Toxic Heaters?

[Fishboy42]

I've been having a problem recently with some new heaters-- they are 50W Via-Aqua titanium heaters that I planned to use in larval tanks.

So far I have tried three of them, and in the three batches of clowns I tried to raise with these heaters last week, every single larvae was dead within 36 hours. I thought that maybe there were some plasticisers or manufacturing residues on the materials, so for the third batch, I soaked the heater in warm water for a couple of hours, scrubbed it, and then rinsed it off before using it in the larval tank, but all of the fish died anyway (and they were onyx percs!). The other 5 batches of clowns I hatched last week are doing fine (with different heaters) right alongside the "toxic" tanks.

I have used this brand before with older fish without any problems--I've always been happy with the way they hold a steady temp (as they are doing in the larval tanks @ 80F). I was hesitant to blame the heaters, but I used three separate heaters with three different batches of clowns of three different species from two different broodstock systems. The only common element (pun intended ) between the dead batches that they don't share with last week's surviving batches is the new heaters.

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas? Edgar, don't you use these heaters for larval? Is there something I should do to "clean" them before use in larval tanks?

Matt

 

[EMBRYOGUY]

i would highly recommend against them, i had 3 "bake" my tanks. i only use the stealth heaters now. they are good bec they are made of plastic and have no light.

not sure why for your specific issue though. whatever the reason, i would not use them further, since you indirectly had a pretty good qc setup to insolate the problem. at least you know its something with the heaters.

 

[Kathy55g]

Perhaps those toxic heaters were defective, and leaked current into the water. Perhaps not enough to feel yourself, but enough to zap the sensitive tiny larvae.

Just a thought.

 

[Fishboy42]

I like the stealth heaters too, I just thought I'd try these because I liked the idea of a remote thermostat/control. I guess I tried to fix something that weren't broke

That's an interesting thought Kathy, I wouldn't know how to test for something like that either, but since larvae are sensitive, maybe it could be something like that--all the fish in the affected tanks swam frantically around the tanks head-up at the surface or in the corners of the tank until they fell to the bottom.

 

[MimicTang]

I would imagine it was stray current as well. Perhaps they investagted the heaters and the outside is alot warmer then glass?

 

[Kathy55g]

Can you get your money back on the heaters?

I like the stealth ones, too. No anoying light to cover up, nice steady heat, unbreakable, and they are readily available at a petco near you. perhaps a little pricey there, but in a pinch, you can get one.

 

[Fishboy42]

I think maybe I will be returning all of these heaters (6). That won't be a problem, although it will be interesting to fill out the "reason for return" column! "deadly for fish larvae"--I'm sure I'll get a call about that one!

Then I guess I'll just put an order in for some more stealth heaters (I'm 2+ hours from the nearest Petco, believe it or not!).

Thanks for the comments/thoughts guys, I'd still like to know what is doing this, be it chemicals/current, etc, but if I know it's the heaters, then I guess it's clear what I have to do

 

[broncofish]

Matt, I dont know if it would be enough, but a digital voltage meter or maybe even a GFCI would trip it. I have to use them because of the school, and I've had different heaters trip them before, mainly because they were old, but never with new ones. By the way, the clarki's are doing great.