Stray Voltage

[loans_n_fishes]

Last night when I went to feed my fish, I got a mild jolt! One of my powerheads was apparantly leaking voltage into the tank. It couldn't have been doing it for too long (relatively speaking of course) because I had my hand in the tank that morning.

Of course, I quickly unplugged it and retested the water which was now fine. Everybody seems to be ok, but should I be on the lookout for any particular symptoms?

Is there any way to find out the problem with the powerhead and fix it, or is it toast? I just got it in October.

[GaryP]

Stray voltage can cause lateral line disease in fish, particularly tangs. Here are a bunch of links on LLD.

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/hlleorlledisease/

[captexas]

Something as small and sealed as a powerhead will not have much that you could fix. It's much safer to just replace it. Do you have a grounding probe on your tank? Those are a great safety feature when used properly. As far as the tank inhabitants go, if they don't currently show any strange behavior, they should be fine. I think most symptoms for stray voltage are usually seen in strange/erratic swimming behavior in fish and some stress diseases.

Glad to hear you are ok! :)

[loans_n_fishes]

Yeah, thinking back about it...It was probably not the smartest thing in the world to check WITH MY HAND! :o

[Ping]

Grounding probes are a must in our hobby. And they need to be used with a GFCI.

Once an elctrical device gets seawater into the electrical portions throw them away. It usually does alot of ireperable damage quickly. If it is a fray in the supply cord then it can probably be repaired

[alton]

Be carfull with grounding probes!!!!!!!! Some people swear by them and love them but, they can add voltage to your aquarium. Because of dry conditions or for whatever reason if you lose your ground at your service or becomes poor, your grounding probe in your aquarium becomes a partial ground for your service. This happened to one of my friends. Also if you have lightning strikes close to your home. If you are going to stick equipment in your water make sure it is grounded and on GFCI's. Also a good practice is to tap the top of your water with a finger tip, before sticking your whole arm into your aquarium. On carpet with shoes on you will probably never notice it, but bare foot and on a damp tile floor it could be deadly.

[loans_n_fishes]

WOW! The electricity could have been high then. I was in shoes on a carpet and felt it.

Hmm...hard to know what to do grounding probe-wise.