Kuhlis in the filter!!!

[JoeyGeeze]

So Friday night I purchased 7 kuhli loaches... Tiny little guys. The last two days I have only seen one, the largest of the bunch. Starting to feel that either my fish ate them or they disappeared, I did some investigating. Nothing in the gravel... Nothing in the caves.... Nothing in the driftwood... Hmmmm

Last resort? My canister filter..... WELP... Not 1.... Not 2... But SIX kuhlis in the filter!!! Swimming around like it was their vacation resort from home. I placed them back in the tank and made a late night run to the grocery store for panty hose, not the kind of thing a man wants to be seen purchasing at 8pm!! LOL. I made a temporary cover over my filter intake.

Unfortunately, one little guy doesn't look like he will make it, he was stuck between the sponge and filter cartridge. Hopefully he pulls through. Is there a permanent fix for this besides panty hose?? I have a Fluval 306 canister.

Btw I think my girlfriend owes me an apology, she said I was crazy to think they got in the filter!!

 

[skiweeangel]

I think a sponge over the intake if you want to change out the panty hose, but it's the same basic thing. Maybe someone else could lend some more help. PS you gave my husband and I a good laugh! hehe

 

[George9]

So Friday night I purchased 7 kuhli loaches... Tiny little guys. The last two days I have only seen one, the largest of the bunch. Starting to feel that either my fish ate them or they disappeared, I did some investigating. Nothing in the gravel... Nothing in the caves.... Nothing in the driftwood... Hmmmm

Last resort? My canister filter..... WELP... Not 1.... Not 2... But SIX kuhlis in the filter!!! Swimming around like it was their vacation resort from home. I placed them back in the tank and made a late night run to the grocery store for panty hose, not the kind of thing a man wants to be seen purchasing at 8pm!! LOL. I made a temporary cover over my filter intake.

Unfortunately, one little guy doesn't look like he will make it, he was stuck between the sponge and filter cartridge. Hopefully he pulls through. Is there a permanent fix for this besides panty hose?? I have a Fluval 306 canister.

Btw I think my girlfriend owes me an apology, she said I was crazy to think they got in the filter!!

Oh my gosh!! Sorry, I had to laugh at this. Lol how small are they? They fit through the cracks between the intake nozzle? That's scarey

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The pantyhose is the permanent solution. :/ it's that, a sponge or some fly screen mesh.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

LOL yes I had to sit back and laugh at this my self. I couldn't believe it, when I opened it up and seen that first kuhli. My only mistake was putting them right back into my tank. In retrospect, I should have placed them in a bucket first and fed them.. But I panicked!

They are tiny, like inch and a half or so, and so skinny! I assume they slid right through the cracks of the intake on the filter. The out take is quite powerful of a flow so I doubt they swam against that to get in.... But who knows!?! Thanks for the quick responses, I'll have to get some zip ties and make a permanent fix with panty hose LOL. Right now it's on there with a twist tie off my loaf of bread... I was desperate!

 

[George9]

LOL yes I had to sit back and laugh at this my self. I couldn't believe it, when I opened it up and seen that first kuhli. My only mistake was putting them right back into my tank. In retrospect, I should have placed them in a bucket first and fed them.. But I panicked!

They are tiny, like inch and a half or so, and so skinny! I assume they slid right through the cracks of the intake on the filter. The out take is quite powerful of a flow so I doubt they swam against that to get in.... But who knows!?! Thanks for the quick responses, I'll have to get some zip ties and make a permanent fix with panty hose LOL. Right now it's on there with a twist tie off my loaf of bread... I was desperate!

Well, thanks for the info lol. I was planning on getting some this week with my fluval 305. I'll make sure they won't get stuck in the filter.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Well, thanks for the info lol. I was planning on getting some this week with my fluval 305. I'll make sure they won't get stuck in the filter.

Definitely buy panty hose LOL.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Update..... So one of the kuhlis didn't make it through the night I still have 6 of them. As far as the panty hose, it seems to clog quite easily. This morning there was a bunch of little junk stuck to it. Is this something I'm going to have to clean on a daily basis? If the panty hose is going to effect the quality of the water because the filter can't take everything out, I may have to rethink this approach :/ or rethink kuhli loaches. Maybe a sponge is better? Any suggestions?

