Shocking Experience !

It could have been the needle like bristles on their fins.  I was cleaning and I rubbed my hand against it.  I thought that my fish had turned from a peaceful bottom swimmer to a vicious paranha.  If it was a shock then it wont effect your fish as they are a conductor in the circuit, you get shocked because you complete the cicuit.  The electricity travels from your heater, to the water/ fish in the tank.  When you are added to the picture you allow the electricity through you to the ground.  Since you said you touched the heater and got shoked then maybe your heater is broken, but the water would shock you instead as it conducts electricity.  Are you sure the bristles on the fin didn't poke you?

Yeah,  they can live thru it.  I bet 99% of us here have dealt with that.  I "think" it has to do with the fact that the fish are not grounded in the water,  but we obviously are when walking around.  I "think".  Maybe Dragonkeeper will come along and help explain.  Be happy that is the way heater failed.  The worst is when it fails and cooks the tank.

I got shocked yesterday by a faulty heater.  This was my first experience getting shocked in one of my tanks.  The heater was a Stealth 200w from Marineland.  It was a fairly new heater, less than a year old.

I was trying to get to one of my plecos that was hiding behind it so I just slid it up to the top of the tank.  I was rounding a couple of my plecos up and a couple of seconds later when my thumb it the water I got zapped.  Sacred the crap out of me.

I immediately unplugged everything.

Could my fish have been living with that electric current in the water?  I didn't lose any, thankfully. 

Bottomfeeders