On Fri, 4 Aug 2006 19:49:55 -0400, "Bill Stock"
wrote:

My office tank has been running a little hot lately (82-84+) . The room temp
hovers around 28°C at the moment, so the SAEs are near their max temp?

I did a water change recently and matched the input temp to the existing
tank temp. The next night I saw an SAE lying on the bottom breathing
rapidly. I turned the light off, added extra aeration and (slowly) cooled
the water slightly, but the SAE was gone within an hour. I've been leaving
the lights off and left the added aeration, with no further losses. The tank
temp has dropped to around 80 or less.

I'm more inclined to suspect something funky about the water change, but
could the marginal temps be the primary factor?


I have 15 SAEs in 3 tanks. The 29 gallon tank is always a heat
problem in the summer. The thermometer alarm is set to 82F and it has
gone off. 81F is pretty normal in this tank.

As for laying on the bottom and fast breathing, this strikes me as
normal behavior. If they were swimming at the top (other than feeding
time g) I would be worried.

I wonder if this is mostly coincidence as you report only 1 of your
SAEs died. Perhaps it was not well and the rapid changes in
temperature were more than it could handle. Fish do die.

I quit aeration over a year ago due to the mineral deposits. I have
seen no related problems, even with the single SAE in a 10 gallon
tank. My tanks are planted and have filtration.

I do 20% water changes twice weekly with no chemicals added. I take
the water straight from the tap, so my water conditions are pretty
stable other than temperature.

I have had my SAEs over 3 years and lost only one in the second year.
It gave no forewarning. I woke one morning with it dead on the
gravel. No visual cues to suggest cause of death.

dick