LTS
New member
London is in the midst of a ridiculous heat wave this week - peaking at 32 degrees Celsius and rarely dropping below 20 even at night. (For comparison, an typical 'hot summer day' in the UK is probably 23-24 degrees.) It's due to be this hot until the end of the week.
Yesterday we returned home from a day out to find the tank temperature at 25 degrees. We immediately took steps to reduce the temperature. Floating ice bottles seemed to do barely anything. We did a large water change which succeeded in bringing the temperature down to 23, but it then rose to 24 again.
We covered the tank in wet towels and set up a room fan pointing at the tank (Max always has aquarium fans switched on over the summer anyway, which normally keep the water below 20).
The temperature was 22 when I got up this morning and I did another water change, which reduced it to 21 - the lowest it's been since Saturday.
I work from home so my plan is to keep dechlorinated water in the fridge and change a little bit of water every hour or so to attempt to keep the tank at a stable low-20s level until the heat wave passes.
I know in an ideal world we'd have a chiller, but we get these temperatures maybe once a year in the UK, and even then it's only usually for a day or two at a time. It would be an enormous cost for the sake of a few days a year, when we have no trouble maintaining suitable temperatures 99.5% of the time.
Max is a two-year-old originally suspected male, now leaning perhaps toward female due to rounder body shape. Recently recovered from a fungal infection of the gill with a week of salt baths - been fully recovered for around 8 days. Otherwise has always been completely healthy.
They're trotting around seemingly happy - eating fine, normal behaviour, gills are naturally slightly forward-curled and always have been, but no noticeable change. The only thing is there may be a very slight whitening patch on the side of their face - barely noticeable, and could be that we've just missed it until now, but definitely there if you're looking for it.
Thoughts? Advice? Reassurance? Recommended next steps?
Thanks all!
Yesterday we returned home from a day out to find the tank temperature at 25 degrees. We immediately took steps to reduce the temperature. Floating ice bottles seemed to do barely anything. We did a large water change which succeeded in bringing the temperature down to 23, but it then rose to 24 again.
We covered the tank in wet towels and set up a room fan pointing at the tank (Max always has aquarium fans switched on over the summer anyway, which normally keep the water below 20).
The temperature was 22 when I got up this morning and I did another water change, which reduced it to 21 - the lowest it's been since Saturday.
I work from home so my plan is to keep dechlorinated water in the fridge and change a little bit of water every hour or so to attempt to keep the tank at a stable low-20s level until the heat wave passes.
I know in an ideal world we'd have a chiller, but we get these temperatures maybe once a year in the UK, and even then it's only usually for a day or two at a time. It would be an enormous cost for the sake of a few days a year, when we have no trouble maintaining suitable temperatures 99.5% of the time.
Max is a two-year-old originally suspected male, now leaning perhaps toward female due to rounder body shape. Recently recovered from a fungal infection of the gill with a week of salt baths - been fully recovered for around 8 days. Otherwise has always been completely healthy.
They're trotting around seemingly happy - eating fine, normal behaviour, gills are naturally slightly forward-curled and always have been, but no noticeable change. The only thing is there may be a very slight whitening patch on the side of their face - barely noticeable, and could be that we've just missed it until now, but definitely there if you're looking for it.
Thoughts? Advice? Reassurance? Recommended next steps?
Thanks all!
