I had a rather frightening thing happen this morning in Aragon's tank. He was darting around in a strange fashion. And would not eat his breakfast. Typically a fish acting like that means there is too much ammonia in their tank. The ammonia "burns" them. I had tested the water only a few days ago and it was perfect. But I decided to do a water change. Never hurts.

I did a 50% water change. I always check my thermometer after a change to make sure I have not changed the temp much with the new water. Well, it was 92 degrees! I freaked out. The water did feel warm, but then it always feels warm at the typical 80 degrees. I pulled the thermometer out to see if it was broken. Nope; the temp started to go down. After it was low, I put it back into the tank. It shot right back up. I felt the heater and it was hot. It was cooking my fish!

I pulled out the heater and opened the top of the tank. You don't want to change the tank temp suddenly, so I just allowed it to naturally cool down. This heater was only 1-1/2 months old so I am pissed. But nothing I could do now. I almost wonder if this is because I bought a rather cheap heater. We are only talking about a 2-1/2 gallon tank, so I bought the smallest one I could find. For those wondering, it was HERTZ brand. I suggest you never buy one. I went to the proper fish store and bought a quality low watt adjustable heater. I have it set to 78 degrees and that is exactly what the tank is at now.

Always check your thermometers. You never know if a heater will stop working or act up. I have had heaters die, but have NEVER had one just keep heating up like this. If Aragon was a goldfish, he would have died. Thankfully he is a tropical fish and so only got uncomfortable.

Christina