Habitat - Indoor :: Help! My beast of a turt broke her heater?! Is this unsafe?

[kidzncatz]

When I went to turn on her lights this morning I noticed the heater was cracked & floating in the tank and there was a piece on the bottom. I unplugged it immediately and took it out & fished the piece out of the bottom. I took Tubby out and put her in the utility sink (which when I rinsed that out I discovered it had been yanked away from the wall somehow and water spilled all over my feet & the laundry room floor, but that's a separate disaster)

ANYWAY, is there anything that could hurt her in the water now? Like anything in the heater that could mess with the water quality? Any chemicals or something? Forgive me if this is a stupid question but I don't want to take any chances.

Do you think I should do a complete water change? Tubby is in the utility sink sans water & is none too pleased (I can hear her thrashing around.) Well, thanks in advance for your help. What a morning!

[jenaero]

Was there just one piece broken off or is it in shards? If it's in a billion little pieces, a complete change is in order. If it's just the one chunk then I'd check the tank for anything that might be sitting on the bottom before putting her back in.

[Kallistos]

^Like she said,

Kind of off topic, but the next heater you purchase, I'd recommend a Visi-Therm Stealth heater, they won't break, trust me.

[DavidY]

Yea I don't thing they put any chemicals in the heater itself (like they do with flourescent light bulbs). It should be safe as long as there are no pieces of broken glass in there. You may want to run a gravel vacuum or siphon along the bottom of the tank just in case since you won't be able to see any small pieces. That way you can also do a partial water change which is usually a good thing anyway.

[kidzncatz]

Thanks for your replies. It seems to be broken in just two pieces & I've taken those out of the bottom. I've returned her to the tank & am going to do a vac/water change once dh comes home & fixes the utility sink.

Resowner, I've got a line on a Visi-Therm Stealth 250 all ready. Thanks so much for the suggestion!

[industrial_girl_2000]

Yup, the Visi-Therm is the BEST thing for heavy-duty bossy/strong adult turtles (I have switched to Visi-therm & couldn't be happier with it).

[steve]

I'd still do a water change.