Fish are feeling the heat!

[ashtricks]

It was mad hot today just like it has been for the past few days. I have a 20g stocked with 6 neons, 6 cloud minnows, a honey gourami and a red wagtail platy. The thermometer on the tank was not showing any reading. It had gone beyond the scale. (86+) It might be around 90. All the fish were extremely lethargic and hanging around the bottom.
I added a gallon of cold tap water and dropped a tray ice cubes in the tank and guess what! The fish liked it! Every one came out and became active. Everyone was hanging just below the ice cubes. I hope this heat wave goes away quickly!

[Kal-El]

You may want to get a digital thermometer that will give you full accurate reading.

[3dees]

I hope you put the ice cubes in a zip loc bag, unless you declorinated the water before you froze it.

[ashtricks]

@kalelhawj: I am going to move in a couple of months and will have to give away the tanks. Not worth investing in one as of now. This summer is an odd ball. It never gets so hot for so many days here.
@3dees: A tray of ice cubes in a 20 gal tank wont introduce enough chlorine to harm the fish (thanks to the water authority). I have gotten away with 50% water changes without adding prime (when I forgot to). (touch wood)

[Orange Crush]

A tray of ice cubes in a 20 gal tank wont introduce enough chlorine to harm the fish (thanks to the water authority). I have gotten away with 50% water changes without adding prime (when I forgot to). (touch wood)
You have been lucky but it might still have stressed them out. Besides you never know when the Water Company might decide to add more chlorine/ chloramines than what they are currently using. Just add Prime to the tank since the cubes were not treated.
Who is the water "authority" anyways?

[ashtricks]

@Orange Crush: I have had these guys for 3+ years now. I guess I am very very lucky ;) Water guys I think are the Erie County Water Authority. On an avg last year they detected .75 mg/liter. And you can dilute it further, say 0.19mg (from 1/4th of a liter of ice guesstimate) into 20 gal = 75 liter of dechlorinated water. LOL. Don't know if it is harmful. But never seen any of the fish stress out. They were definitely stressed because of the temperature. But were very happy once I added ice.

[ashtricks]

Oh and forgot. 20 mg/liter of chloride too!

[limige]

You have your tank in the sun?

Obviously no a/c..
For me its a bonus. I haven't run a heater in years. With the warmer. Temps and the a/c going I managed to get them to drop eggs (angels) I tried in the winter with no luck but I think with the tank temp up its helped out.

I pulled the eggs and put them in a gal tank to hatch out. I've seen wigglers off these guys a few years back so they should be good.

[ashtricks]

No not in the sun. No a/c. The house gets mad hot though. Can't help. I have removed the lids of the tanks and run two big window fans over the surface. I just have to replenish a gallon every couple of days due to evaporation. But the temps stay reasonable.
Hope you get good angle fry!

[limige]

that sucks, i have a window a/c unit if you want to borrow it.

best thing you can do is daily wc's with cooler water. water has a high resistance to changing temp. if you do daily's it should keep it down, but i'm not sure how well discus would put up with it.