Heater failure -- fish loss

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Post  Betty 2014-05-30, 10:41

I had a heater fail in the ON position and it killed most of the fish in my 60 gallon. Sad 

I've had the fish in that tank for so many years; the oldest around 9 years. Flavus, rusties, and saulosi.  I lost my favorite fish, a Melanochromis auratus -- a species with a very bad reputation, but I've always loved keeping them and have never been without one.

This was my bad boy back in 2007...
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I feel sick. I know this has happened to some of you, but it's one of those things that I thought would never happen to me.
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Post  Madness 2014-05-30, 10:46

That really sucks Betty, I am very sad to hear of your loss. Sad Hang in there. Smile
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Post  fishNAbowl 2014-05-30, 10:57

Sorry about the loss Betty. Very unfortunate. I've never heard of a heater getting stuck in the on position and overheating. I thought heaters have safe guards to prevent that. Mine always fail in the opposite direction.
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Post  DMD123 2014-05-30, 11:16

So sorry to hear that Betty. I have never had a heater stuck on but have had the ones that quit and the water goes cold. Usually find out when I stick my hand in for the weekly water change and its cold.

What brand of heater were you using that failed?
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Post  Will I am 2014-05-30, 11:36

Sorry for your loss. I've read multiple threads on heaters getting stuck in the "on" position. I believe there is something you can buy that will cut power to the heater/s once a certain temp in the is achieved. I think it might b a temp controller? Now you can start with smaller ones an maybe get some WC species!
I'd also like to know the name/brand of heater that failed.
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Post  ShortyKiloGyrl 2014-05-30, 11:56

I had a group of angel juveniles at about quarter size go through this. My mom found them. 3 managed to live some how but she said the water was a as warm as her coffee out of the microwave. Sad It killed the majority of the batch. I know the pain of the loss. Sad I'm sorry. I had a quality brand name heater that stuck on me. I think sometimes they just have a malfunction and our wet pets suffer. :/ again, I'm sorry for your loss.
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Post  Betty 2014-05-30, 12:09

Thanks guys.

The heater was an Aqueon Pro.  The black one with the blue temperature setting knob.  I have eight of these and have never had a problem with them before this.  I got them as replacements when the Visitherm Stealth heaters were recalled.

The thermometer was reading 94 degrees!  Sad 
I don't know how long it had been stuck on.  I didn't feed the tank yesterday and I'm sure I would have noticed it if I had.

I know I've read about those temperature controllers, but they were pretty expensive at that time.  I'd need a lot of them.
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Post  Guest 2014-05-30, 12:55

Sorry for your loss.

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Post  MorganEA 2014-05-30, 14:11

That is horrible!! I'm so sorry for your loss Sad
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Post  dwarfpike 2014-05-30, 14:26

I had that happen once as well ... now on larger tanks I use two smaller heaters in case that happens again. It's not very practical on smaller tanks though.
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Post  SonicsDC25 2014-05-30, 14:43

Sorry for your loss Betty, this is the one thing (along with a leaking tank) that we all dread Sad
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Post  DMD123 2014-05-30, 17:42

Betty wrote:The heater was an Aqueon Pro.  The black one with the blue temperature setting knob.  I have eight of these and have never had a problem with them before this.

The Aqueon Pro have the lifetime warranty if I remember correctly. I would contact them and see what they will do.
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Post  cichlid-gal 2014-05-30, 18:10

Betty. I am so sorry to hear this. I know how much u care for ur fish and how special they are to you. I have had a couple of different heaters get stuck in the on position. Luckily I caught that. I now have the big read thermometers on my big tanks that run heaters. It helps because I can just look at the temp with a glance and I think they are probably cheaper than a controller thing. Sorry again.
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Post  bassetman 2014-05-30, 18:31

Oh I hate that.  Head Wall

These controllers are about 20 bucks. 

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Post  pbmax 2014-05-30, 22:54

Ugh, that's awful. Sad I'm sorry for your loss.

