Question: URGENT- Tank temperature advice during unusual heat wave

London is in the midst of a ridiculous heat wave this week - peaking at 32 degrees Celsius and rarely dropping below 20 even at night. (For comparison, an typical 'hot summer day' in the UK is probably 23-24 degrees.) It's due to be this hot until the end of the week.

Yesterday we returned home from a day out to find the tank temperature at 25 degrees. We immediately took steps to reduce the temperature. Floating ice bottles seemed to do barely anything. We did a large water change which succeeded in bringing the temperature down to 23, but it then rose to 24 again.

We covered the tank in wet towels and set up a room fan pointing at the tank (Max always has aquarium fans switched on over the summer anyway, which normally keep the water below 20).

The temperature was 22 when I got up this morning and I did another water change, which reduced it to 21 - the lowest it's been since Saturday.

I work from home so my plan is to keep dechlorinated water in the fridge and change a little bit of water every hour or so to attempt to keep the tank at a stable low-20s level until the heat wave passes.

I know in an ideal world we'd have a chiller, but we get these temperatures maybe once a year in the UK, and even then it's only usually for a day or two at a time. It would be an enormous cost for the sake of a few days a year, when we have no trouble maintaining suitable temperatures 99.5% of the time.

Max is a two-year-old originally suspected male, now leaning perhaps toward female due to rounder body shape. Recently recovered from a fungal infection of the gill with a week of salt baths - been fully recovered for around 8 days. Otherwise has always been completely healthy.

They're trotting around seemingly happy - eating fine, normal behaviour, gills are naturally slightly forward-curled and always have been, but no noticeable change. The only thing is there may be a very slight whitening patch on the side of their face - barely noticeable, and could be that we've just missed it until now, but definitely there if you're looking for it.

Thoughts? Advice? Reassurance? Recommended next steps?

Thanks all!

I think most sals can survive a short period of less than optimal water temps.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah, from what I understand it's more extended (i.e. several-day exposure) to 22+ degree temperatures that can cause problems... it's more that it was so high, up at 25 at its highest, and we were struggling to get it down.

Fortunately, I'm very pleased to say I've been able to maintain the water temperature at 21 degrees all day (even though it's currently 33 degrees outside!) via a combination of wet towel insulation, standing tower fan, and aquarium surface fan, with occasional small ice bottle floating which, it turns out, has pretty consistently reduced the temperature by 0.5 degrees, thus avoiding significant fluctuation too.

Now looking into investing into a chiller setup for the future, mind. We'll be going on holiday later in the summer and, while we have a friend who's happy to pop round and feed him every few days, obviously can't be expected to take on a full-time axolotl care job!

Hi! Im dealing with the same heat (as are all English!) And I've resorted to fridging them. Like you it's staying at 25°c- they were looking very stressed, and iced bottles weren't touching it. I'd personally adivce doing the same- fridge them for a few days until the heat wave subsides. Good luck!

Honestly, my problem is worst than yours and it's not that urgent. My axie is almost on his death bed after the temp being at 68F, tank not fully cycled, and my ph is off causing my axie to not eat for 8 days! Putting you axie in the fridge won't help. That's only for wounds. Lower your water flow. The temp should not drop that low after being at 32C to 22C, Lowering the temp at unusual rates causes your axie to be stressed. Try buying aquarium fans and putting less than 4 bottles of water into your tank. My axie has more problems than yours and has NO COMENTS WHATS SO EVER. Well, hope this helps. Ps, fridging makes your axie not eat.

回复: Re: URGENT- Tank temperature advice during unusual heat wave

Otterwoman said:

I think most sals can survive a short period of less than optimal water temps.

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I have the same problem except my tank is at 27...no idea what to do about it. I don't have a tank fan, i've opened the lid and put a mesh over the water to try and encourage evaporation but it appears to do nothing. I changed the tank water yday which lowered it from 26 to 24, but it just went straight back up again. Will he survive until the end of the week at this temp or do I need to keep changing the water?

Well it's hard to say how long, it depends on how tough they are. There is a lot of info on this site about cooling if you do a search.

回复: Re: URGENT- Tank temperature advice during unusual heat wave

Otterwoman said:

Well it's hard to say how long, it depends on how tough they are. There is a lot of info on this site about cooling if you do a search.

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I gave into peer pressure and used the ice bottle technique, its now 24C from 27C. I would keep using them but i'm out of the house for 12 hours a day so i'm worried about fluctuations in temp of more than 2C. He'll be fine at 24 until this awful heatwave passes i'm sure.

The same can't be said for me, i'm absolutely fed up of this already! I hope it ends soon

EggAndSausage said:

Honestly, my problem is worst than yours and it's not that urgent. My axie is almost on his death bed after the temp being at 68F, tank not fully cycled, and my ph is off causing my axie to not eat for 8 days! Putting you axie in the fridge won't help. That's only for wounds. Lower your water flow. The temp should not drop that low after being at 32C to 22C, Lowering the temp at unusual rates causes your axie to be stressed. Try buying aquarium fans and putting less than 4 bottles of water into your tank. My axie has more problems than yours and has NO COMENTS WHATS SO EVER. Well, hope this helps. Ps, fridging makes your axie not eat.

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Firstly- no it doesn't, my axis eat absolutely fine in the fridge. Secondly it is only a TEMPORARY MEASURE for 2-3 days. And thirdly: as you have just said, if you leave your axis in the tank for that many days (when water bottles aren't touching it, and you can't buy a cooler in that time) they will die. So it is stress (although, honestly, mine don't seem to find the fridge too stressful), or death. It's not "only for wounds"- it obviously lowers the temperature (in a non ideal, but needs must way). Also, instead of ranting about a post that got looked over, and telling the poster his/her problems don't matter, try contributing helpfully and looking at other posts, so that you get the answers the same as the poster.