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I came in last night and saw I had a dead fish, then another and another. 41 dead fish total. my pheco can and has before turned the heater. Last time it was down and I saw it right away. This time it was up. When I got home the tank was over 100f. I saved seven fish but two dont look good and my frog died this AM. Most of the fish were over three years old and my babies. The pheco seems ok, poor dear. We're takeing him to the fish store tomorrow . He's too big for our 55. The fish that lived are in the ten gallon with my betta. I've done a 30% water change and the temp has gone down. But am worried what this has done to my tank. Will I need to start over. All the other tanks are ok thank goodness.

aww I'm so sorry Blondie

Make sure that the rest of the tank doesnt get ick from the sudden temperature change though. That would just present more problems...

Hope things go okay. *hugs*

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

i added meds and took my time putting them in the other tank. i keep all my tanks set at 80 and haven't ever had ick. knock on wood. theses poor fish.

gee...

sorry to hear about your fish, blondie. good luck with the rest of them.

blondie:

Even at reaching 100F your tank should be OK. It needs to get a lot hotter than that to kill off the beneficial bacteria.
Removing the pl*co was probably a good idea in retrospect. I'm sure you are quite attached to it, but frankly, it does not sound like it made a good community fish for your application. It's outlived it's usefulness to you and it is time for it to move on to another hobbyist to enjoy. Large pl*cos seem to be popular additions to Oscar tanks. It's an interesting addition, and oscars usually live relatively harmoniously with large pl*cos.
In all likelyhood, you could immediately restock your tank. The bacteria will only survive with a food source, and if there's nothing in there to generate ammonia, it will eventually die off.
More specifically, the colony will reduce in size to match the available food. Should that occur, you will have to slowly add stock other a period of several weeks to properly recycle.
Look at this as your big opportunity to rescape your tank!
-Wayne

Thanks, I have now added five of my snails to keep the bacteria bed going. I've lost another of the fish i'd saved and two other just don't look to great. with what they went though and being over three years old, I don't think I'll have any of them for long. They do seem to have adjusted to the ten gallon tank. two mollies and a cardinal look good.

oh goodness blondie
I had something similar happen...came home and the tank was near 98F. Danios were huddled in a group @the bottom of the filter intake, goldfish was trying to climb up the outflow, and I had to tell myself "whatever you do resist the urge to dump in ice cubes" For me that was the hardest.....I added an airstone, and agitated the water a bit then told myself to go to bed (after I had turned the heater down ). Everyone pulled thru except for the ich...but I know how horrible an experience that can be. Come home from a long day @work and see the temp doing something you're really rather not have it do .
Best of luck with your survivors!

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

thanks babel, it was really hard to deal with. Taking all those dead fish out. They each had thier little things they would do. I guess I better start thinking about what I want to put in this tank.

Really sorry to hear about your losses blondie, we work hard to keep our fishes happy, water changes, water checks, chem control etc and to loose that many fish that way is awful.
Glad to see you plan to replace a.s.a.p
Good luck.
Tom

Last edited by tommyc at 12-Oct-2004 16:08

blondie-

that happened to me a few months back when my house air conditioner died. the house temp shot up to 116 degrees for several days. over insulating a house in az does have its drawbacks.

i too lost several dozen fish. my pleco, a few blackskirts, cherry barbs, and khuklis survived. a dozen or so perished about a week after everything was fixed. my kids were heartbroken.

anyway, i waited 2 weeks before restocking the tank. i have been doing it very slowly (still not done), just in case. i think the bacteria can survive higher temps alot better then the fish.

i have no ick problems - i remember an old wives tale about higher temps speeding up ichs life cycle, and with no living hosts present, they die off rather quickly. probably bunk, but who knows.

ps- flushing large amounts of various amounts of dead fish is a bad idea. trust me.

this thread inspires me to buy a new heater... i have a really old one that used to be my friends and i cant even read the dial on it to change the temp cause its all worn off and covered with algae. i probably wouldnt be able to change the setting anyway, i bet it wouldnt budge.

sounds horrible.

what build of heater was it? i've never heard of a fish beig able to change the heat before, surely the switch for most heaters is outside the water.
commiserations

The heater is a Tetra Whisper Submerrssible Heater. The sales pitch is as follows, submerrsible tecchnology, this discreet heater works safely near the aquarium bottom - out of sight, and out of mind. It will get your attention, however,when it's time to change your water. Because unlike verttical heaters, there's no need to unplug and remove it during partial water changes, as long as it stays submerged. It has worked pretty good for me. It's just too easy to adjust.