Symptoms and Diagnosis: Problem & Solution in Fishroom

[Fish Folk]

I sold a few discus at our Fish Club auction last week, with the goal that the remaining ones might begin pairing off.

But starting Monday, I noticed they all seemed “off.” Really skittish. But I chalked it up to … changes in community.

Tuesday, I noticed they weren’t as hungry as normal. I didn’t overthink it, but was bothered.

Today, I decided to move my school of Glowlight Pygmy Barbs out of the 20-long Apisto breeding tank, over to the discus tank to provide “active” fish to relax the larger Cichlids. Also to remove a threat from eating Apisto fry. I plan to replace with 12x Pencilfish as dithers for Apistos that our LFS has in right now.

FORTUNATELY, I looked at the thermometer in the Discus tank before doing anything…

YIKES!!!! 65°-F… Oh no! Another heater breakdown?? I just replaced this one.

I traced the cord back to the surge protector. Ah ha! No light. It was flipped off. I turn it back on…

And that’s when I remembered… I brought this little chap into my fishroom Monday, and he was tinkering around down there…

Ugh! Love this kid (he just learned how to say “Bet-tah”) but there’s a downside to leaving him unattended even for a few minutes!

So… I perform a minor water change on the discus tank, adding warm water to help raise the temperature. I’ll wait to add the Pygmy barbs until temp stabilizes.

 
 

Whew! We worry so much about illness and water chemistry, it’s easy to overlook temperature. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Fish Folk

[Fish Folk]

Interesting note: there are other signs: these MTS were not happy in the cold water…

Sometimes I miss signs like this. 

[Fish Folk]

Temps rising… barbs moved in!

[eatyourpeas]

Good catch! You are right, temperature is one of those parameters I take for granted on a daily basis. Only really look at the thermometer on WC days. I should be more mindful. Thanks for the reality check!

Your little helper is adorable, @Fish Folk!!! 😍

[Biotope Biologist]

I always keep a infrared gun with me to spot check temps. I purposefully leave it out and visible to remind myself. Helps that it’s bright yellow. 
 

probably a useful trick I picked up from my bearded dragon as reptiles need heat gradients. He used to try and eat the laser.

 

thankfully your fish are okay! And the MTS are a bit melodramatic I’d say 😋

[jwcarlson]

I have an auxiliary digital hanging on the front, a heat controller in the cabinet with digital readout (but have to open the door).

The stinking aux one went loopy a few days ago and just kept reading a degree higher every day and went it got to 97 I finally turned it off.

So now I have to remember to open the door and look.  But currently with the daily WCs I'm doing for the discus I'm well aware of the bath water they're in.  Pretty cool they seemed to take the 65 degrees just fine.

Kids are so "fun" to have around aren't they? 😄  A handful of years ago one of ours filled the little 10 gallon in their room with paper and socks. 🙃

[Fish Folk]

I think we’re all recovered now. 60-sec still shot.

 

[PineSong]

Glad you found the problem and that it wasn’t heater failure. The tank looks peaceful!