. If that is the case, Marineland makes a STEALTH heater with a shatterprrof casing...good to use with powerful animals like oscars and turtles.