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I am not one to post often, but in this instance I must. I need the opinion of as many people I can get because the matter I am about to tell you puzzles me. Heres the story:<br><br>My girlfriend calls me today telling me that all her fish, but two, have mysteriously died. This is coming to me as a surprise because the last time I saw her fish they were looking wonderful. We talked for about an hour because she was upset, and through discussion we tryed to come to a final conclusion. She told me that her temperature was extremely high and it is common sense that improper temperature can fry your fish. We figured that this was the reason, but the question was how did the temperture get that high? I asked her if the heater was still on and she said no, I TURNED IT DOWN. This is what puzzles me. How could she of turned it down if there was something wrong with the heater. The control unit of the heater is covered by a cap. Even if she did bump it somehow it should not of malfuctioned. The heater is controlled by a sensor, but if she could turn it down I believe that this means the sensor still works. I asked myself how could this happen? I then came to the thought of maybe her dad did it. Why would I say such a thing? Well the father and her have been fighting like crazy. Her parents are freakishly hard on her, and sometimes the meanest people you could ever hear of. Her dad did keep fish before, and reassured her that his heater did that all the time. I am sure heaters do malfunction, but what made me think her dad did it was that when all things were said and done, he told her she was not able to keep them anyway, and was really mean about it. I dont know, but I need other opinions. Please tell me if you think:<br><br>1) Her heater just malfunctioned<br><br>2) Her dad turned it up to get rid of them <br><br><br>Thanks for your time...<br><br>

Depending on the brand and the quality some heaters are known to malfunction regularly. Under the present situation it will be either replace the heater or have a tank at your home.

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Keith

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I don't think anyone can decide which is true except possibly the people directly involved in this situation. It is quite possible and common for heaters to end up several degrees off so when set on say 78F the tank will be 82 instead. A heater is one thing you don't want to cut corners on. They aren't all that expensive and the really cheap ones cause problems all the time.

I have had issues with my heater which was cheap I find I must babysit it if the weather changes or it will go all over the place.

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Thermostats are in some cases no more than a bimetallic strip, and this over a period of time may flex at different temperatures, digital thermostats have only a relative way of telling temperature, and sometimes it helps to turn them off so they can recalibrate. Sometimes both types of thermostat can be way off. Thermostats are notorious as a piece of equipment that can fail. I usually have at least two thermometers per tank, one digital with a sensor, and one mercury strip. Without a reading from a thermometer that you check daily, of course your fish are gonna get fried eventually. Everyones heaters / thermostats break eventually.

If youre worried about the issue you can buy digital thermometers with built in alarms that warn you of changes outside of a preset range and even they need recalibrating sometimes. You should give your equipment a quick check weekly, just to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Thanks alot guys, just needed to see if it happens often..

I'd put the heater in a tank with no fish and watch the temperature to see if it does it again. That should solve it rather quickly.

"See if it happens often?" Once is enought to cause problemskis. I would save up $3 per week until you can replace it. $3 per week or a little amount you may not miss.

I agree with our friend above. It isn't worth the risk of a cheapie filter. I would fork out for a goodun'. They aren't that excey. You want to be able to set and forget.

But the idea of watching it in a tank with no fish is a good one too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

In my experience, a heater can fluctuate from the 'set' temperature by as much as 2°C. However, checking mine with a digital thermometer told me an interesting story - mine fluctuated cyclically. It would rise to 2°C above the setting marked, then fall slowly to 2°C below the marked setting, then rise again ... the cycle time was 34 hours. This is sometimes affected by unusually cold or unusually hot weather (in the case of the latter, the heater basically switches off and the water stays warm due to the fact that my living room becomes a microwave oven in a hot Summer) but the fluctuations are there. I'd replace the heater for now (even if you only do so with a spare from a fishkeeping friend on a temporary basis), then test it in a safe place (i.e., no fish to fry) and check it with a digital thermometer.

If you see temperature cycling as in the case of mine, this shouldn't be a worry unless it's more than 3°C and over a fairly short period - if your temperature cycling is long-period (say anything over 48 hours), I'd again take that factor into account.

If on the other hand your heater is set to, say, 25°C, and the water temperature climbs up to 35°C in fairly short order, then yes, the original heater is to blame. If the temperatures obtained are 'normal' (i.e., the digital thermometer readings are pretty close to the heater's state settings, or the deviation is constant over different temperature settings) then a sudden rise starts to look a little more, shall we say, 'interesting' ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

If i read that right, the original temperature was set at the correct level, then somehow the fish got fried, and now it has been turned down again its fine??

Out of curiousity, was the dial on the heater physically displaying a higher temperature than what it had been set at?

When heaters malfunction I would imagine that the dial itself would not move, it would only be the internals that get stuck 'on' and just keep heating.

It must have been quite high to fry so many fish, they are usually able to tolerate small changes

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Yes the dial was set at the right temp. She had to turn in down to get it where it should be.