# tank meltdown!!! (worst day in my fish keeping life)



## KraKstar (Aug 15, 2011)

Alright so let me start by tellin ya i take great care of my fish. *** always researched everything i do for my little guys and make sure there well fed and have plenty of space. I love my fish! Alright so i was doing my normal routine of feeding and checking everything when i got to my last tank i noticed a fish stuck to the intake if my filter. My heart sunk as this was my prized tang tank that *** put time and money into more then my other tanks. Anyways i had 6 white calvus (1in to 2 in), 6 goldhead comp(1in to 2in), and 3 multi pairs pumping out babies every few weeks.( witch i couldnt believe how many of those little guys i had!) Anyways since i saw that fish on the intake i started to look for the rest. They were all gone! I started to check temp and everything and i had a stuck heater witch sent the temp to 105 degrees! I couldnt believe it! I had just bought it 3 months ago! All the fish were hiding in shells probably to keep cool or something.....it was sad. I still cant believe something i have no control of really killed my fish. *** been trying so hard to keep all my little friends happy but when a faulty heater could kill my tank that just sucks. I honestly dont wanna put any fish through that ever again. Any ideas? Sorry about rambling.....had to vent. Thanks for listening.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I would say that the heater wattage was too much for the aquarium size. What size were both of them?


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## KraKstar (Aug 15, 2011)

It was a 150 watt heater in a 40 breeder. I live in a basement where during the summer it stays around 60-65 degrees and the winter around 70-75. I have another 40 breeder with the same heater and havent had a problem yet. Its actually an older heater on the other 40 breeder.


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## Catfish Dan (Apr 12, 2011)

I'm so sorry. That really, really sucks : (


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sorry for your loss. Losing calvus stinks because they take so long to grow out. Try having two smaller heaters. If one goes crazy there is less chance of it having enough power to overheat as much.


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

That's terrible! I caught a haywire heater recently, I just happened to reach in the tank to get the mag-float, and it felt warm. Only 85 but the heater was on.


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

I'm sorry to hear about your fish.


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## Bizbomb (Apr 26, 2012)

I had a brand new 250w eheim jager heater thats thermostat didnt work and it over heated my tank and killed 6 cories. Temp only went up to 85. I feel your loss.


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## NeptunesNeighborhood (Apr 19, 2012)

Sorry for your loss, that's one of my greater fears. Have you thought about a heater hooked up to a (external) thermostat instead? I hear they might offer a little bit of protection as the thermostat is less likely to go haywire


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## mark0420 (Sep 1, 2011)

I've heard of so many horror stories about this thati bought an alarm even had empty tank test to make site it works here is the link http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi


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## ptcruiser1155 (Feb 14, 2011)

Hey mark0420 this is what appears when that link you posted is clicked on : "unreadable! This usually occurs when a cart-id code is not formed correctly in the "item" variable."


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## Sidius (Mar 3, 2012)

Very sorry to hear about your loss. I've always been afraid this might happen to me one day. I've looked into some of the external controllers to monitor temp, PH, etc. for that very reason. They aren't cheap but they could be worth it in the long run. Some even have a web/online component you can add so that you can login and monitor your tanks parameters when you're not home. I travel for work at times and thought this could be handy.


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## Storiwyr (Apr 24, 2012)

Do the online login ones allow you to alter the parameters at all? I feel like if I were away from home and monitoring and something DID go wrong, it would just cause me constant stress. Not knowing what I might find when I got home, you know?  But maybe if you had a good friend who could get into your place and fix it, it would be awesome! I just need an emergency fish care robot!


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## sus (Aug 29, 2009)

So sorry to hear your loss. I know exactly how you feel, I had this ~1 year back and had to start all over with my 180g. And, that made me one of the most cruel persons in the world to my utterly upset BF.
As I live in an apt, after that accident I bought a digital thermostat for my room and started to control the room temp instead of controlling the tank temp. I do pay more for electricity, but I figured out that it's a much better option than kiling my favorite kids. Heaters are still in the tank in case I need them, but unplugged (at least in the summer).


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

I've had that heater failure happen, too. It really is dreadful! Sorry to hear you lost some important fish. 

Rather than buy an expensive temperature monitor, I've got one of those cheap battery-powered digital cooking probes with alarm, that you can set to go off at a certain temperature. It won't stop a heater from sticking on but it would beep if the temperature rose too high so that I'd be more likely to notice. It might not be as useful as a temperature controller but it helps me have greater peace of mind!


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