How long can fish handle high temps?

[chichian]

Hello all. I was wondering how long healthy fish can handle a temperature of about 88-90F!!! The reason why I ask, is because my lovely surprise today when I came home from work was a broken AC unit and nice, warm, cozy house temperature of 95F (at 8pm at night... nice... Vegas is soooo nice).

I freaked out of course since my bf and I have two cats and the fish tank which finally got back on it's feet after battling some mild ich. The tank was at about 90F, I immediately turned off the light and quickly lowered the water level so that the outputs from the filters made small "waterfalls" and put a fan near the top. Since I only have one gigantic fan and I couldn't find anything tall enough to set it on to make it blow across the top, so it's near the top. I have the lids propped open so that the airflow can go across the water. All this and an hour later the tank temperature is about 88F now. All the fish are still alive and seem okay. How long can they last like this? And plants too, how long can they last like this?

I immediately called my landlord and of course she said she'd get people to fix it tomorrow, but she is notoriously bad at fixing stuff (it normally takes WEEKS to MONTHS to fix anything, I'm not kidding here). Since we're in Vegas, I think she'll do a little better with the AC unit, but it might be a few days.

Also, any other suggestions on cooling it down would be appreciated.

Thanks all.

 

[Lotus]

The fish should be OK for a few days at least. I read of one person in Arizona who has no a/c and he says his fish handle temps in the low 90s with no problems. You can keep lights off during the day to keep temps lower. Our tanks often go to the mid 80s during the summer with no real problems.

What kind of fish do you have?

I'd pester the landlady until she gets it fixed.

 

[chichian]

Thanks! I was worried. The highest it ever got before was 80F (I keep the heater at 78F but the light seems to raise it two degrees).

I read of one person in Arizona who has no a/c and he says his fish handle temps in the low 90s with no problems.

Wow, I thought that prolonged exposure to high temperatures wasn't good, but I guess if they get used to it, it's okay and that's reassuring for me.

What kind of fish do you have?

the cute kind ...
3 Swordtails
1 Male Betta
1 Rubberlipped pleco
4 Albino corys
6 Rummy Nose Tetras
2 Dwarf loaches (maybe 3 still, but lately I've only seen 2 )

I'd pester the landlady until she gets it fixed.

Yeah, I'm doing that. I've already decided: since rent is due tomorrow, I'm withholding rent until it's fixed, and actually, if it's not fixed by tomorrow, I'm calling someone myself and having it emergency fixed and taking it out of the rent. If I end up doing that, it will probably exceed the cost of rent, but I'll just give her the receipt and take it out of next months too.

Thanks again.

 

[discus4everGrl]

If conditions get bad you can always float ziplock bags of ice on the top.

 

[FroggyFox]

I think the biggest problem is usually when the temperature changes rapidly...so trying to keep it steadily as low as you can in the summer is probably a good idea. You dont want to start tossing ice trays in there....but things like floating a baggy in there may cool it down slower but still cool it down. The fan is a good idea...maybe a little water change with a little cooler water (not more than a couple degrees). I think you did good though with what you did....and landlords can be a pain like that, good luck with the situation.

 

[NoDeltaH2O]

I had THE EXACT SAME THING happen to me after I got home from a 2 wek vacation. I have no idea how long the tanks were at 90*F. But I only lost one corydoras catfish and one Hillstream Loach (out of a total of about 60 fish). I did not lower the water level, as mixing air with water does not lower temps if the air you are mixing with the water is hot. Aeration is good to have (especially at higher temps when water can hold less oxygen), so probably keep your water level low. I also stopped CO2 injection until the AC got fixed (one week later). SO my fish were all at 90*F for anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks.

 

[chichian]

Thanks all! Luckily, everything has made it. The AC is temporarily fixed... supposedly it was too old to fix so Tuesday we are getting a new one, but in the time being, the AC people filled the old one so we wouldn't be uncomfortable over the 4th of July weekend, but said that would last only about max 1 month to 2 months since there is a leak they cannot repair.

We'll see what happens on Tuesday with getting a new one or if my cheap landlord is gonna try to let the quick fix last as long as she can.

Oh, and I don't know how well this worked but I also tried outter evaporative cooling. I soaked some towels with cold water and covered the outside of the tank with them and let the fan blow on the wet towels. While it made the area around the tank a lot cooler (hehe, I stayed near the tank for the benefits), I couldn't really see a big difference in the tank temperature (inside), since shortly after I started doing this, the AC peeps finished their quick fix. But, this may be something other people can try if this happens to them.

 

[wayne]

What fish - many cories, tetras, other S Americans are caught out of water a damn sight warmer than that.....
More of a problem will be lack of oxygen, so what you did to make the 'waterfalls' was exactly right.

The hillstream loaches would be suffering a double-whammy from both high temps and low O2 though

 

[radamsk1]

I don't know if some of you would approve of this method, but I did this when I was younger. I actually made ice cubes of treated water. When my room would heat up in the summer I'd plop a few of the cubes in the hang on the back Aquaclear in my old 10 gallon. It didn't drastically alter the temp, but brought it down to a manageable temp around low 80s.