Small fish and filters issues

R

rosewx12

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May 28, 2011
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(Warning, sad post)

We just lost our first White Cloud Mountain Minnow. :( I found it stuck in our filter pipe. I didn't think it was possible for it to fit but I guess it could swim sideways and get wedged. I feel really bad because my daughter has been leaving small toys in front of the tank for the fish. I realized at bedtime instead she left her favorite 1 ft tall bright red parrot. I found 3 of the fish that normally swim around hiding behind the plants and the 4th dead in the filter.

I tested the water and all levels seem normal. The tank is fully cycled and the other 3 fish seem fine. The one in the filter looked injured but I couldn't tell if it was a pre filter injury or a got stuck in the filter injury. So my question is can I do anything to protect small fish from filter injury? I was planning on adding some more fish but I don't want to hurt anyone else. I'm not sure if this was a freak accident caused by poor scared fish or if my filter is an accident waiting to happen. I will have a long talk with my daughters tomorrow about appropriate things to leave in front of the fish tank.

Thank you and I'm sorry to post sad news. I actually cried over the poor thing. :(

Thank you,
Rose
 
Filters are of questionable worth anyway, if you are running them 24/7. If you've tried the brita water system out you know how little use you can get out of that much activated carbon. Once it's been running a couple days it's probably doing very little good. It can build up good bacteria inside but this is not really a good point as whenever you change it out or clean it you can lose all of it.

Powerhead undergravel filter seems to make for much more stable tank, and if you have a small tank it's very easy to just dump half the water a couple times a week or any time it looks dirty,
 
What filter do you have? What do you mean by "normal" levels?

There is always the possibility that it was sick, died, and the dead body got pulled into the intake of the filter. However, for future precaution you can buy prefilters to fit over intakes or wrap something like a sponge (not used obviously) or even pantyhose around the intake to prevent any large objects from getting caught.

SickBum said:
Filters are of questionable worth anyway, if you are running them 24/7. If you've tried the brita water system out you know how little use you can get out of that much activated carbon. Once it's been running a couple days it's probably doing very little good. It can build up good bacteria inside but this is not really a good point as whenever you change it out or clean it you can lose all of it.

Powerhead undergravel filter seems to make for much more stable tank, and if you have a small tank it's very easy to just dump half the water a couple times a week or any time it looks dirty,
Click to expand...

I'm confused, are you saying that filters are not necessary?
 
As jpappy notes, getting a sponge prefilter for the intake tube is a great way to prevent small fish from getting into the filter, though usually most healthy fish can swim away from it unless they are fry. There is nothing questionable about running a filter 24/7....keep your filter on.
 
A healthy fish should easily be able to escape the suction of your tank's filter. As jpappy mentioned, the fish was probably already sick/weak/old before getting stuck. If you're still concerned, just stick an aquaclear sponge over the intake pipe.


SickBum said:
Filters are of questionable worth anyway, if you are running them 24/7. If you've tried the brita water system out you know how little use you can get out of that much activated carbon. Once it's been running a couple days it's probably doing very little good. It can build up good bacteria inside but this is not really a good point as whenever you change it out or clean it you can lose all of it.

Powerhead undergravel filter seems to make for much more stable tank, and if you have a small tank it's very easy to just dump half the water a couple times a week or any time it looks dirty,
Click to expand...

... Funny, I'd only consider a filter worth using if you run it 24/7. First of all, carbon is entirely unnecessary in an aquarium and I haven't used the stuff in over 10 years. Some use it, some don't, that's fine. Second of all, you don't lose "all" of the beneficial bacteria when you clean the filter media. If you're using an HOB filter, you only need simply to rinse the media in old tank water. There is no reason to throw away the filter media in an HOB filter. I've never used a canister filter, but I'm sure others can chime in on their methods for preserving their bacteria colony. IMO, undergravel filters trap a lot of food and debris underneath the plates and are messy.
 
If a fish get stuck on a filter that fish generally is already sick and weak.
 
Well it looks like you guys are right. :( It's definitely not the filter. I was getting ready for a just in case water change and I watched another one of the fish go from acting "funny" to suddenly collapsing upside down to the bottom of the tank. I've pulled him out into an emergency container and he's alive but not at all healthy. The other two remaining (White Cloud Mountain Minnow) are swimming fine but definitely not their normal active selves. I'm going to do the water change in case that helps. When it opens I'll bring the sick fish and it's water to the fish store to see if they can tell me what's wrong.

(Oh and by normal levels the tank tests 0 for ammonia. The PH is still 7.4-7.6 like it was when the tank started and Nitrate levels are 5ppm.)

Thank you,
Rose
 
How are you testing the water? If you have dip strips, which are notoriously unreliable, you should toss them and get a good liquid kit. API Freshwater Master kit is highly recommended and well worth the money. FYI, a good LFS will use liquid tests and give you very specific readings for all tests. If your LFS uses dip strips, there's almost no point in taking the fish/water to them (unless you want to get replacement fish). Hope this helps.
 
I'm using the API Freshwater Master Kit. I picked one up after someone here recommended it on another post. I'm not sure how my fish store tests. I am mainly hoping they can look at the fish that just died and tell me if there is anything physically wrong with it. The fins look a little funny but since they were always slightly white tipped I can't tell if that was the problem. (I looked at a picture of White CLoud Mountain Minnows and they do have white on the fins.) They poor things are very small and I have no experience diagnosing fish issues. I definitely don't want to get any more fish until I know why the first batch is having issues!

Thank you,
Rose
 
SickBum said:
Filters are of questionable worth anyway, if you are running them 24/7. If you've tried the brita water system out you know how little use you can get out of that much activated carbon. Once it's been running a couple days it's probably doing very little good. It can build up good bacteria inside but this is not really a good point as whenever you change it out or clean it you can lose all of it.

Powerhead undergravel filter seems to make for much more stable tank, and if you have a small tank it's very easy to just dump half the water a couple times a week or any time it looks dirty,
Click to expand...
:scratches head:

Are people still listening to this guy??
 
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