fish in filter

[fishdude]

i have an aquaclear 300 (i think) in my 29 gal. recently my tank water didnt look to good and i went searching for the problem, dead fish or something, found nothing except 3 green fire tetras were gone.

well eventually i had to clean my HOB filter and i pulled out the holder that the filter bags were in, and like i always do i forgot to turn the filter off :P.
well a bunch of gunk shot out along with 3 green fire tetras (dead).

i have figured out that they were sucked in the filter intake. what can i put over it to make the holes smaller? maybe a sponge or something?



thanks

[Uncle Bete]

yip a sponge would work

[missymoo]

cheesecloth type material ???


maybe you should keep the fish from watching Finding Nemo...maybe they are getting "ideas"
:D

[often dignified]

what happened to your intake strainer? that would prevent the problem.

[Uncle Bete]

Thats was my thought at first... strainer?
But an AC300 does have a fairly big tube and slots big enough for something like a small neon to slip through.

[jeffro426]

Also try turning down the flow rate if your running it at full tilt...a 300 is rated for up to a 100 gallon tank so im sure its giving you a ton of flow...maybe too much for such little fish.

[dethjam316]

i disagree, jeff. an AC 300 wouldn't filter jack in a 100g tank. i think using a 300 on a 29 is just about optimal at a little more than 10g per hour. so i wouldn't turn it down. the strainers on those are pretty good, never had any small fish sucked in...but maybe you could try putting a cut piece from nylon stockings around the inttake with a rubber band or something? of course, you'd get larger debris stuck on it, or it wouldn't get sucked it, so you'd have to be a little more diligent during water changes, etc., but it'd save fish. i know people who have done similar things to prevent fry from getting sucked in, and it worked.

[fishdude]

thanks

[delmore]

Fish get sucked into filter for one reason -- because they are dead. Healthy, adult fish will NEVER get sucked into a HOB filter in a reasonable set up, like yours.

I have Aquaclears on my 4 tanks and have never had a fish sucked into the intake. the exception is fry. For fry a spongefilter is the thing to use.

Filter bags for an Aquaclear??? All you need are the sponges. Only use charcol to remove meds or some other special maintenance.

[fishdude]

the tank, the filter,the hood and light, even the carbon and sponges came to me second hand