Dont boil your friends

Question
Hi Karen, a couple of days ago my friends were almost boiled. It was a good thing that I was home and not at work. I constantly check the water temp. and check the water parameters routinely. On this day I noticed that my clown loaches were out of their caves and acting strange. When I took a closer look I felt the tank and it was very warm. I checked the temperature and it was 88, normally it is 80-83. When I checked the heater I found out that the thermostat was broken and it wouldn't turn off. After removing the heater I threw in  some ice cubes and gradually reduced the temp. to a safe range.
Does this unfortunate accident happen to a lot of fish keepers? I believe heaters are very dangerous.I think heaters should have a safety cutoff switch that can be set to shut-off when they near dangerous temp. Also a  beeper that would float and sound a warning would be great.
             Yours Truely,
              Tiboronsito  

Answer
Dear Tiboronsito,
Yes, this does happen. I had a heater that tried to cook my angel fish! I bought a different brand of heater, a Visitherm, and this brand has worked so far in my aquariums. I know sometimes it is almost better just to keep the room at a temperature that the fish can tolerate instead of using a heater. Of course, you can't always do that especially if you have fish that require a higher temperature than is comfortable for you. Try the Visitherm brand. So far it has been the best for me.
Hope this helps!
Karen