help my heater got unplugged

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C

cjdad

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Nov 19, 2006
56
0
38
henderson kentucky
i need some help my heater gotunplugged somehow while i was at work and temp dropped to 69 my discus are just sitting on bottom in corner should i do water change and get back to 83 or just let heater get it back to normal
 
i would turn the heater back on... and slowly let it go back to the original temp. discus are sensitive (that's from what i heard). be careful but make sure it goes back to the original temp. and keep your ick medicine ready. usually a fluctuation in temp creates ick, ironically high temp keeps the ick go away faster.:)
 
Do not do a water change to get the temp back ..... To warm to fast... I would turn my heater on to where it was and it will gradually get back to the heat it was at..
 
rkc772;650595; said:
i would turn the heater back on... and slowly let it go back to the original temp. discus are sensitive (that's from what i heard). be careful but make sure it goes back to the original temp. and keep your ick medicine ready. usually a fluctuation in temp creates ick, ironically high temp keeps the ick go away faster.:)
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A fluctuation will not occur. Temp will increase gradually, not by all of a sudden. Discus aren't really that sensitive to say the least unless you are not doing proper tank maintenance at all. They are just vulnerable to diseases if the temp goes down from 27oC.:)
 
I was going to post a thread on this topic during Christmas. Some of my outdoor fish were near death due to unexpected cold weather. I didn't lose a single fish. It is very important to allow the temp to come up extremely slow. Although it is our warm blooded intuition to want to raise the temperature as quickly as possible, that could be deadly for cold blooded fish. When they are well below their ideal range, they shut down and are in survival mode. This is also a time of stress. The last thing you want to do is add additional stress. The fish's core temperature needs to come up as the water temp comes up. Adding warm water to force the fish's core temp to come up is the wrong thing to do because of the differential in the water temp and the fish's core temp. The heater will raise the water temp slowly and evenly so that the fish's core temp can keep pace with the rising temperatures.

Also, resist the urge to feed the fish for the day. The bacteria is also dormant and you don't want to contribute to waste production. The fish can fast for the day since their metabolism is lowered.
 
CHOMPERS;650645; said:
I was going to post a thread on this topic during Christmas. Some of my outdoor fish were near death due to unexpected cold weather. I didn't lose a single fish. It is very important to allow the temp to come up extremely slow. Although it is our warm blooded intuition to want to raise the temperature as quickly as possible, that could be deadly for cold blooded fish. When they are well below their ideal range, they shut down and are in survival mode. This is also a time of stress. The last thing you want to do is add additional stress. The fish's core temperature needs to come up as the water temp comes up. Adding warm water to force the fish's core temp to come up is the wrong thing to do because of the differential in the water temp and the fish's core temp. The heater will raise the water temp slowly and evenly so that the fish's core temp can keep pace with the rising temperatures.

Also, resist the urge to feed the fish for the day. The bacteria is also dormant and you don't want to contribute to waste production. The fish can fast for the day since their metabolism is lowered.
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very nice chomp. that was a very good reading. thanks!
 
CHOMPERS;650645; said:
The bacteria is also dormant and you don't want to contribute to waste production.
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why would the bacteria be dormant? I assume that you're talking about biofiltration?

just curious.

windsurfer.....
 
:iagree: with Chompers except for the bacteria thing. One time the system at work went on the fritz and the goldfish tank dropped 20 degrees in a day. The cold temps will slow down bacteria growth under 65 degrees or so I have heard. If I were you, I wouldn't feed just because they have been through enough and you can let them eat another day. Also, healthy fish can usually handle a 5 degree drop or a 10 degree increase in temps that is rapid as long as the temp change stays in the range of tolerance. Good luck! What brand of heater do you have?
 
:iagree: "dormant" was not a good choice of words. Bacteria action is temp dependant and does not go into a hybernation or cyst like state.
 
CHOMPERS;651856; said:
:iagree: "dormant" was not a good choice of words. Bacteria action is temp dependant and does not go into a hybernation or cyst like state.
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no problem chompers :)

I just spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff, so i start questioning sometimes. :nilly:

People on aquarium boards make a lot of statements about biofiltration that often seem based on misinformation and old wives tales that then end up getting repeated by others as if it were fact.

Radley said:
The cold temps will slow down bacteria growth under 65 degrees or so I have heard.

Where did you hear this? There are wastewater treatment plants that operate at temperatures below 65F much of the time. They need to reduce tons of ammonia and nitrite so I don't see how temps below 65F would be a problem. Can we extrapolate this to aquariums? I don't know, but even professional researchers such as Dr. Tim Hovenac say that scientifically, "little is actually known about the microbiology of aquarium systems".

I'm very careful about the statements i make about biofiltration as i don't aspire to be an old wife (telling tales) :)

peace,
windsurfer
 
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