Temerature shock: OOPS!

JeremyAN7

Non-member
So I have been doing a larger than normal water change on a weekly or semi-weekly basis as part of a comprehensive program to reduce nitrates. I started with aroudn 40ppm and am now down to 10-15... BuT>!!!!..

This weekend I made a mistake....

I was changing 15g of the 75, which is as much as I'll ever do. I make the 15g in a large bucket with a power head and heater.. But my heater didnt seem to be plugged in, and I didnt realize it until AFTER the water change. So I ended up dumping 15g of relatively COLD water into my tank. The tank temp went from its happy 79.5deg to 74.5 deg.

I allowed the tanks normal heater slowly heat it back up with all the power heads running so as not to shock the fish twice, but.... How bad is a one time shock of 5 degrees for the fish? I imagine the corals are relatively immune...

So far, they all look "ok" but they were acting "crazy" later that night once temp was back up..
 
Although I have no direct experience, I would guess that the fish would be fine. Depending upon what kind of corals you have, they could be adversely affected though as they can be much more sensitive.
 
You probably shocked their immune systems, so treat them really well for the next few days weeks. Feed well, keep things constant, etc.
 
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