# Fish burned by heater?



## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

I moved one of my cyno sp hara's to the refugium b/c he was getting bullied by the dom male. I was planning to find him a new home. When I came home yesterday, he has a huge wound on the right of his head. It's perfectly circle and there was flesh hanging from it. It's white under the wound. He's the only fish in the fuge and the only thing in there was a heater. Has anyone ever had a fish sit next to a heater long enough to burn themselves? I'm thinking maybe he was hanging out there and it turned on and he didn't know...? I removed the heater and threw a few rocks in there to try and make him comfortable. Just curious if anyone had a fish burn themselves before. Quite literally.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Haven't had one burned personally. Read plenty of stories of this happening but it's usually larger fish such as Oscars. When I've had aggression issues in the past, I've noticed that any fish hanging out by the heaters tend to move away (I should hope so) shortly after they've turned on.


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

It's not an Oscar, but he is about 5". It looks horrible, but he seems to be doing fine. Looks as if it's beginning to heal though. I took a picture, I feel so bad for him!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Awww. Ouch!


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

My syno angelcus use to always burn himself by the heater...I guess he like the heater :lol:


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## sjnovakovich (Sep 13, 2010)

Fish are cold-blooded, like frogs. If you put a pot of cold water on the stove, place a frog in it, and turn the stove on then the frog will not jump out. The reason is because it can not sense the change in water temperature; its body just adjusts to match it. Fish are the same. If your fish was laying against the heater when it was in the off mode and the heater later kicked on, the fish would not be able to sense the change in temperature.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Yikes! I'm cringing just looking at that wound...

How many watts is the heater? I can't believe they actually get hot enough to cause that severe a burn.


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

sjnovakovich said:


> If your fish was laying against the heater when it was in the off mode and the heater later kicked on, the fish would not be able to sense the change in temperature.


I figured it went down like that. I'll never have a heater in a tank with fish again; plugged in at least.



Rhinox said:


> Yikes! I'm cringing just looking at that wound...
> 
> How many watts is the heater? I can't believe they actually get hot enough to cause that severe a burn.


It's a Theo 400W. The wound is getting better and his behavior indicates he's doing good. I was in quite shock myself when I saw it on MY fish.


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## RRasco (Aug 31, 2006)

Just wanted to update the thread on this guy's condition. He's doing much better, but still healing up. I'm actually looking to re-home him if anybody is interested. I have two other male Hara's needing a good home as well. He was in the refugium due to aggression issues to begin with.


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