myfishybuisness Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 it looks like they have broken the thermometer and maybe eaten some of the mecury/glass ,not sure tho, but the female is looking really shy and has a grey patch above her head, not sure what to do, the male has also been harrasing her but nothing to bad just a little chase every now and then, i have divided them , but still unknown what is wrong with them, also just did a 30% water change and dosed with melafix to see if that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted December 1, 2011 Report Share Posted December 1, 2011 and dosed with melafix to see if that helps How is that meant to help? not being abrasive, but seems like a waste of time and melafix... You've got to remove as much mercury as possible, this may include removing substrate etc and biffing it. Heavy metal poisoning is not fun, so wear gloves etc. If the fish have ingested a bit, it is going to stay with them for life, there is no way to remove it, despite reported herbal remedies etc, the body (yours and your fishes) cannot metabolise mercury at all. case in Point, Tuna are being found with increasingly high levels of tuna, being predatory fish, thier prey might ingest tiny amounts, but being that it can't be metabolised, it builds up in their system. Sharks are reportedly in even worse state. just one article about mercury in tuna Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 How is that meant to help? not being abrasive, but seems like a waste of time and melafix... You've got to remove as much mercury as possible, this may include removing substrate etc and biffing it. Good thing aquarium thermometers haven't used mercury for decades. Was the line inside red? Have you ever seen red mercury? Mercury is silver. It's alcohol with a little bit of red dye in it. It's harmless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 Good thing aquarium thermometers haven't used mercury for decades. Was the line inside red? Have you ever seen red mercury? Mercury is silver. It's alcohol with a little bit of red dye in it. It's harmless. I have several that have mercury in them still, so "decades" is obviously a hyperbole... The red dye is sat on top of a bed of mercury, and moves in relation to the thermo-expansion/ contraction of mercury in the base. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 because its has no gravel i got all of it out, and dont worry i just sucked it out with hose and didnt touch it, this thermometer was new so looked like little tiny balls in the bottom of its so is it mecury because thats what i thought it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 like this, with the little balls in the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 Those little balls are lead to weigh it down and transfer heat. The red in the thermometer is alcohol. The red holding the lead and thermometer in place is a hard wax by the looks of it. Mercury is a liquid, so it would have acted like a puddle at the bottom of the water Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 oh ok, so is it ok that it broke? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#!CrunchBang Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 You don't really want a broken thermometer, but as long as there was no mercury and you changed all the water to remove the alcohol it should hopefully be ok. You might still want to check with the your LFS to see if they know anything about what to do in that situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 ok i did a 25% today ill do it again tomoro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 I had my Frontosas break a thermometer in my tank once and I just left the balls in there because they are too tiny to get out. All fish lived on fine and all the balls eventually disappeared into the gravel. I couldn't even find the tiny shards of broken glass. I wouldn't worry too much since you have cleaned it all up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cricketman Posted December 2, 2011 Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 To be clear- Mercury is toxic in large doses, but due to it not being able to be excreted and is helb in teh tissues, can build up. There is so little mercury in a thermometer, it shouldn't be an issue in terms of exposure for teh small amount of time that you had it in there, unless a fish were to ingest it, and even then, would take a decent amount to be toxic. so panic factor should be 0 :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfishybuisness Posted December 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2011 thanks guys :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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