Faulty Heater Boiled Fish :-(

[arobinson1984]

Just come home from a night at the pub to find the heater in one of my tanks had malfunctioned and the thermostat had stuck on.

The water temp was very warm to the touch and was about 38 degrees.

Unfortunately we lost around 5 tetras, luckily there werent many fish in that specific tank so the few that survived (a platy, a platy fry & a cory) have been moved to another tank, the faulty heater has been unplugged and will be replaced tomorrow.

Sods Law!

Andy

 

[GAB99]

that must ave been horrible to be one of those fish! well, at least theyll smell bettr.

 

[Bignose]

This is one of the primary reasons that it is usually best to use two (or more) small heaters (rated for just a fraction of the tank size) instead of one large one. In that way, if one heater becomes stuck on, the one heater won't turn on at all and you'll have a lot more time to notice the malfunction. Or if one gets stuck off, the other one can keep the temp good for a long time, again giving you more time to notice the malfunction. Consider two smaller heaters when replacing the faulty one.