[Avril]

So, we are having an unanticipated heat wave, and the air conditioning broke down.
The temperature in my tank is hovering around 86 degrees F.
Is this OK?
Does Malawi get this warm (being in Africa and all - and these are little fish like in the moderate shallows!!).
What do people do when it gets too warm in their house or apartment?
And not like a part of the world which is always hot -so you would install some sort of cooler. Just occasionally hot.

What do you do?

A.

 

[NYjets51]

well how long has the water been that hot? The highest *** heard of someone keeping africans is 84 or 85

 

[Avril]

About 4-5 days.
Fish look fine.
But it's hard to believe this is good for them!

Suggestions?

 

[FishandFire]

If you want to cool it, of course reduce the time the light is on. You can also remove the top and have a fan blowing across the top of the water. If you are worried about jumpers, get some window screen and put over the top.

 

[NYjets51]

how long is this heatwave going to last? I seriously doubt that the fish could survive the water being that hot long term. How big is the tank?

 

[zazz]

i think cichlids can survive a long time at this temp.....because mine are doing just that...as has my trusty talapia and goldfish.

now wether cichlids like this temp longterm and would it effect their health is another matter but the temperetaure can go to 90 and they dont seem to mind a bit....they wont suddenly drop dead....maybe somone could give the official boiling point of a cichlid but its is deffinitely more than 90.

 

[under_control]

A few things you can do to help, all I have had to do:

1) turn off lights. They are for you, not the fish. They will be fine without them.
2)remove the heater, just for safety.
3) add an air stone to add to the surface agitation/oxygen exchange
4) Put a box fan to flow across the tank--remove glass tops if you don't have jumpers

A box fan can DRASTICLY reduce heat in a tank, especially encompassed with an air stone or 4.

OTher things that work--freeze water bottles and drop them in the tank--YOu'll need lots, as they melt quick. I only do this when I expect the worst.

Fans, fans, and air stones. That's all I've got to say.

 

[DMWave45]

If it's above 82 I would say an air stone is a must as there is less oxygen in the water at higher temps.

 

[pugwash]

5. Close windows and keep curtains/blinds closed during the daytime.

Can keep the ambient temperature of the room below the outside air temp - every little helps!

 

[igetbombed1977]

All great suggestions - couldn't say it better myself.

 

[mittzgame]

I am experiencing the same heat wave her in CT. I just checked and my water is up to 88* !!!! I turned the lights off as its been close enough to 8 hours- lots of Vals in the tank so we need to run the lights for them. I'll remove the heaters though, I've been wondering if they were really necessary any more, even though it still gets down into the 60's at night.

My house is only at 83* though. I close all the windows and insulating blinds at 6:30-7am before I leave for work and when I get home I open the basement door and set up the fans to blow the cool air upstairs (its about 60* down there). The windows and doors won't be reopened until the temp outside is less than the temp inside- basically only at night.

I just went around and checked the other tanks and the 125 is the only one that is too high. The 10gal is at about 84 and so is the 40gal... The only difference (other than size) is more lighting, but we have the lights about 4 inches off the glass. I haven't had a fan on to cool the heat created by the lights though. I'll do that for tomorrow.

Thanks for bringing this topic up Avril as I have been wondering about these things myself.

:thumb:

 

[NZ1001]

Make sure you unplug the heaters.
I have 8 heaters ranging from 50 to 300W, two of the glass ones still turn on at 84 degree even though their dial are set at the lowest â€" 70F. I believe the sensors are failing after a couple years of usage.
The Stealth models seem to be pretty reliable so far, but lack indicator.

 

[under_control]

do the things I recomend in the post above to bring the temp down on your tank. IF you don't, it will stay much longer than the ambient temp change. I've seen temps barely change during that night time break...

 

[co-photo]

I treated my fish for ick by keeping the water temp at 90 degrees for 2 weeks. Nothing bad happened, nor did their behavior change.

 

[football mom]

I had a heater malfunction one day, temp got up to 96F.... lost several fish. The ones that really bit the dust to the last one were my cyprichromis.
I hope your heat wave breaks soon.
j

 

[boredatwork]

I would add two things, because in california we are having similar high temperatures. I have two tanks, one 125G cichlid tank that is not finished with no fish, and a second smaller tank with community fish.

I don't recommend turning off your heaters, especially on smaller tanks. I think worse than high temps is drastic fluctuations. If your water is at 85F and then you have your windows open overnight or AC with fan blowing on top, you could easily drop that temp pretty quick at night and you dont want it to drop below your normal operating temperature.

Also, I speak for my community fish which tend to have similar temp requirements as cichlids, they did fine at 85-90F for about a week (well, fine in the sense that they are not dead). And that included several fry. And, several solutions to various diseases is to raise the water temp to 85F, so I dont think its a big deal.

As a side note, one thing I noticed in my 125 (which is my cichlid tank, but no fish are in there yet) is that the temp is at 87F but my community tank is at 82F. Theoretically the heaters should be off in both tanks so the one difference is that the 125 has three submersible pumps plus a cannister filter. WHile the community tank has no submersible pumps and a HOB. I suspect that the pumps the cause of the temp difference. So if you have any submersible pumps that are not critical to filtration I would turn those off. Many people say they can make a big difference (and I would have to pragmatically agree).