# Can fish be burnt by aquarium heaters?



## ludds (Sep 7, 2010)

I have 2 Oscars they seem to be courting each other, According to the previous owner they paired up.
I notice a burn mark the the males lips. He always heads towards the heater and the female traps well corners him in the same spot.
And it happens vis versa now the female looks too have a boil on her eye.
Now if its a burn is there any way to treat it or just let it heal?


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## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

If I take my time doing a water change and leave the water level low with the heater still plugged in it can get hot enough to burn me. So yes I would say that it is possible for it to burn fish - I wouldn't expect it to do that during normal operation though.


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## ludds (Sep 7, 2010)

I unplug the heater during WC I learned the hard way in the past...( cracked heaters in the past). 
Thanks for the input Bunny.


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## Steve (Mar 27, 2013)

If you touch a heater while its on underwater (not advised), you can burn yourself. Fish do get killed from heaters from time to time. None of the damage seems too bad from those pictures to me? I'm not oscar expert though


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## DBam (Aug 9, 2010)

Could have been the heater, fish burn themselves quite easily, especially the more of a bottom-dweller a fish is. The chasing and breeding behavior could have caused those injuries too. At least neither injury looks serious. As long as clean water quality is maintained injuries should heal up quickly.


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