Emergency! Please Help!

[plecostomus-mad]

ive made a massive error! when i did a water change i forgot to plug the heater back in. the water temp is always a constant 82f, its now 72f i have 2 x clown plecos and 3 x pepperd corys/catfish. the water change was done hours ago, its 5.50 am, i felt the need to check the tank for some reason, felt te side and its kinda cold, checked th temp and my heart sunk. what a nob ive been, i ALWAYS plug it back in!? i feel like such a fool right now.

do you think they will be ok or have i doomed them?

no flaming please, i feel terrible as it is.

mark

 

[boeingtech]

my husband did the same to our tank am couple of month's ago but our's is 50 gallon so the temp did lower but over the 10 day's it only dropped a few degree's and thankgod no casualty's .
Don't know if i did right but i just plugged the heater back in and it slowly brought the temp back up

 

[plecostomus-mad]

my husband did the same to our tank am couple of month's ago but our's is 50 gallon so the temp did lower but over the 10 day's it only dropped a few degree's and thankgod no casualty's .
Don't know if i did right but i just plugged the heater back in and it slowly brought the temp back up

thats what ive done, turned the heater back on. its slowly getting back to temperature. the funny thing is, the plecos colors have darkened somewhat and they are more active than before.lol but still, cant be good for them. i will be keeping a close eye on them all day.

 

[Truck]

Its no real biggie, I've left my heater off days without noticing, just plug it in and wait for it to rise slowly.

 

[onebto]

I think we all have done it at one time or another I know I have. Has it done any damage I doubt it but only time will tell on that matter don't beat yourself up over it.

 

[Rezatii]

Actually Clown plecs have a recommended temperature range of 73-82 and pygmy cories 73-79 so perhaps going down might not have been a terrible thing for them, especially the cories, depending on what else is in the tank you might consider lowering it to the mid-70's full time?

 

[betta fish]

I've done it too, a couple of times now, we are all human and forget things at times don't worry! the fish should be ok, sudden changes are more harmful than gradual ones.

 

[Tortea]

If the tank is inside, with no wind or direct sunlight the tank temp won't change much, most tropical are fine with it, e.g in finland and the US a betta is a cold water fish, but in the uk its warm, the fish don't change but they might be happier with warm water.

 

[plecostomus-mad]

thanks for all the replies, they seem to be fine at the moment, ive leveled the temp out at 79f. this seems to be the middle balance for them all. the plecos color have stayed darker and there more active, people say, including me at times, that plecos are not very active and hide......these 2 clowns plecos i have are out most of the time. i see them for at least 3-6 hours a day.

 

[shelaghfishface]

deffo done this.. more than once..dont worry so long as the temp is going up too fast they`ll be fine ( which it isnt and which they will im sure)

 

[Schmill]

As others have said, gradual temp changes aren't too muhc of an issue for fish, unless you start going severly outside of their favoured regions. Personally my community tank is kept permanently at the tmp that your tank FELL to, so I wouldn't worry, and the corys probably loved the cooler water

 

[ChrisCook]

Temperatures fluctuate in the wild naturally and fish are built to survive so a gradual drop in temperature of 10F is no big deal for them. Don't sweat it!

 

[finalfantay85]

My dad's heater broke the other night and we didn't notice til midday. I went and got him a new heater and put it in about 4pm (buses are slow) and the fish are fine. They were hugging the top of the tank near the light cos it was warmer but once the new heater got the tank up to temperature they were fine.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I often keep heaters off in the height of summer. Does them no harm.
P.