What do I do if the glass thermometer has broken in my tank? Can the fish be poisoned with Mercury? i went ahead and did a 45% water change immediately after it happened, but i was on lunch and that's all the water i could change in an hour, otherwise i would have been late for work HELP!

was the liquid in the thermometer red ow was it silver and also are there little balls in the nottom od the tank?

It was red liquid but i didn't see any little balls in the tank i saw some little black ones that looked like they were stuck in the red stuff. Lil E bit the end of the thermometer when i was pulling it out of the tank to clean it off and he broke the glass and the end went some where in the tank but i sure as heck cant find it. The fish are all still very active but after it happened last night my strawberry acted like she was going to die and just started sulking. there was no rapid gill movement or anything

If this was a thermometer made for aquarium tanks? then most of them air just Dyed alchohol. they don't come with mercury in them... but my glass one has little steel/lead balls in the bottom of it for weight

the reading that I have been doing about them sais that they should not be at to much risk other than broken glass or thos little balls and a little buzz from the alchohol... I would deffinetly continue doing water changes and try to sift through your substrate for any debree......I hope that your strawberry didn't swallow the glass when he broke it

That's what I wanted to hear! yes it was for an aquarium. but it looked like the little balls just stayed stuck up inside the part of the thermometer that wasn't broken. i'm glad people are smart enough to realize not to put mercury in an aquarium thermometer! I thought i was gonna come home and all my fishies were gonna be in fishie heaven

See that's what bothered me the strawberry didn't break the thermometer Lil E the tiger did and he didn't even act bothered by it but Pinky sulked horribly

this is what I think

Couple of possibilities here and the difference is very important. Was the liquid in the thermometer red? If so, then the silver balls from the bottom are simply lead birdshot that are added to the thermometer to keep it bottom heavy. While having a whole lot of lead in your aquarium gravel (and you should get as many of them out as you can) is not a great idea, lead does not leach into water very quickly and should not pose any major health hazard to your fish.

On the other hand...if the liquid in the thermometer was a silver color and the silver balls look very shiny then there is a chance you've now got mercury in your tank. That's a completely different story than lead....mercury is toxic to your fish AND to you! I'm not quite sure how you would get mercury out of an aquarium. I suppose you'd almost have to tear the whole thing down, discard the gravel, and start over again.

This is just my opinion.... I would maybe try to PM necro or OFL they would probably no best

I know the liquid was red but i will stil have to sift the sand and make sure to get any balls that did get in there

well good luck and let me know how it all works out.... I would still get in touch with Necro or OFL about this

i just pm ofl so i will see what he says. i'm gonna do another 30% water change when i get home.