Terrorbyte
Fish Fanatic
After a routine weekly water change around mid-day, the digital coralife thermometer on the side of my wife's 20gal aquarium stated that the water temp was about 62F (and this was after changing out about 20% of the water with warmer water in the 75-78F range). I thought the coralife was full of sh!t, but just sticking my finger in the tank confirmed that the coralife was, in deed, telling the truth.
Of course, I didn't bother to check the temperature of the aquarium prior to the water change because it has always held steady at about 78F (for the past 6 months), so I assumed things were normal. My guess was that the water change probably raised the temp 4-5 degrees (more stress on the fish), so I am betting it was as low as 57-58 before the 20% change. At any rate, the heater apparently died sometime late last night (why I don't know, but I've since replaced the P.O.S. VisiTherm with an Ebo Jager heater), as I did take notice of the temp last night before passing out for the night, and it was normal (~78F). The temp in my house drops to about 58F at night, so after the heater quit, the water temp in the aquarium probably chilled down to about room temp.
To cut to the chase, 4 fish bit the dust (2 were floating around, the other 2 I found stuck in the live plants) -- the casualties included 2 cardinal tetras and 2 gold rams. Surprisingly, an opaline gourami, 2 red-eyed tetras, and 1 red tailed black shark survived the big chill, so if you're ever wondering what fish are hardy, there ya go. My immediate reaction was to check the ammonia levels as I knew they'd be out of whack (even after the water change); initial testing showed somewhere between 0.025 and 0.1 PPM of ammonia (ammonia is consistently at 0ppm in this aquarium, as it's well-established), which is borderline critical, so I immediately changed the filter, added a lot of zeolite and carbon, and just finished a 2nd 20% water change for the day.
Should I be taking further measures, or have I done all that I can do? Should I plan on changing the water daily, or will be weekly changes suffice? What are the chances of the other fish biting it due to the surge in ammonia levels, and would the cold water temps have caused them further damage? Thanks for any insight.
Of course, I didn't bother to check the temperature of the aquarium prior to the water change because it has always held steady at about 78F (for the past 6 months), so I assumed things were normal. My guess was that the water change probably raised the temp 4-5 degrees (more stress on the fish), so I am betting it was as low as 57-58 before the 20% change. At any rate, the heater apparently died sometime late last night (why I don't know, but I've since replaced the P.O.S. VisiTherm with an Ebo Jager heater), as I did take notice of the temp last night before passing out for the night, and it was normal (~78F). The temp in my house drops to about 58F at night, so after the heater quit, the water temp in the aquarium probably chilled down to about room temp.
To cut to the chase, 4 fish bit the dust (2 were floating around, the other 2 I found stuck in the live plants) -- the casualties included 2 cardinal tetras and 2 gold rams. Surprisingly, an opaline gourami, 2 red-eyed tetras, and 1 red tailed black shark survived the big chill, so if you're ever wondering what fish are hardy, there ya go. My immediate reaction was to check the ammonia levels as I knew they'd be out of whack (even after the water change); initial testing showed somewhere between 0.025 and 0.1 PPM of ammonia (ammonia is consistently at 0ppm in this aquarium, as it's well-established), which is borderline critical, so I immediately changed the filter, added a lot of zeolite and carbon, and just finished a 2nd 20% water change for the day.
Should I be taking further measures, or have I done all that I can do? Should I plan on changing the water daily, or will be weekly changes suffice? What are the chances of the other fish biting it due to the surge in ammonia levels, and would the cold water temps have caused them further damage? Thanks for any insight.
