EMERGENCY broken thermometer need information

[spendday]

ok I don't know how but the thermometer in my cynops oreintalis tank has sort of broken here's a picture




what i need to know is what chemicals are in those little balls and the red stuff above it i dont think any of the red stuff got in the water but a lot of ball things fell in and i need to know what kind of effect they may have on my newts

 

[benw]

the balls will be some sort of weight to keep the thermometer so its bobs in the water, imwould think they would be either lead or maybe steel, a bit
like ball bearings. They are usually encased in wax.
i would see if you can syphon them out if you can, i cant see them being too much of a problem, as i cant see the newts would eat them, the glass would need to be got out too, and its good the red stuff didnt get in the water.
You could try and see if the balls in the broken bit crush, as that may suggest they are lead.
i broke one in my ribbed newts tank and they were fine, as the fluid didnt get out as yours didnt.

Ben

 

[Jennewt]

I think you need to be sure to get all those little black balls out of the tank. What kind of substrate do you have on the bottom of the tank, if any?

 

[cichlidjedi]

I use digital thermometers in all my tanks so nothing can be broken. They are usually inexpensive $8 USD is about average. They are just as accurate as any glass therm. and they have a probe that can be hidden also and not floating in the water. It might be a nice investment for the future to help avoid broken glass. You must have a few newts on steroids in there having a wrestling match to break your thermometer!

 

[Melanie]

I broke a thermometer in my freshwater fish tank once. I found that the little balls that fell out were magnetic, so I used my magnetic glass cleaner to pick them out of the substrate. The balls were the easiest part. The glass was almost impossible to see so it took digging around very carefully to make sure that I got all the glass.

Hope that this helps.
-Melanie

 

[spendday]

I broke a thermometer in my freshwater fish tank once. I found that the little balls that fell out were magnetic, so I used my magnetic glass cleaner to pick them out of the substrate. The balls were the easiest part. The glass was almost impossible to see so it took digging around very carefully to make sure that I got all the glass.

Hope that this helps.
-Melanie

i cleaned most the balls out as soon as i noticed but i wanted to make sure there wasn't any real or lasting danger to the newts. i'll try the magenet thing later see if i can pick up any i originally missed

thanks for all the help