# Electrocuted fish



## kswoods (Mar 2, 2013)

I went down one morning and 4 of my week ago purchased tiger barbs were dead. One other was still alive and the gourami in the tank had wounds on his sides. When I put my hand in the water I noticed a tingling sensation. I did not think about it at first, but on the 2nd time realized the water has electrically charged. (glad I did not put both hands in). I pulled the plug on the heater, florescent light above the tank, the filter, and the air pump. I could not feel the tingling any longer. Unfortunately both the remaining barb and the VERY nice looking gourami died later that day. (I had moved them to a companion tank)

I gotta believe the submersible water heater caused this. There is too much plastic and glass between the light fixture and the water.

This was a *MarineLand Visatherm 100w *submersible ML90441. NOW interestingly I had just replaced this heater 2 weeks before when the one I bought with it shorted out and died. I emailed *Vendor Removed* and they replaced the shorted out one.

But I am no hesitant to use the replacement Marineland unit they sent me. Does anyone have any experience with this type of strange incident?


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## zemikec (Jul 7, 2013)

Its not unheard of. A slightly damaged cord or a heater that is not entirely sealed can do that. I've heard of it happening in countless reef tanks, which is even a worse situation because of the conductivity of salt water.


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

i have heard of this many times. i have an idea but have never tried it. (i do work in the electric industry so my thoughts are backed by an understanding of electricity). find a conductive material that will not disturb water quality. put one end in water of the tank and leave the other end out of the tank. connect a piece of copper wire to the end that is out of the water. connect the other end of copper wire to a ground in The house. It can be connected to the ground inside your outlet or connected to say a water pipe. By doing this you are grounding the water in the tank. If you were to have a piece of faulty equipment in the future and the water became energized it would immediately go to ground and Trip your breaker or the reset on your power strip. Either way it would kill the power to your tank therefore no fish would be electrocuted. Again I have never Personally done this but very strongly I do believe this would work in the case of your water becoming electrified.


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## kswoods (Mar 2, 2013)

Would a GFI outlet do the same thing? Assuming the heater has a 3 pronged plug?
Kevin


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

if water is not grounded then gfi would not regognize a problem.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

For the ground wire to be effective the offending unit would need to be plugged into GFIC plug, Otherwise it would seem that the ground wire would complete the circuit, which would be bad. Fresh water is a pretty good insulator. i have twice dropped a lit 24" flourescent fixture into a tank, and both times it stayed lit until I pulled the plug. No fish were harmed.


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## jcabage (May 29, 2012)

I am not known for being extremely careless, but I have had a couple light-in-the-water moments, as well as having a heater burst when it wasn't plugged into the right power strip (the one I turned off lol). I have never seen any adverse effects on the fish, but the incidents were always isolated and quick.

I'm pretty sure there are aquarium grounds available from various vendors as well that will help in said situation. I've never purchased one (unfortunately), but I don't think you have to get so creative to avoid the same in the future.

I can tell you for certain that a busted heater in a tank of water can light your life up though. The fish must not enjoy it either :fish:


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## anthraxx4200 (Aug 16, 2012)

i suggest a jager model (take your pick) but just treat it like a non-submersible and keep the water lvl at the recommended spot. *** seen plenty of times where a submersible heater has given out or shorted because water corrosion eventually worked its way in there. GL to ya in your choice


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## sumthinfishy (Jan 26, 2013)

sorry for late reply, but was unable to access forum for over a week. in response to bills post i would like to say that if water is grounded to pipe, even if offending equipment is plugged into a reg outlet it will recognize the ground fault and pop the breaker in the panel or the reset on a power strip. thats what a breaker is for. protection against faults on the circuit. gfi outlet is good because it trips faster and only shuts down that outlet, however with no gfi it goes back to main panel and pops breaker.


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