Heater malfunction, help please!

Hi, I might be overreacting but my heater in my betta tank malfunctioned and I came into the room and his water was it 99 degrees. He is already not feeling well, and not in a good condition. I got him from PetSmart like this couple days ago anyways, how quickly can I lower the temperature?

I panicked and dumped two small cups of cold water into the tank right away and it is now at 90 degrees. He still alive, but lying on the bottom. He was doing that before anyways cuz like I said he didn't feel good. Please help, how quick should I go about doing this? Thank you in advance!

 

Take him out and put him in a small bucket or something with tank water for now. If you have an airstone, great put it in with him.
Take the heater out. Don't try to lower the water too quicky, I'm not sure if it'll crack the glass or not.
It may take a few hours for it to lower on its own.

 

Hey there! Heater malfunctions happen. I would not add cold water as the large drop in temp can cause your betta to go into shock. I would remove the heater and let the temp cool down naturally. Add a NEW heater once it cools down. Hope this helps!

Take him out and put him in a small bucket or something with tank water for now. If you have an airstone, great put it in with him.
Take the heater out. Don't try to lower the water too quicky, I'm not sure if it'll crack the glass or not.
It may take a few hours for it to lower on its own.

Definitely agree, as this will cause his temp to lower gradually still but more quickly in a smaller container.

 

You're not overreacting. That's a deadly temperature and needs to come down, but fish can't tolerate a rapid temperature change more than a few degrees.

How large is your tank? If two cups of water lowered the temp nine degrees it sounds like a very small tank. That probably wasn't the best thing to do. Did you use water conditioner on the water you added in? If not your fish is dealing not only with water too hot, but also with a drastic temperature shock and chlorine.

If it's in a bowl, I would put a few inches of cold tap water into a bucket, and set the bowl in the bucket of water. Don't put too much water in the bucket, you don't want the bowl sinking or floating. Make sure the water level in the bucket is lower than the water level in the bowl. That will speed the temperature change, but won't be such a drastic change all at once.

A heater stuck on is a common malfunction. The thermostat isn't working. Toss the heater.

 

. . . A heater stuck on is a common malfunction. The thermostat isn't working. Toss the heater.

I'm pretty sure Eheim heaters (and probably others) have a feature that's supposed to turn it off if the temperature gets above a certain point, bypassing the thermostat. I don't know how well it works.

 

You're not overreacting. That's a deadly temperature and needs to come down, but fish can't tolerate a rapid temperature change more than a few degrees.

How large is your tank? If two cups of water lowered the temp nine degrees it sounds like a very small tank. That probably wasn't the best thing to do. Did you use water conditioner on the water you added in? If not your fish is dealing not only with water too hot, but also with a drastic temperature shock and chlorine.

If it's in a bowl, I would put a few inches of cold tap water into a bucket, and set the bowl in the bucket of water. Don't put too much water in the bucket, you don't want the bowl sinking or floating. Make sure the water level in the bucket is lower than the water level in the bowl. That will speed the temperature change, but won't be such a drastic change all at once.

A heater stuck on is a common malfunction. The thermostat isn't working. Toss the heater.

Thank you very much.

The tank is only about 3 gallons and I don't have it filled up all the way because he's sick and can't get to the surface to breath easily. (Since I got him a week ago, he doesn't seem to use his gills....so I lowered the water so he could get to the air easier)

NORMALLY I'd have him in my 10 gallon, though. Or at the very least, the 5 gallon. He's in the "sick" tank