 

[manbeast]

I once pulled over 20 guppy fry from my Rena xp3, a corse sponge would work well some thing @ 30 ppi or above shouldn't clog to quikly

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I once pulled over 20 guppy fry from my Rena xp3, a corse sponge would work well some thing @ 30 ppi or above shouldn't clog to quikly

Do they make a sponge I can purchase at the fish store? Or is that something I need to be creative with?

 

[glassbird]

Try craft mesh. It comes in colors, likw brown, black, and green, that can blend into the tank decor. I use black. You can use zip ties to form a cylindrical shield 2-3 inches out away from the intake. This will keep anyone from being sucked into the filter, or even up against it. The holes are big enough to let larger bits of debris thru, and into the filter.

Around Easter time, you can get craft mesh in the shape of a three dimensional egg, perfect for this purpose. Cut out 3-4 rows from the pointy end, just enough to let you slide the intake tube into the interior and then snap on the bottom of the egg to enclose the intake all around. I use small zip ties to secure the two halves together for extra safety. The eggs only come in white, so you might want to paint those with Krylon Fusion, and let them dry for 3 days before putting under water. I use the eggs (painted) to keep goldfish fry safe from an Eheim 2028, as well as general wild life in my outside ponds safely away from the pond pump intake.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

Try craft mesh. It comes in colors, likw brown, black, and green, that can blend into the tank decor. I use black. You can use zip ties to form a cylindrical shield 2-3 inches out away from the intake. This will keep anyone from being sucked into the filter, or even up against it. The holes are big enough to let larger bits of debris thru, and into the filter.

Around Easter time, you can get craft mesh in the shape of a three dimensional egg, perfect for this purpose. Cut out 3-4 rows from the pointy end, just enough to let you slide the intake tube into the interior and then snap on the bottom of the egg to enclose the intake all around. I use small zip ties to secure the two halves together for extra safety. The eggs only come in white, so you might want to paint those with Krylon Fusion, and let them dry for 3 days before putting under water. I use the eggs (painted) to keep goldfish fry safe from an Eheim 2028, as well as general wild life in my outside ponds safely away from the pond pump intake.

I'm sorry, I have no idea what craft mesh is lol. Is that a cloth material or a plastic? I assume it can be purchased at an arts and craft type store?

I have some cheese cloth at home that may work as well. However, for cleaning and easy removal purposes, I'd like to get some form of sponge that can connect on and off. Once I start zip tying things to the intake, they arent exactly easy to remove.

 

[LyndaB]

You only need to worry for a short time. Before long, they'll be way to fat and juicy to fit into the filter tube.

 

[2ndtimer]

Sorry your loach didn't make.. I use the sponge pre-filters on the end of the uptake tube which works very well in keeping the sand out of my filter motors. I read also that these are simply paint strainers you can get very cheap at the hardware store. They should solve your problem with clogging and sucking up small fish Hope this works out...

 

[LyndaB]

You could also cut a piece of carwash sponge to fit over the tip of your filter. That's pretty much a no brainer. I do that in my RCS tank.

 

[JoeyGeeze]

I was actually looking at something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000255OZ4

It seems to be an easy solution and can connect right to my intake stem. My only concern is losing the check ball valve on my current strainer. I believe that has something to do with maintaining proper suction for my filter.

I guess I could just cut up a large sponge and put a fitted hole in it so it slides right over the current strainer. I was trying to avoid the DIY way haha.

 

[2ndtimer]

Lol... DIY can be great sometimes If you already have the sponge, at least you won't lose any money and you will be able to see if it works out for you...... Good luck!

 

[skiweeangel]

you might need to alter something from your lfs

 

[manbeast]

sorry for the slow response time but this is along the lines of what I was talking about, found it on www.thatpetplace.com

 

[2ndtimer]

These are the pre-filters I'm using and they work great... There is very little interference with water flow and they limit cleanings of the main filter...