The Puffer Forum

the heater in my puff baby tank has broke had overheated, and 2 babies have died can only have happened this afternoon. the temp was upto 36, did water change with slightly cooler water,down to bout 33 now, heater is off and ive got filter and airstone blowing as much air as poss....but they will get 2 cold 2nite man!! what can i do to keep temp ok till 2moro?

do you have an electrical base board heater that you can put near the tank?

Sorry for your losses, baby puffers must be so cute.
You can wrap a heavy blanket around the tank, that can help perhaps.
How large is the tank? Can it be moved next to a heater?

Can you put the tank in a small bathroom and heat the bathroom up?

I have found that if your home is at 72-74, DPs will not mind this. The babies will likely grow slower, but not much.

the tank is 35litres, so could b moved yep. nar i dont have a small heater 2 put near it unfortunately not sure theres anywhere really warm enough in here at night either :S will go n wrap blanket round tho
thanks for help everyone hope they can make it till 2moro

How about putting some warm water in a 1-2 liter bottle and floating it in the tank, and changing it every few hours? Not hot, so as to cause crazy fluctuations, but warmer than the water?

oh good idea yep! just had nother thought aswell...would it be ok to put a hot water bottle inside blanket thats wrapped round the tank?? would that break the glass or anything?

I would just be careful not to use anything too hot, nowhere near hot enough to break glass. You want to slow the heat loss rather than heat the tank. Hot enough to actually heat the water could cause dangerous swings, IMHO. Better slight cooling than hot and cold...

CarmenH wrote:I would just be careful not to use anything too hot, nowhere near hot enough to break glass. You want to slow the heat loss rather than heat the tank. Hot enough to actually heat the water could cause dangerous swings, IMHO. Better slight cooling than hot and cold...

great advice I have had many a snow storm knock out power for a day or 3 (meaning the house is about 38"F) blankets and warm water bottles help a ton.
how are things now?

It sounds like you are keeping them in an unheated room? if this is the case I would just warn you that a heated tank will crack nicely in a very cold room. I have had it happen to me. Hope I don't sound to preachy just thought I would pass on some wisdom.

They ok today? I didn't read this till just now...

I'd keep an eye out for whitespot over the next few days in case they've been stressed.

Really hope they make it.

The room I keep most of my tanks in gets down to 10C in the winter, tanks at up to 30C with no problems for me to report. Unless of course you bust the tank yourself, just like I did on Monday

soggydrysuit wrote:They ok today? I didn't read this till just now...

I'd keep an eye out for whitespot over the next few days in case they've been stressed.

Really hope they make it.

The room I keep most of my tanks in gets down to 10C in the winter, tanks at up to 30C with no problems for me to report. Unless of course you bust the tank yourself, just like I did on Monday

Rachy
any news on the effort?

soggy.
Sorry to hear that, I have done that before aswell.

PS: What I meant by cold is around 0C

they all made it through the night and most of the day!!put blankets round with just warm hot water bottles, and the temp when i cam in 2nite was 25...so thats not bad for them is it have been to get a new heater just now after work, so hopefully all sorted now. they dont look to have whitespot or anything atm, but a couple of the smaller babies arent very active atm, just kinda sat near the bottom right in the corner.is this just down to stress do u think?? they have all eaten some bananaworms tho, even the 1s im worried about

rachy wrote:they all made it through the night and most of the day!!put blankets round with just warm hot water bottles, and the temp when i cam in 2nite was 25...so thats not bad for them is it have been to get a new heater just now after work, so hopefully all sorted now. they dont look to have whitespot or anything atm, but a couple of the smaller babies arent very active atm, just kinda sat near the bottom right in the corner.is this just down to stress do u think?? they have all eaten some bananaworms tho, even the 1s im worried about

wow that's great to hear i had feared the worst.
honestly i couldn't tell you for certain, but it does make sense. Massive overheat then rapid cooling i wouldn't feel to energetic either. Its great that they are eating. keep the faith

i think if it had been the smaller babies, a lot more wouldnt have made it tbh!! this is the tank with the biggest of the babies in, think that made it a bit harder aswell tho lol, cos have watched them grow every day for the past 5 months or so lol!!

if anything like this was to ever happen again, is it the right thing 2 do to change the water straight away?? i know they dont like big sudden temp changes, but is it wise to chage with slightly cooler water or just leave it 2 cool itself?