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I see that you are in Malta (south of Sicily). I've been to Sicily several times in the summer (last summer some days were 115 degrees inland) and to Malta once in the summer. If you don't have air conditioning in the house is there any way a chiller will work for this? I don't know anything about them, just know they exist. There are a couple of months left of what can be extreme heat - anyone know anything about chillers??

My house is white & so i cannot do anything else. Thanks Calilasseia for your help, but i'm also considering making a tinfoil cover.

I'm using ice packs & ice cubes every 8/10 hours & it seem to work fine. Hopefully i'll buy a portable A/C in the near future & that would solve the problems.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Quick thought Jason ... what's your house like? does it have white paint on the outside walls? Only if it's a dark colour on the outside it'll be like a microwave oven and might explain some of your woes ... if it's painted white to reflect the sun, then you have a serious problem ... you might have to cover the house in tinfoil to keep it cool in that case

Meanwhile, if you can borrow a powerhead and 60 feet of siphon hose from someone, rig up my Heath Robinson cooler & see if that saves some of your remaining fish ...

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Well now the temperatue has gone down a bit but will become higher next week. The situation is under conrol now (that's what i think) & the fish are fine. Hopefully i'm more prepaired for next week.

The heater has been un pluged for more than a month now (beginning of June) & i don't switch it on at night. The temperature don't go down more than 28C & so i always switch it off from June till September.

I also have the lights off for most of the day & i only switch them on for feeding & water changing/cleaning.

Thanks alot for all your ideas & help. :88):88)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

i know this is gonna sound crazy, but u seem like u have nothing left to loose...
i am in Arizona right now, and the hottest day so far was 127 degrees F. so i understand your problem first hand. here's what i do i unplug the heater at night, and plug it back in in the morning. some people might have a problem reading this, but it's the only way to keep my fish from floating. but then again i have a huge tank so maybe that's why the temperature in the tank doesn't fall down too much. the fish r doing great .
this might not work for u so wait and see what other think of this ARIZONA idea. seriously i have no choice here the "cold" water out of the pipes is 87-90Fif we r lucky!! part of it is cuz this is the desert and the other problem is the water pipes are not deep enough in the ground, so the h2o going through the pipes is really warm... anyway sorry to hear about your losses, i hope i helped a lil.

keep us updated

I had about 30 Brichardi fry & i lost half of them. The rest + the parents are fine now. I poured some ice cubes in the filter & made some water changes. The temperature was 38C for 4 days & i lost 3 Emperor Tetra, 2 Bronze & 2 Peppered Corydoras + about 15 Brichardi fry.

Now the temperature is down again to 32C & hopefully i'll be more prepaired for another heat wave.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Oh, that's awful ... the Brichardi as well? I bet you're feeling REALLY crushed over that ...

You could still try my suggestion - spare powerhead, lots of coiled hose and a bucket of ice, until such times as funds allow you to get a dedicated cooler ...

What's the daytime temp where you live? Only I lost 12 out of 16 Panda fry last year when Britain was hit by 38C for a week - totally out of character for this far north, but that's global warming for you ...

[span class="edited"][Edited by Calilasseia 2004-07-13 09:38][/span]

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Another bad day......... Nearly all my Brichardi fry died due to the extreme heat. Maybe the parents will survive, but i'm not sure. I made a water change & i am also using some ice cubes & a fan.

Thanks alot for all your reply's, but i'm seeing 6 months work vanish in 3/4 days.

[span class="edited"][Edited by jasonpisani 2004-07-10 10:07][/span]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

You could always rig up a "Heath Robinson" cooler using a spare powerhead, 40 foot of siphon tubing and a bucket of ice - one end of tubing goes into the aquarium (possibly attached to a sponge filter to stop the poor fish being sucked in!), coil the rest of the tubing in the ice bucket (3 gallon plastic bucket full of ice cubes should do the trick) with the other end attached to the powerhead. Turn on the powerhead, hey presto, improvised cooling system.

Yes, it's a real bummer when your native land has weather that boils your fish

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Are Corydoras the most sensitive fish to high water temperatures?.

I had 2 Deaths in 2 days & the water temperature is 32 Celcius.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

No, they aren't the most sensitive, but they are sensitive. Most cories should be kept in temps not much higher that 76F. I know many that keep them at higher temps, but this can cause problems. There are some species that tolerate higher temps well though, such as sterbai.

ctt33, I think he's trying to say that the temperature where he IS is high, thus raising the tank temperature beyond his control.

If that's the case, have you tried propping the tank lids open and running a fan over the surface of the water, Jason? I've heard ice packs aren't a good idea, as that can lead to uneven temperatures in the tank and can promote ich and all kinds of nasties. Turn up the AC if you can (although I'm guessing not...) and try to keep the house as cool as you can. Fans, open windows when possible, etc... Good luck!

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I would turn down the temp a little. Yours seems pretty high for most fish. I have seven albino corys at 80 F and they are fine.

It really depends on the species of cory as alot of them can tolerate higher temps and others can not. Barbatus are an example of a species that don't tolerate higher temps. It really depends on the natural enviorment in which they live in. I know of several discus keepers that have cories in their tanks, discus should not be kept under 82*F ideally. Currrenty my tanks having been in the low 80's ( 80-84*F ) and I have had no ill effects. So my opinion is that if your fish are healthy they should be able to handle the higher temps with the exception of some species, but that high of a temp it pretty extreme. I would suggest floating a piece of ice in a plastic bag to try to maintain a lower temp. If you use a larger piece of ice it will melt slower and will not make too much a temp swing and should prevent it from raising any more.

I beleive cories are quite affected by high temperatures. Awhile ago i was treating my 25g for ich and had the temp up pretty high and lost my cories .

I just don't want to think about it................. I really love these fish & everything is going away in a few days.


The Peppered got off worse, they are dying & the Bronze are also showing some signs aswell. The temperature is 38 deg. & the water is 32 deg. I cannot do nothing, except putting ice packs in the filter every few hours when i'm at home.




http://www.flickr.com/photos/corydoras/
Member of the Malta Aquarist Society - 1970.
http://www.maltaaquarist.com

Quick guess on my part .. the deaths were your agassizii (as mentioned in your sig). Usually, Bronze & Peppered will stand that kind of temperature, and Leopards (julii/trilinieatus) at a push, but whether your Agassiz' Cats would is a moot point.

In any case, 32C is a bit high for any Cory.

Corys (with some notable exceptions such as Pandas and Barbatus) aren't particularly sensitive to heat, but they don't like it *too* hot. In any case, there aren't that many fish I can think of other than Rams and Chocolate Gouramis that would actually *welcome* 32C ...



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002