Tropical Fish Forums

[deborah_claro]

I was under the impression that an electrical current in the water would not kill fish, because they are not grounded. That's why they say you can't tell if your electricals have failed by looking at the fish. So what happened here?
Anyone know?
It seems as if you, Barchef, should have gotten the worst shock.

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[Barchef]

Really? Electricity doesn't do anything? Wow, you're sure? It must have been all the stress from removing nearly all the water. I did seperate them in a bucket...but that situation is still stressful. I'm going to buy a good filter this time, it was just me birthday and I have tons of cash. And yes I did add dechlorniator after I put new water, I don't get it...the shock didn't hurt too much heh..
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This sig is now severly outdated and will remain like this until I find something worthy to put here. Sorry.

[piranha]

To answer one of your previous questions, some good hardy plants are Elodea(anacharis), water lettuce, and water hyacinth. I use them all in my pond. Hyacinth has beautiful flowers. Any corpse decomposing in your pond will drive up parameters to dangerous levels.

[Barchef]

I never give them a chance to decompose
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This sig is now severly outdated and will remain like this until I find something worthy to put here. Sorry.

[Trill the man]

Electricity in water causes fish to react in different ways, the most common being actually swimming towards the current. The current is picked up as a signal on the lateral line, and causes most species to involuntarily swim towards wherever the electricity is coming from. Depending on the strength, the fish will go through 3 stages:

1. Involuntary movement of muscles, swimming towards the current.
2. Lethargy, eventually leading to seizure of muscles.
3. If a strong current, or left too long in current, fish will become permantly seized, causing organ failure.

It has been known to cause muscle seizure to such an extent, the forced tension can break the fishes vertebrae. If used carefully, electro-fishing can be used for fish survey work, bringing all species of fish to the surface (eventually) for easy netting .

Just incase anyone was interested :p . My information may not be 100% correct, but its what I remember from lectures at this time of night .

Phil
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"Donald duck never wore pants, but when he gets out of a bath, he covers his waist with a towel...."

[Barchef]

That describes what I saw. The comets vertebrae was twisted. Now I know for sure, no more cheap home depot stuff
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This sig is now severly outdated and will remain like this until I find something worthy to put here. Sorry.

[deborah_claro]

The electricity thing is tricky.
In many places you will read how your fish will swim normally in the aquarium even when your heater has failed and is putting current in the water. This is why you need to unplug everything before you put your hands in the tank; you can't tell something is wrong just by looking at the fish.
It's because they're not grounded, or something.
Like birds sitting on a telephone wire and not getting electrocuted.

Only recently I had a 50 watt heater, made for 2-15 gallon tanks, fail in a 6 gallon tank. I could feel the current in the water - it stung tremendously hard, and I yanked my hand out. The betta did not react and neither did the snails.

However, Trill's information sheds some new light on the topic for me.
Thanks.

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[Trill the man]

Hey, no worries . However I will add that this is only my experiance. I am currently studying fish management, for which part of the course is fish survey work. We use electro fishing sometimes as a way to catch fish. Different fish react in different ways, depending on a number of factors.

I do know however that it takes a fair amount of electricity to cause the fish to react in this way, which is why we must be extra careful not to fall in! I do not understand how a heater failure can cause no effect on the fish, unless the effect is at too low a stage to be clearly visible.

As I have never touched the water during electro-fishing (hope never to!), I cannot compare how strong the current is to that of a broken heater .

Phil
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"Donald duck never wore pants, but when he gets out of a bath, he covers his waist with a towel...."

[alan]

I have a few ideas to share on the topic of a indoor Koi pond design, is this topic still alive?

[deborah_claro]

Alan, it might be a better idea to start a new topic titled, "Indoor Koi Pond Design," or something like that. We'd like to hear your ideas.

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