Thermometer broke in fishtank.

[cementglow]

Thermometer broke in fishtank and some of the silver balls fell out into the gravel. How concerned should I be? What should I do?

++Update++

Awesome site you guys! thanks for the help. How ever here's exactly what went on. The thermometer broke when it was floating around in the bucket when it was being filled up during a water change. Not noticing that the thermometer had broke I dumped the whole bucket into the 80 gallon tank. That's a lot of gravel covering quite a large area. I don't remember the exact spot where I dumped out the water and the broken thermometer... So I think I'm going to have to try and fish around in the gravel with a magnet and see if It'll pick any of the mettle balls. But we all know that plenty of the balls are probably still going to be left in the gravel. So I guess my next question would be what kind of mettle are the balls made of? should I be concerned about them rusting over time?

 

[unwritten law]

what kind of thermometer is it?

 

[bunker_1]

Very! Try to get them out. If you have a tank to move the fish to do it! If you some lesser liked fish, you could try them in the tank and see how they do. I am pretty sure that that is mercury and I do not think that it is good for fish, LOL. Water change water change water change.

 

[cementglow]

what kind of thermometer is it?

This kind:

the mercury tube on the inside didn't break. only the bottom tip broke leaving some of the silver balls to fall out.

 

[brian1973]

i think the metal balls are just weight but Im not sure.. I would still do whatever you can to get them out..drain the tank as low as u can and try using a magnet. In theory the should be directly under where the thermometer broke or within a few inches..so should be relativley easy to find.

 

[homebunnyj]

The little metal weights from the bottom of the thermometer? I'd just try to scoop them out. Most likely they're stainless steel, but it wouldn't hurt to get them out anyway. I don't think mercury's been used in aquarium thermometers for a while.

 

[bunker_1]

Guess I am paranoid, but I would not take a chance

 

[MadridKid]

same happened to me. your fine. just do a little bit of a water change, suck up the thermometer components and your good.
no worries.

 

[cementglow]

Awesome site you guys! thanks for the help. How ever here's exactly what went on. The thermometer broke when it was floating around in the bucket when it was being filled up during a water change. Not noticing that the thermometer had broke I dumped the whole bucket into the 80 gallon tank. That's a lot of gravel covering quite a large area. I don't remember the exact spot where I dumped out the water and the broken thermometer... So I think I'm going to have to try and fish around in the gravel with a magnet and see if It'll pick any of the mettle balls. But we all know that plenty of the balls are probably still going to be left in the gravel. So I guess my next question would be what kind of mettle are the balls made of? should I be concerned about them rusting over time?

 

[brian1973]

Just a guess would be stainless steel..but i have no idea.

Important lesson..leave thermometer stuck to the side in the future..

 

[s_anthony]

Mercury is very rarely used in thermometers now so I doubt that your fishtank thermometer had any in it. Those little balls ARE steel and used for weighting only. If your thermometer had mercury in it those balls would not be balls anymore as they are liquid and would move about.

Now if the Glass broke and the chemicals spilled thats a whole other concern. Most thermometers today are using galinstan as a replacement for mercury. The only places you'll find mercury based thermometers are in scientific areas..

 

[s_anthony]

Here's a wikipedia explaination of Galinstan .. if thats what was in your therm..

"Galinstan is an eutectic alloy of gallium, indium, and tin which is liquid at room temperature, typically freezing at −19 °C (−2.2 °F). Due to the low toxicity of its component metals, it finds use as a non-toxic replacement for many applications that previously employed liquid mercury or NaK (sodium-potassium alloy). Composition: 68.5% Ga, 21.5% In, 10% Sn. Its name is a portmanteau of gallium, indium, and stannum (Latin for "tin"). Galinstan is a registered trademark of the German company Geratherm Medical AG."

"Galinstan tends to wet and adhere to many materials, including glass, which limits its use compared to mercury. Galinstan is commercially used as a mercury replacement in thermometers due to its nontoxic properties, but the inner tube must be coated with gallium oxide to prevent the alloy from wetting the glass surface."