Fish Losses - Electric Shock ?

[woodster]

Here's hoping someone can help me here

Recently I've experienced a fair few fish losses from different species all purchased form different shops. I did all the usual tests i.e. nitrite, ammonia, nitrate (all zero - even nitrate !) and ph (6.8) and even a newly introduced pair of Rams started laying eggs on Thursday, so as you can imagine I was confused to say the least.

Tonight I was removing a few floating leaves by hand when I noticed I was getting a few sharp electric shocks ! The only thing electrical in the water is the heater so I have removed this immediately and have replaced it with a spare - could this be responsible for killing my fish ?

The temperature remained at 77 degrees throughout my losses however as I have T5's this doesn't necessarily mean it has been working.

Does anyone agree that this is the probable cause of my losses ?

 

[SamUK]

fish dont get electrocuted i dnt think.


thats what someone sed on here neway.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I think its entirely plausable they were electrocuted and died because of it, is the tank still electric?
The other thing that concerns me is that you say that the heater was the only thing electric in the tank- don't you have any filtration in the tank? What were the nitrite, nitrate and ammonia test results?

 

[woodster]

"nitrite, ammonia, nitrate (all zero - even nitrate !) ph 6.8 temp 77 degrees"

I also have an external filter working on the system but I assumed that this was less likely to create an electric current in the water, as strictly speaking the electric element of the filter doesn't come into contact with the water.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Is the tank giving off electric shocks at all now you have removed/replaced the heater?

 

[Durbkat]

Did you cycle the tank, what size tank is it, and what and how many fish do you have left? Unless its a planted tank and you have Co2 and stuff its impossible to have a nitrate reading of 0 you should have at least a 10 for nitrate.

 

[WILDER]

Electric shocks can cause fish to get a bent spine.

 

[lovell_89]

i far as i'm aware fish don't get eletrocuted as they aren't earthed but when you put your hand in you conduct electricity to earth, so i doubt that your fish were electrocuted.

 

[woodster]

Did you cycle the tank, what size tank is it, and what and how many fish do you have left? Unless its a planted tank and you have Co2 and stuff its impossible to have a nitrate reading of 0 you should have at least a 10 for nitrate.

It is a planted tank and I have been using CO2 - perhaps hence the 0 nitrate reading. I did consider an overdose of CO2 to be causing the probs but my ph is a constant 6.8.

 

[Rooster]

i far as i'm aware fish don't get eletrocuted as they aren't earthed but when you put your hand in you conduct electricity to earth, so i doubt that your fish were electrocuted.

How do electric eels work then ?

 

[andywg]

Electric eels work by generating a voltage of up to 600V. I doubt any of us are using that sort of voltage in the tank.

If the heater were causing the tank to go live and electrocuting the the fish it would need an earth source. The most likely source would be thorugh a heater lead (or filter lead or another electrical appliance). Most of the above scenarios would cause a fuse or RCD to blow/trip.

Most heaters upon breaking will wither not work, or be on all the time. It would require a fairly catastrophic failure to cause the heater to make the tank go live.

I would be far more worried by the 0 on ammonia, nitrite and nitrate reading. This is extremely rare in FW (though is not impossible).

 

[Rooster]

My point was that you do NOT need an earth, a simple potential difference will do the job, electric eels can produce UPTO 600 odd Volts, but a lot less than this will disorient small animals - which is all it needs to do to feed !
I doubt very much that the heater will be "leaking" electricity... all UK households 'should' have an earth leakeage detector at the distribution (fuse) box which would trip long before a shock is felt... I would recommend an additional one plugged into the socket the tanks is ran from.

The use of switchmode power supplies often give folk a "tingle" , if you are using an electronic ballast for the lighting, I would look there first !

 

[ncjharris]

Aren't heaters double earthed?
Indicated by a double square symbol on them somewhere, like kettles and irons and pretty much all things that involve water and electricity.
In otherwords, the fuse in the plug blows before you do.

Could static be an option? If you were wearing rubber soles on a nylon carpet, then it may be conceivable that you are charging yourslelf up and tank, water and earth source are your first discharge.

 

[Rooster]

Heater (heater/stats) are not earthed AT ALL !!!
They may however, be double insulated ?

 

[ncjharris]

They may however, be double insulated ?

Yeah, thats the kiddy - not double earthed.

So why are they not earthed? Let me get this right.
Imagine heater breaks, water in tank is part of the circuit. As there is no earth, nothing effectivley happens, until you put your hand in there or something earths with the water.
If heater was earthed, this would happen straight away and fish would fry?

So, thinking on other lines, are the old 3 bar heaters earthed? The ones you can kill people with if you put them in their bath?