I've invested in temperature alarms (lifegard and marina aqua-minder) for all of my tanks to prevent this situation. All but one of my tanks have aqueon pros... Neutral
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Post  PokeSephiroth 2014-05-31, 00:21

Oh no, that's devastating! Sad

I'm not sure, but it may be worth a try... if the heater is still under warranty (or even if it isn't) . . . maybe call Aqueon and see if they can do something to replace any of your losses... Now, I don't mean to make that sound like any fish can just be replaced, but hopefully it will help you in some way.

They least they should do is send you a replacement heater...
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Post  Betty 2014-05-31, 11:36

I'll try contacting them next week and might look into those temp controllers for some of the tanks as a safeguard, but I hope this won't happen again. In all the years I've been running tanks and heaters, I only remember one heater malfunction and that one didn't turn on.

Thanks everyone.
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Post  cichlid-gal 2014-05-31, 22:01

bassetman wrote:Oh I hate that.  Head Wall

These controllers are about 20 bucks. 

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That's an awesome price. Thanks for sharing Tom.
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Post  finray56 2014-06-01, 01:09

Sorry about the loss of your fish Betty.
 I will keep this short but to be honest heaters are not very dependable at all anymore. Why this has been left to become such a problem is beyond reason. I have also had Aqueon Pro heaters fail in my tanks, one went hot and another just went cold. If you look at other forums this is a problem that keeps occurring and it is just plain wrong. I don't know what the answer is anymore, it's almost as if the heater manufacturers could care less about this issue. I mentioned this to an online retailer and they admitted that heaters are a weak link in the chain and it happens. Company's like Aqueon will replace your heater but what good does that do if it has all ready killed your fish ?

I have gone ahead and added heat controllers to all of my tanks so I don't have to constantly worry about my fish, they are expensive. I would recommend the Finnex HC - 0810m, they run about $35 each. I feel in some ways these company's are forcing us to take these precautions simply because they can't seen to build a reliable heater anymore. I know people will chime in and say this brand or that brand works better but there have been lots of problems with different brands in the last few years alone. I have been keeping fish since the 70's and the one heater that was the most dependable was the old green colored Jaegers, some of those would last 20 years or more in some instances.

I don't know what the real reason for this is, I mean aquarium heaters have thermostats built into them, why aren't they working ? So you will throw it out and buy a new one, that seems to be the real reason. People need to take this more serious and the manufacturers need to know that people are not happy being treated like cash cows. Maybe it's time for some public shaming via YouTube or in the extreme get people on board for a class action lawsuit to get this problem fixed once and for all.
 There was a recent thread regarding situations just like this one over on a certain Tropheus forum but alas it's yet just another thread Sad
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Post  Flyfalcons 2014-06-01, 12:18

I've had a heater stick on too. Fortunately by some amazing coincidence, it happened the night that I added the Roselines to my tank, so I was spending most of the evening watching the tank closely. I removed the heater and had to leave for night shift, so I couldn't get a new heater installed until the next morning. I didn't lose any fish but it was definitely a scare. I need to get a heat controller for some redundancy, as the heater represents a potentially fatal single point of failure.

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Post  ShortyKiloGyrl 2014-06-01, 12:49

finray56 wrote:Sorry about the loss of your fish Betty.
 I will keep this short but to be honest heaters are not very dependable at all anymore. Why this has been left to become such a problem is beyond reason. I have also had Aqueon Pro heaters fail in my tanks, one went hot and another just went cold. If you look at other forums this is a problem that keeps occurring and it is just plain wrong. I don't know what the answer is anymore, it's almost as if the heater manufacturers could care less about this issue. I mentioned this to an online retailer and they admitted that heaters are a weak link in the chain and it happens. Company's like Aqueon will replace your heater but what good does that do if it has all ready killed your fish ?

