Glofish swims up into my HOB filter!

[FishFanMan]

Happy 4th everyone!

After searching for 30 minutes for the missing glofish, I found it in my HOB.
Overnight, it swam against the current into the filter! So I took the filter
apart and put him in the tank. After an hour, he did it again...

What do I make of this and how can I prevent it!!! My thinking right
now is to find some type of mesh and put it over where the water goes
into the tank.

Any thoughts? The fish looks very healthy, eating fine, I checked water
parameters yesterday and it's always zero across the board. Nothing
changed in the tank for about a week; last Sunday I put in 15mls of
API Leaf Zone.

 

[67chevelle]

Did you name it Nemo?

What kind of filter is it?

 

[AbbeysDad]

Consider a Fluval sponge pre-filter for the inlet strainer...

http://www.amazon.com/Pre-Filter-Sp...?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1313977053&sr=1-8

 

[FreshyFresh]

Consider a Fluval sponge pre-filter for the inlet strainer...

The fish is swimming up the waterfall outlet.

I'm curious what type of HOB this is too. I know there's not much room in my AC 30's.

Fishman, you say your parameters are zero across the board. No nitrates can indicate a tank that's not cycled.

 

[FishFanMan]

It's the Aquatop PF40-UV, you can see the space to the left; that's where he swam into.
This filter has a mechanical filter sponge in a holder on the right side, the middle is the housing
where the UV light is and to the left is open space.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Hmm. Neat looking HOB. Didn't know they existed with UV 'cleaning'.

 

[FishFanMan]

As far as the cycling, I did a fishy cycle using Aquabella. At the time I didn't check parameter
because I didn't have the kit. I just did 25% WCs every few days, and kept adding fish every
few days. I bought a kit about a 4 weeks ago, since then my eyes tell me zero for the big 3.
I'd be surprised it this tank hasn't cycled by now. I only do WC when I clean the top of the sand
every 2 weeks now. I'm trying to believe the hype of Aquabella that it contains nitrogen eating
bacteria, so that's why no nitrates?

The only thing I struggle with is pH, the low pH test shows blue (7.6) and high pH test shows 7.4
and I'm trying to get it to 7.0 to 7.2 (some green in the low pH test). I've used lots of API pH down
but the pH readings done change. Over the last month, I've added lots of this stuff. I make my new
water slightly acidic before I add it to the tank, but hasn't done anything yet. I don't want to add more
the API pH down into my tank at the moment, so I'm not too hung up on this. Several LFS told me don't
bother because most fish are raised in a bit higher pH condition and are used to it.

 

[FreshyFresh]

The main thing is that you maintain 0,0 for ammonia and nitrites. Normally you're seeing nothing but nitrates in a month to 6 weeks or so. Why are you concerned about pH? Be it low or high, the main thing is maintain a constant pH. Running it up and down by using additives will stress your fish big time.

IMO, keep monitoring your water parameters with your API kit and leave your pH where your tap water is at.

 

[FishFanMan]

I'm a bit of a perfectionist, thus my goal to decrease pH for the health of the fish and plants. But I'm
over that and I'm ok with 7.4. I also had a bit of an obsession with water hardness and used lots of
distilled water to get it down, it's pretty good now.

Anyway, here's a picture of this apparently great swimmer in the HOB.



And my quick fix, hope it works..



Now I can relax and enjoy the 4th, I hope.

 

[67chevelle]

As far as your fish swimming into the filter, that's a new one for me. I would try cutting some bulk filter pad and placing it in the way so the fish can't get into the filter.

EDIT: Looks like you came up with a good solution. That was along the idea I was thinking about with the filter pad. Love the pic of the fish in the filter. That is one strong swimmer.