High water temperature!

Help!! I have a 29 gallon tank with live rock and only 5 snails/5crabs in it... I came home just now to find my air conditioning broke and my house temperature at 85 degrees, so my water was at 82.9. Already one crab and one snail are dead... I found the body of the crab but dunno where the shell is (it's got to be somewhere).

I immediately turned off the hood lights, took off the hood, put all the ice i had in a ziplock bag and floated it. Now the ice is melted (I took out the bag) and water temp is 81.9, and i have a ceiling fan on high in the room, but don't own any other fans.

Is there anything else I can do besides watch my crabs huddle together and slowly die?

Thanks for your help... I guess it's lucky I didn't have any fish yet.

 

The water that temp shouldn't be killing your critters that fast. If your really concerned about that you could add a chiller to the system, or add a few 2 liter bottles (with frozen water in them of course) to the sump or the main tank to help bring the tempature down.

Also a fan blowing accross the water surface will help evaporation which in turn, will drop the tempature as well.

In your signature is shows your tank is still empty, are you going through a particle cycle perhaps? That could much easier explain the losses.

-Gavin

 

I'm still cycling yes (not sure what a particle cycle is), but all my levels are zero... It appears I cycled fully in 2 weeks, but I'm still checking the water every few days to see if there will be any secondary spikes... Good idea with the freezing 2 liter bottles!

 

my temps top out at 84 during the day, 82 is nothing to worry about.

~Will.

 

Hmm... I just measured my pH and it's 8.4.

Is this high enough to cause die-offs?

 

nope.

~Will.

 

cyling tank coupled with higher temp - possible oxygen deficiency
what have you got in there for water movement
do you have the water surface rippling or is it calm in some areas?

Steve

 

I have a HOB carbon pad filter that waterfalls into the water, breaking the surface... also i have a rotating powerhead near the surface that, when facing upwards, causes significant rippling in the water surface... Could this be the case?

I've also noticed today (never before... but I've never had a saltwater tank, dunno if this is normal) some stuff floating on the surface and some bubbles. The stuff is microscopic, definitely nothing huge.

 

is it a white film like substance ? of so they are protiens and the bond to the water surface

I take it your not running a skimmer - as these protiens bond to the air bubbles in the skimmer and are removed from the tank that way - but you need to agitate the surface enough to break the surface tension that holds them there

not saying this is the cause of your problem David
but the warmer the water, the less oxygen it can contain so may have been a contributor

Steve

 

Thanks Steve... I don't have a surface skimmer, do you think I should move the power head even closer to the surface so it fully splashes when pointing up? Then, run my skimmer?