I have gone ahead and added heat controllers to all of my tanks so I don't have to constantly worry about my fish, they are expensive. I would recommend the Finnex HC - 0810m, they run about $35 each. I feel in some ways these company's are forcing us to take these precautions simply because they can't seen to build a reliable heater anymore. I know people will chime in and say this brand or that brand works better but there have been lots of problems with different brands in the last few years alone. I have been keeping fish since the 70's and the one heater that was the most dependable was the old green colored Jaegers, some of those would last 20 years or more in some instances.

I don't know what the real reason for this is, I mean aquarium heaters have thermostats built into them, why aren't they working ? So you will throw it out and buy a new one, that seems to be the real reason. People need to take this more serious and the manufacturers need to know that people are not happy being treated like cash cows. Maybe it's time for some public shaming via YouTube or in the extreme get people on board for a class action lawsuit to get this problem fixed once and for all.
 There was a recent thread regarding situations just like this one over on a certain Tropheus forum but alas it's yet just another thread Sad

Being in the heating and air conditioning business this is the exact reason the heater gets stuck on. The thermostat quits working and gets stuck on creating the unfortunate malfunction.
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Post  finray56 2014-06-01, 13:45

I would think that is a problem the manufacturers need to address, but if everything is getting built on the cheap what's the solution. If we consumers pay for a product we should be able to rely on it to do the job without these constant problems. It seems to me that the company that builds the heaters need to be held accountable on some level. If your fish die as direct result of poor heater quality the manufacturers should be reimbursing you for that loss !
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Post  ShortyKiloGyrl 2014-06-01, 14:33

finray56 wrote:I would think that is a problem the manufacturers need to address, but if everything is getting built on the cheap what's the solution. If we consumers pay for a product we should be able to rely on it to do the job without these constant problems. It seems to me that the company that builds the heaters need to be held accountable on some level. If your fish die as direct result of poor heater quality the manufacturers should be reimbursing you for that loss !

Oh I fully agree!
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Post  dwarfpike 2014-06-01, 14:43

You know hell froze over when the ebo-jager's started failing quite frequently within the last few years. They were so rock solid in the past (as finray56 said), they would last 20+ years.

I just replaced my heater with a slightly smaller wattage, 75w to replace the 100w that started having small temp swings. I thought it might have just been the wild temp swings in my room that was causing it, but after you post Betty, I didn't want to take the chance and just replaced it. So thanks for posting this.
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Post  Betty 2014-06-04, 10:21

Is this an Ebo-Jager heater?  I had this thing for 20+ years and only stopped using it because my plecos were scraping all of the green off of it.

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Dwarfpike, I'm glad something good might have come from this -- if you were able to avoid a possible disaster with your fish!

Finray, I didn't realize that others were having problems with the Aqueon Pros sticking on.  It's good to know.  I can understand a heater going bad now and then, but if it happens a lot, something needs to be changed. I'll have to pay more attention to my others until I can get the temp controllers. I'm going to have to shop around for those.

I sent an email to Aqueon and let them know what happened. Thank you all for your input.
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Post  DMD123 2014-06-04, 11:29

Looks like an old green ebo-jager
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Post  finray56 2014-06-04, 11:53

BEAUTIFUL, I remember the quality !
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Post  Betty 2014-06-04, 22:42

I bought mine in 1984; thought it was the coolest thing because it was submersible.  

I heard back from Aqueon about an hour after I emailed them which is a lot sooner than I expected.  They said they were sorry to hear about the heater, but without the receipt, I need to send the heater to them and then they will replace it.
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Post  ShortyKiloGyrl 2014-06-04, 23:03

How 'thoughtful' of them...
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Post  finray56 2014-06-04, 23:11

I guess with Aqueon it's always different. When I contacted them they had me cut the electric cord and send them a photo, then I could just trash the heater. I actually told them I did not want any more of the pro models, they sent me their standard model instead and so far so good. Of course now it is also hooked up via my heat controller. That was my third pro failure so I was done with that model.
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