I cooked my tank

[TESTPLUG]

So I was down with a fever for a couple days but just before that I put in a beautiful piece of wood to make my tank pretty, in doing so I must have knocked the thermostat out of the tank and over the couple days I was out of commission and didn’t worry about my tank, it went up to 120° so I literally cooked my fish...... what now? I mean I know to get all the fish death out but how much of a functional ecosystem do I need to disrupt 

[TESTPLUG]

Exactly 

[Cory]

Removing any bodies. Then I would let the temp come back down to normal levels. Monitor water parameters and ammonia and such will eventually be process by bacteria that made it through and is now recouping. Consider getting a temperature controller so it can't happen again if  you're worried about it.

[Brandy]

29 minutes ago, TESTPLUG said:

what now? I mean I know to get all the fish death out but how much of a functional ecosystem do I need to disrupt 

I think if you are asking abbout any plants I would say unless they are slime or become slime you are safe to leave them there. This isn't like coming back from disease. As Cory says watch your levels and if the ammonia comes back down and the tank stabilizes there is no reason to do a full tear down.

If you don't have plants you may want to do a thorough gravel vac in case of hidden death in the substrate.

[TESTPLUG]

thankyou for getting back to this so quickly, I live in Edmonds and would have come to the store...but the other part of the fever mention was that I had to go get a coved test and am quarantined till results so you don't want me there...was freaking out a bit 😅 but it looks like it time to start the guppy tank I always wanted

[Will Billy]

You know, thats a great question. I havent considered water temperature for beneficial bacteria before. A quick google search produced optimal range for bacteria being 65F-85F, at 95F and above is the lethal zone for bacteria, and temperatures lower than 65F dont seem to kill the bacteria, but slows down their metabolism, reducing their ability to consume amonia, and nitrites. In your situation you may need to restart your nitrogen cycle. Not an expert on the plant side, but i think Brandy is correct. Your plants should be fine as long as you gradually reduce the temperature. 

[TESTPLUG]

8 minutes ago, Will Billy said:

at 95F and above is the lethal zone

and that was the big question, I think Ill be ok, I have a large planter in top of the aquarium that the tank feeds and that water cycles back onto the tank so Ill do the necessary cleaning and leave it be for a few weeks check LVL's here and there but if the plants all die well then HARD restart 

[TESTPLUG]

4 hours ago, Cory said:

Then I would let the temp come back down to normal levels.

Hey Cory for a few weeks of just plants and Algae what temp would you suggest, I was keeping it just under 80 for the fish

[Larrimore]

4 minutes ago, TESTPLUG said:

Hey Cory for a few weeks of just plants and Algae what temp would you suggest, I was keeping it just under 80 for the fish

Cory may have a better answer than me; but, I would determine what fish I’m thinking of putting there.  I would match their ideal temperature and let your  plants adjust to that.  It seems to me it would be harder on the plants to keep dealing with temp swings.

[Paul_Obermiller]

1 minute ago, Larrimore said:

Cory may have a better answer than me; but, I would determine what fish I’m thinking of putting there.  I would match their ideal temperature and let your  plants adjust to that.  It seems to me it would be harder on the plants to keep dealing with temp swings.

 

4 hours ago, Cory said:

Removing any bodies. Then I would let the temp come back down to normal levels. Monitor water parameters and ammonia and such will eventually be process by bacteria that made it through and is now recouping. Consider getting a temperature controller so it can't happen again if  you're worried about it.

Do both, do what Cory said and what Larrimore said. Or you could wait if your not ready for new fish and let it sit and then switch the temperature.

[Cory]

I'd just set it to something generic like 78 degrees while waiting for things to settle out again.