Left The Filter And Heater Off Overnight

[littlest]

I am so mad at myself. Had a completely cycled tank, added 4 sparkling gouramis and 3 amano shrimp on Monday. Last night I unplugged the filter and heater to test the water and feed the fish (I alays unplug before putting my hands in the tank, bit paranoid)... well I just realised I didn't plug them back in!

Just done a water test. Ammonia is somewhere between 0 and 0.25, and nitrite is still zero (luckily) so I've not done a water change. Hopefully the ammonia will fall back to zero quite quickly ( do you think it will?)

The temperature however is NOT OK. It is currently 21C compared to normally being at 25C. I'm worried the 4C drop in temperature may have already stressed the fish, and now I have to raise it back up. I know normally it is advised to raise the temp 1 degree at a time, but I have to leave for work in 20 minutes. Should I just put the heater on the normal 24C or lower? I won't be back to change it again for about 8 or 9 hours.

really don't want to stress this fish out more than I already have.

 

[backtotropical]

Unless you have a super-high rated heater in a tiny tank, i reckon it will be fine. It would normally take a heater a few hours to increase the temp by 4 degrees anyway.

On a side note, i'd do a water change if i were you. Any level of ammonia is bad and the lower the level, the happier the fish will be, especially if they are already stressed about being too cold.

 

[littlest]

Thanks for your quick reply.
If I had realised what I'd done a couple of hours ago I would have done a water change, but I only realised 20 minutes before I have to leave for work (now have ten minutes) so really don't have time. Might stick a dose of Prime in there, maybe that will detoxify some ammonia. Sound like a good idea? If I have ammonia when I get home tonight I will do a water change.

Just so mad at myself for doing this to my poor fish just two days after I got them

 

[xxBarneyxx]

A good idea I stole from someone else on here was to use a timer with a dial on (push the bits down on the dial to set it to turn off. When you want to turn everything off push down enough pins for 20-30 minutes and spin the dial round to click it off. When you have finished push all the pins back to the on position again. That way if you do forget to turn it back on it will click back on automatically within 30 minutes.

Personally I have the lights and filter/heater on the same switch so when I turn the filter off I turn the lights off as well. That way I know if the lights arent on when they are supposed to be I have forgotten to turn it back on.

Your fish should be fine. If there is still ammonia when you get home then do a water change.

 

[littlest]

well the good news, ammonia is back to zero.

and for the bad news, nitrite was at 0.25. I did a water change (about 40 per cent). Nitrite is still showing slightly (It's not quite zero but not as purple as 0.25).

Fish seem OK so far. About normal levels of activity. And they ate today for the first time I got them (they didn't seem to understanding feeding before and would get skittish and swim away).

Heat back at normal levels. Not seen much of my shrimp though.

Will be keeping a close eye on water and inhabitants and will do a water change tommorow morning if there is still nitrite.

 

[WILDER]

Best to let the temp raise slowly back up.
Look out for whitespot, columnaris ands swim bladder when temp drops fast.

 

[littlest]

Thanks Wilder, but unfortunately too late. Temp is back at 25C now.

I'm going to be looking out for any signs of disease. I know how to spot whitespot and swim bladder, but less sure of columnaris.., does this involve white stuff growing on them?

Seen all four of my sparklers tonight and they seem good so far. Only seen one shrimp though and they are usually very active
The tank is very heavily planted though so it can be hard to find the fish in there.

 

[WILDER]

Columnaris has many disguises, white patches on the body, fluffy or cottony.
Comes in colours of brown, yellow, pink and white.
Saddleback columnaris goes along the back and down the sides of the fish to form a saddle shape,.
Mouth fungus columnaris bleached out mouth to looking fluffy.
Then columnaris spots greyish to white with a red tinging.
http/www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/profiles/d...columnaris.html

 

[littlest]

Thank you! I'll be keeping an eye out and I've bookmarked that link just in case.

 

[WILDER]

Good luck.

 

[rdd1952]

Personally I have the lights and filter/heater on the same switch so when I turn the filter off I turn the lights off as well. That way I know if the lights arent on when they are supposed to be I have forgotten to turn it back on.

If they are on the same switch, does that mean that you burn your lights 24 hours a day? Or are they both plugged into an outlet that has an on/off switch but the lights are on a separate timer.

 

[littlest]

Yeah I think he means the second one. That's what I used to do with my goldie tank, they shared an outlet, but you still had the switch on the light controller to turn the lights off.

 

[littlest]

Ammonia and nitrite have both been zero since this morning (just checked again now), so my cycle seems to be back on track. Will be testing daily for a while to make sure.

No signs of disease as yet. Keeping a close eye on them. The shrimp have reappeared too. Fish seem active and getting braver. Also better at feeding. I normally only see a maximum of three at one time at the front of the tank though. Don't know if it is the same one who is hanging back or not because I can't tell them apart. It is a bit of a hard tank to see them all in. Tallish and heavily planted.