my filter ate my fish!

[shay1012]

Hi again guys. I hope I'm not becoming a pest. Anyway...i moved to fish into my 30g and added some dwarf Cory cats cuz they are too cute. Before we went to work last night I did a tail count Cuz I'm compulsive like that and noticed that we were missing a guppy.we moved decorations around and couldn't find him then checked the old tank in case he was left behind and he wasn't there either. My fiance thought maybe the filter sucked him up but I dismissed that and figured he would show up later. When we got him he still wasnt there but I went to bed confident he would resurface for the morning feeding. This morning he wasn't there and were were missing another guppy plus 3 of the dwarf cories. I finally gave in and we searched the filter and sure enough 2 of the cories were in there still alive along with some ripped up bodies that I can only assume the two guppies and the remaining Cory.we have turned the filter off and I'm thinking of using a pieces of a pair of panty hoes to put over the intake tube to prevent any more casualties. Is this a good idea? Is there another way?

 

[Keke89]

I am curious.... Cause something similar happened to me... What filter do you have?

 

[shay1012]

An aquatic power filter.

 

[Brookster123]

Pantyhose are fine, wash em first in plain water, no soap..

 

[ScotJudd]

I cover my inlets with a piece of old fish net. It is open weave enough to let small particle through but not the fish. I found panty hose clogged too quickly and reduced my filter water flow.

 

[shay1012]

It was supposed to come with a strainer cover but somewhere in assembly we lost it.

 

[tnfinfan]

Just buy another strainer cover (or call the customer service number and tell them it was missing from the box... Maybe it was?) Stick something over the hole ASAP, though. It looks like a nice, safe hidey hole to a fish.

 

[shay1012]

We found the cover. I'm just sad the fish had to die such terrible deaths because of me.

 

[Plantaholic]

Sorry to hear of your loss... These things happen to all of us when starting out, the important thing is that we learn from it, allowing us to better take care of our fish going forward!