# Too hot!!



## Melvis (Aug 3, 2008)

I woke up this morning to find one of my tetras had died and a molly was gasping at the surface. I was worried about the water quality so took a sample down the road to the local dealer - he said the nitrate/nitrite levels were absolutely fine, but did warn that due to the recent hot weather they'd been having some problems and to check the temperature.

The water was indeed pretty warm (no thermometer to check) so I turned the heater off completely. Soon after my biggest fish (a chinese algae eater) had a mad five minutes flinging himself around the tank before laying panting on his side, which I take to mean that the tank has got so warm that the oxygen levels are too low.

My question is how, tonight, do I fix that? It's a Sunday evening so going out to by an airstone is not an option.


----------



## longtail4711 (Jun 8, 2010)

Do a partial water change immediately and fill with cool water (not cold, you don't want the fish to go into shock). 

Set up a fan to blow cooler air around the tank. 

Turn off the tank lights

Make sure the aquarium doesn't get sun on it

You can also fill a bag or hot water bottle with cold (not ice cold!) water and float it in the tank. Or, you can create a makeshift looping siphon with a bucket of cool water to circulate and just keep making sure the bucket stays filled with cooler water. 

Get a thermometer at your earliest convenience and keep it in the tank so you can monitor the temperature.


----------

