I'm just sick

Disaster struck my home today and I'm just feeling so sick about it. Some time during the night the tetra brand heater in my metaframe tank malfunctioned and boiled most of my fish. My Emerald Splendens, adult Bristlenose plecos and Harlequin Rasboras are all dead. Luckily my pair of angels and butterfly pleco managed to survive. I knew something was wrong when a container of water sitting behind the light had condensation on the sides of it and I had the light off(the heat from the light will cause condensation) all night so I knew something was wrong.

........My poor fish

I will not be buying tetra heaters anymore, most of the time they just burnt out after a year and this time the results were more deadly. Even when I turned the heater nob to all the way to the minus symbol it wouldn't shut off

Sorry for the loss!

In the future I might try a separate controller like this: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Using a separate controller is supposed to be a safer way to go.

Ugh, that's terrible

I use lifeguard temp alarms on most of my tanks to catch this exact situation. But since the controller is about the same price as the temp alert, I'd get that instead.

Another approach is to use 2 low-wattage heaters instead of one higher wattage heater. That way when one fails and sticks on, your water won't heat up too much for the fish.

That sucks!

Thanks for the comments everyone. As much as I would like to I can't afford one of those controllers for every single tank. The angels and the pleco are going to be staying in Muffins home for a while while the tank is being remodeled. Had to tear the tank apart to catch the butterfly pleco. Took me close to 45mins to catch him. The angels practically swam in the net, they were ready to be rescued. I'm thinking about setting up one of my old 55gals for the angels.

im so sorry for your loss!!!!!


.you know if you are looking for more plecos i have a male and female calico bristle nose i can toss in to the mix for a little extra if you would be looking for more.


I like mine but...they dont really fit in to any of my tanks...they are very pretty and about 2 inches long each.


again so sorry for your loss!

I went to Texas for a week leaving my sister to take care of my tanks...and one of my heaters did the same.... lost so many guppies it was so sad..i feel your pain.

male
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female
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Thanks, I was ready to start bawling when I realized what was happening but the fish didn't need tears they needed to be netted out. I dumped a tray of ice cubes in a breeder box to try and cool off the water while I was trying to catch the butterfly pleco and the whole tray of cubes melted in a minute, the water was that hot. I really don't know how any of them survived. It's very depressing. I really don't care how much money went down the drain, it just tears me apart that they suffered.

I'll send you a pm in a bit about the plecos, I am very interested I just need to go for a walk. I was doing a water change on Muffins tank and lost grip of the bucket and dumped 5gals of water on the carpet, it's just been a heck of a day. My dog Amber informed me that a nice long walk will make a girl feel better so that's what we're going to do

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