Can heaters burn fish if they run into it?

I was sitting in the living room where my Discus tank is and all of a sudden, little Casper started to dart and jumped up so high that he hit the top of the tank. I jumped out of the chair to see what was wrong with him. he was all spastic... and shaky and then went right into the corner of the tank and stayed there. He is breathing heavy. Before this happened I noticed one of the other Discus ( Lucy Lemon) really chasing him around being aggressive. After about a half hour I took my magnifying glass and had a look at him. Under his mouth where his chin is, he has two large white spots that look swollen to me. I really think that when Lucy Lemon went after him, it may have butted Casper right into the heater in that corner. Or he ran into the heater trying to get away. The mark actually looks like a burn. Has anyone ever heard fish getting burned on these hot heaters? I don't know what to do for him poor guy.Lucy Lemon has really been aggressive lately to the other two small Discus in the tank, but not bothering the older larger ones. Are there any heaters out there that have some kind of safety net-type surrounding it so that the fish do not get burned?
thanks, kate

 

Yes, fish can get burned on heaters.

I have heard this happens more so with glass heaters than with plastic or metal heaters.

 

I have a top fin heater that came with the 55 gallon set up. Is there any heater that you can recommand I buy so this doesn't happen again?
thanks, kate

 

Either ebu jager or visa-therm.

Here is a link to a supply place I and Butterfly use, that has always had excellent customer service and products.



Looks like the Visa therm stealth may be what you are needing.

 

Thanks for your help & the link Dino. I have a visa therm Deluxe 150w in my 29 gallon community. I have the ebu-Jager 200 in the 29 gallon Angelfish tank. The Top Fin heater is also glass. looking at the jager it looks like a glass heater as well. So maybe the visa therm is the way to go! ;D

 

wow, sorry to hear about the heater burning your guy there. We've just switched all the tanks to visi-therm stealths because we wanted to have the best heaters now that we'll actually need heaters.

 

HI Dave, thanks..
lol... YES, you are going to need heaters now! .... I will be getting some visa-therms for the Discus tank soon and take out the top fin that is there now.
~ kate

 

HI Dave, thanks..
lol... YES, you are going to need heaters now! .... I will be getting some visa-therms for the Discus tank soon and take out the top fin that is there now.
~ kate

very true.. I think in the past 2 years, St. Augustine might have had a grand total of 2 days when it went below freezing for a few hours, but Denver has more days that it goes to freezing at some point than days that it doesn't.. and they'll be in the basement for now.

We do have 2 visi-therm deluxes, but given that the last order was about $250, I figured we'd replace them with stealths a little later. I like the deluxes, but would rather have the stealths, especially here in Denver.. and with curious Bettas.

 

hmmmm now I have a question.. I didnt know there was a difference between the visa-therm stealth and the visa-therm deluxe? Can you tell me what it is? and so the stealth is a better one? thanks, kate

 

if you go to and browse the heaters in their fish area, you can find the visitherm heaters. The reason we got the stealth instead of the deluxe is the deluxe has glass.

 

Agreed, stealth is plastic, deluxe is glass.

I prefer the plastic.

 

Thank you... I just got back from a local pet supply store looking for some more air hose and checked out the stealth and yes, they are plastic and seem much better. The both the 25w & the 50w was 29.99 there, but I'm sure I can find it cheaper somewhere else, maybe petsmart.
thanks, kate

 

Yikes, I never even thought about my fish burning themselves on the heater!! Good to be aware of it!

 

I use two heaters one at each end of the tank that way one heater isn't on all the time giving the heaters time to cool off!

 

I use two heaters one at each end of the tank that way one heater isn't on all the time giving the heaters time to cool off!

yea, that's a great idea in bigger tanks.