A Scary Story

[bkelizabeth]

I have a scary story. I get a phone call from my little 11 year old sister today, and she asks, "umm..... what temperature do you want your tank at?" She goes on to tell me that the temperature is 10 to 20 degrees HIGHER than the "green" zone (which would be about 90 to 100 degrees F). I'm basically having a panic attack at this point thinking that my poor little betta is boiling. I tell her to unplug the heater and, since she's 11, take a picture of the thermometer and send it to me via text. I sit there, shaking, waiting for the picture message to arrive. Finally, a picture of a thermometer pops up on my screen, with the perfect temperature of around 81 degrees Fahrenheit. I call her back and she tells me, "ok, well, it was higher before I put it on the bed to take the picture." I start freaking out again and tell her to PUT THE THERMOMETER IN THE TANK AND TAKE ANOTHER PICTURE AFTER A FEW MINUTES. Again, she sends the picture and it's about 82 now. I call her again and she insists that it was higher before. I think she misread the thermometer. I hope she did. The heater is unplugged right now and I think I'm gonna test it tomorrow in a glass of water to see if it's malfunctioning (just in case.) Tilly is happily swimming around and attacking the bobbing thermometer.

Today was a terribly stressful day. I've been worrying way too much about my fish.

[dramaqueen]

Yeah, I would definitely check the heater out to make sure it's working ok.

[CrowntailTwitchy57]

wow, that sounded like it was really stressful! well, as long as fishy's okay, right?

[TwilightNite]

Oh no, that sounds quite stressful, I would just tell her to keep the heater unplugged just in case, less stress on you.

[freeflow246]

At least your sister was smart enough to call you. My ten year old brother wouldn't have even noticed anything.

[Littlebittyfish]

That bobbing thermometer is quite difficult to read at times. I have one in my goby tank and it is always bobbing the wrong way or looks too cold or too hot and I have to reach in and grab it to see what the temperature is.
I really hope it isn't the heater malfunctioning.

[bkelizabeth]

Twilight: oooohh yesssss, I was soo on edge. Double-checking EVERYTHING, haha.

freeflow: I am very glad that she called me :) at least I know I have a reliable betta baby sitter.

littlebittyfish: yepppp. it ended up being the 11-year-old misreading it, apparently, (I found this out later..) she didn't turn my light on. she used the light from her cell phone to look at my fish, and noticed the temp. I'm sure that shining a flashlight on a thermometer isn't great if you want the actual reading, lmao. I'm sure it reflects weirdly or something. Hhahaha! yes!! well I love bobbing thermometers, my fish does too. I think she befriended this one, so it's staying ;) haha