Guppies swimming at the top after an old heater broke. I NEED HELP!!!

[DannyJ321]

My heater that my dad had sitting around and he wasn’t using was made of glass. I adjusted the heater in the fish tank and it must have broke when I was doing so. I woke up in the morning and saw that the heater was broken and a greenish Black substance was float above he water (a small amount only probably 1 inch in with and length) I took the weird substance out of the fish tank with a papertowel. I then put a new heater from my Bettas tank and share it between the tanks. I will be getting a new heater soon this week. After I took the substance out of the tank I did a 50% water change. I looked at my guppies to make sure they were alright and I seen that they were at the top of the tank and won’t swim down, only a few females will swim around. Most of the fish don’t eat and it’s worrying me even more. What should I do if they still don’t move

 

[Colin_T]

Your fish got electrocuted and will require a few days to recover. Do another water change tomorrow and every day for a week and see how they go.
Make sure any new water going into the tank is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.
Make sure you use a fish only bucket that has not been used for anything else.

Don't feed the fish too much or at all until they start swimming around again.

 

[Paul65]

That’s sound awful for you. Hope it all goes okay. Please do let us know.
Great advice form Colin again.
Good luck.

 

[DannyJ321]

Thanks Colin! They are looking better each day. The only thing that died so far was the snails. They all were pretty much unresponsive for a few days and my large one wouldn’t hide in its shell if I picked it up so I’m sure that he’s dead. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[Colin_T]

we found a new snail killing treatment, all you have to do is electrocute the fish

if a snail won't close its operculum, then its toast. The operculum is the little door they use to close themselves inside their shell. If you give it a gentle pull, the snail should retract it immediately. If it doesn't respond then it's dead.

 

[Essjay]

I've copied a post I made a couple of years ago, some of which applies here. My son is now a fully qualified electrician

My son is currently training to be an electrician and I recently asked him about the danger from electric shocks in tanks, and how the fish would be affected. He said that faulty heaters or filters won't harm the fish because they are not earthed, in the same way that birds are not harmed by sitting on overhead electric cables. Humans with their hands in the tank and their feet on the floor are earthed. But faulty tank equipment shouldn't kill us because all submersible equipment must be IP6 rated which means they have a built in transformer to reduce the voltage or current (I can't remember which it was that he said) and all you should get is an electric shock, which is bad enough. Though fish keepers with pacemakers would be in trouble. He then went on to say that he would not put his hands into a tank of water containing suspect electrical equipment, he'd get his testing equipment out and use that first.
He also commented that most injuries from electric shocks come about from falling off ladders etc rather than the shock itself.

 

[Colin_T]

I have been zapped numerous times from tanks. The main one was salt creep and fluorescent lights that were sitting on top of the tank. The fine bubbles in the marine tank would leave a tiny bit of salt on the light unit and over a few weeks the salt would build up to a point that it would make the light unit and water tinkly to touch
These days all lights are suspended at least 6 inches above the tank

 

[Essjay]

That's because you were earthed by having your feet on the floor. If you had been leaping in the air (or levitating!) at the time you wouldn't have had a shock.

 

[Colin_T]

I lept back in the air when I touched a light switch that was allegedly off

I always check the fuse box before touching anything now

 

[Essjay]

We get our son to come round and check



I wonder if the OP's fish were harmed by something leaking out of the heater rather than being electrocuted? He did mention a greenish substance floating on the water

 

[Colin_T]

The black stuff is from the bang in the water. Electricity popping part of the heater when the water touches it. I've seen it a few times, and now I only use Rena heaters. The inside of the glass usually goes black too from soot.