Fish getting stuck

[Neuve]

I have a HOB filter the aquaClear Mini. Its set to the minimum water usage, and the syphon is surrounded by some plants. Last week i found my beatiful angelfish stuck there. Maybe he had died before getting stuck but the thing is that just two minutes ago i found one of my corys having trouble with the syphon, his fin got stuck. I turned off the syphon and scared him away with my net.
I dunno if this will happen again but id like to avoid it if possible.
Any comments? suggestions?

 

[William]

The fish getting stuck to it may be sick.

Because I have a HOB, and my fish get drawn towards it from time to time, but their always strong enough to swim away.


So maybe your fish are just sick and weak, and thus can't fight against the suction?

 

[Neuve]

I'd have to get back to you on that one. Theyre allways jolly and playful... Theyre actually (3 of em) looking for fod on top of some of my plants now...

By the way
what do you do when it comes to cleaning any part of your filter? I noticed that any slight movement in the HOB releases a lot of particles in the water again. The ones it's already collected i think...

Any procedures?
I'd Appreciate it.
Pato
TIA

 

[William]

Me? I just net out the big chunks, little ones will get sucked back up eventually.

Thats just me, tho.

 

[tkos]

I had a betta that used to like to swim right against teh intack tube on my AC mini. It was in his path and he would just brush against it. No problems. My cories and white cloud minnows have no problems either. I would have to think that if your fish are getting stuck to it then your fish must be sick or something.

You will always release some particles when you clean the filter. Just a part of it really. Most of that stuff will just get sucked back into the filter again.
How often do you clean it out?

 

[Neuve]

Ummm its got three inserts
And it sez to clean each one once a month, so i do one per week and then stop a week each month

Amrid, AC, and Foam Inserts

 

[TankGirl]

Do you have ammonia that you need to get rid of? If not, there is no need for the Amrid. If you do have ammonia, even a little bit, then that could cause enough trouble to make the fish be unable to fight the current. My filters basically run on Biowheels and filter floss only, or the canisters have ceramic "noodles" for biofiltration and again, only filter floss. The filter floss should not be changed, but merely rinsed out in spent tank water at water changes so as not to disrupt the biological filter present in them. A lot of the bacteria that keep your tank healthy reside in that filter floss, so you just need to rinse out the big chunks of debris, and replace the same floss until it is hopelessly clogged, usually several months. I know this is not what you asked, but your post gave me several clues as to a possible problem, so forgive me if I am on the wrong track!

 

[Neuve]

Well im using Amrid (the insert) just to help my fish get aquainted to its new environment while i save enough money for the test kits. And i think that could help too when you introduce new fish so your am levels dont spike, so thats all im using it for.

Ill stop using it when i know that my tank is fully cycled and probably ill use it again when i introduce a new fish
BTW i think i was hysterical that day, you know, corys are doing great, theyre getting bigger and bigger and loosing the afraid-of-me factor....

Thanx tho
Pato

 

[coolkidthatlike]

well, i had a similar problem not too long ago. My 3" black moore got stuck in one of my little cave decorations. I felt so sorry for him. There is one big hole, then the others arent as big. He got his head stuck in one of the small holes, and tried to wiggle out. It scratched him up pretty good, but now he is nice and healed. I had to remove that decoration.

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

My LFS surrounds all the syphons with what looks like a foam filter insert for the same filter you have (AC mini), they are cheap and you could likely shape it/cut it to fit around the nozzle.
That would solve the problem if suction is the only issue here.

 

[Neuve]

so im supposed to surround the nozzle? NOT shaping a little cylinder and fitting it into the syphon?

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Cut a hole into one side of a low density sponge so that it fits around the intake of the AC filter.