Glass thermometer broke in wc container!!!

So my thermometer broke in my water change bucket and I changed my water using some of it, didn't notice till it was too late.
It was a new batch of water mixed yesterday but the thermometer was fine yesterday.

The liquid in the glass was red but the balls were in the water. At the bottom

Do I need to be worried????

 

it is alcohol, a lot less toxic than mercury.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_thermometer

 

Oh good.

Should I dump the water left?

 

I didn't know people are still using glass thermometers for this purpose. The heater is enough to tell if the water is ok right? I use this if I need to check the temp.
http://www.harborfreight.com/hand-t...d-thermometer-with-laser-targeting-69465.html

 

I would, just for the heck of it. Not much financial loss there but a piece of mind....(We are talking about 5 gallon bucket right?)

 

I don't use glass thermometer's in my tank, I use it when mixing new water.

I have never had one break!

Clearly never using them again.lol.

Glad they don't use mercury anymore

I mixed about 4 gallons for my water change. Did my 15g tanks 1.2 gallon change, then noticed the stupid balls at the bottom of the bucket.

Immediately did a search on the severity of my situation. Apparently its happened in dt with no ill effects.

I will dump the remaining 3 gallons and will make a new batch.

 

Thank you for the quick responses!

 

Have to say, At least it wasn't Mercury. Although they don't sell these anymore, there certainly are some still laying around. At my LFS my husband and I have been eyeballing HUGE (ok so like 25 heads, haha) frog spawn. We've been asking about it for about 2 months now. Well, we are basically there weekly, and last weekend we went in (only one week since the last time) and the skeleton of the frog spawn was out of the tank In a different tank, Completely bare of any flesh. They told us they lost the whole tank due to a "Mercury thermometer break."

We don't go to this store anymore. This (coral) skeleton that died from mercury poisoning was in a new tank with other fish and corals. I'm a nurse but I think it's pretty common sense to know that you cannot elleviate Mercury from bone which is essentially what it is, and if this Mercury was in the water they had been putting their hands in, there a good chance the workers could get sick. Unless they siphoned the Mercury balls out and cleaned it properly with gloves. So they are either putting a Mercury poisoned skeleton in a healthy tank or they're lying about how it died.

Long story short, I have my doubts that it was Mercury but would be bad if it was.

Glad yours was alcohol.

 

I'm assuming mine was alcohol. I read that most thermometers that have red or blue are alcohol.

Apparently most thermometers don't have mercury???

 

They quit making Mercury thermometers for home use and medical distribution around 2001. They are still distributed however to some labs for industrial use. The NIST has also discontinued any type of calibration for medical thermometers.

Ironically the first indication of mercury poisoning and the harm Mercury can cause was because the inner lining (felt)of hats used to be made with Mercury, exposing hat makers to the toxins for prolonged periods. Hence the term Mad Hatters!!

This concludes education hour with April!