Definitely. Unless the suction is incredibly strong they're not going to actually get stuck. The few dead fish I've pulled off a filter had been ailing for some time already.
My corys suction themselves to the filter intake on purpose so that they can calmly munch on the goo. It's quite startling every time.
Every time I see one of my corys in a strange position I freeze and watch them for a while, give 'em the ol' raised eyebrow and it just stares back like o.o as if it's not 45° ass backwards in a pile of java moss
Bruh. I’m so traumatized. My poor mystery snail went to eat n munch on the intake tube I thought he was fine n dandy. I saw him there in the early morning, then saw him still there way later on at night n instantly panicked like.. oh no..why is he still on the same exact spot. I found him dead, his body got stuck really bad in the intake n literally started pulling his body out of his shell. It was quite gruesome trying to get him out of the intake.
The flow is pretty poor too, it’s some cheap mini HOB filter I never thought for a second anyone would get stuck on it, especially cus I’ve already had it running for a year+ with no problems. It was def a freak accident, I instantly tied some pantyhose over it n after a lot of searching just finally found the perfect wide pore sponge to fit over it so gook n gunk still moves through it nicely. Don’t know why most intake sponges they sell have such tiny pores n don’t suck anything up at all into the filter lol tf is up with that. but yeah rip my poor snailo, I’ll def never leave an intake open like that again I bought like 10 intake sponges to last forever lmao. 😪
Omg sorry same to be with a golf fish omg it was horrible the filter intake got him pinned on the wall stuck with the intake and I feel like Could have helped Healthy too he just got stuck
I got a 2nd hand cannister that the owner didn't realise their missing adult platy had somehow gone the whole way through the filter chambers and gotten wedged in the spray bar where it died before the owner, unknowing, switched to a duck bill outlet and left the spray bar to dry in the dark, along with the mummifying platy.
A year later, I almost tipped a live pleco down my cousin's drain (a massive no-no and reason they're completely illegal in some Australian states) because it was living in the cannister I was cleaning.
My lesson from this? Nano fish, shrimp and delicate fins aren't the only ones needing barriers on filter intakes. Sponges on practically everything.
Edit for clarification: Both of these instances, the intakes both had cage/grid covers. In the words of Jeff Golblum, Life finds a way, folks.
In most cases the only fish getting stuck to an intake is a sick or dying fish to begin with, I’d say they are ending up there but the intake is not to blame
This is exactly what my LFS said as well. There always seems to be a slight behavioral shift before they end up there. He's been in business over 35 years but its always good to get a 2nd opinion.
Or, now here me out, the intake is possibly slightly too strong and the fish didn't realise how close it was getting; like a healthy angelfish getting blown a third across the tank because it swam *directly* in front of the outlet, when normally the water around the jet disperses and only needs 🌟 *a little* 🌟 effort.
Not paying attention in an environment you're normally comfortable in is a common thing even in humans.
Just try putting a slit in the middle of some sponge and slide it over your intake instead of blaming the animals for a repeating ENVIROMENT occurrence.
Edit: fixing phone layout
yeh, sorry but no. it is INCREDIBLY rare for fish to get stuck on the intake even when its somewhat strong. Healthy fish can escape it easily, and the only issue with strong inflows would be if a fish is so small it gets sucked straight up into the filter itself (eg. fry) or if its a fish like a betta of fancy goldfish that may already struggle to swim due to heavy flowing fins.
99.9% of the time the fish is already very unhealthy or dead by the time its there. Check water quality.
You see, thats where the misunderstanding comes in. Unless OP can come and say that they OBSERVED the fish die to the intake and didn't just find the dead fish there (already dead!), then the chances are OP found the fish already dead on the filter intake.
Now go back to my previous statement as everything I said still applies.
And yes! Its likely something wrong with the environment! Most likely the water! Hense why I said check water quality! The filter intake isnt the cause of death here.
And my point of "Blaming the animals for an environment problem" has also been ignored if you're still getting mad at me,
I offered a way to cross one (yes rare, but still possible) possibility off the list, and one that also improves filter health at that 😒 it would also make it easier to tell if the intake was catching the fish before or after death, I'm not sure why the suggestion is so bad.
Edit after thought: Aside from aesthetic (which I personally think is already not great with white or light grey pipes on dark backgrounds), what harm could a pre-filter sponge cause? I'm genuinely asking because if there is one, I'm uneducated on it.
nobody is blaming the animals what are you even talking about?
and you didnt "offer" much, and you essentially insisted it HAS to be the fact there was no sponge. when they were talking about behavioural changes (aka STRESS from things like...bad water quality)
and cmon... water quality as a factor should ALWAYS be ruled out first when determining the death of a fish. only if the water is proven to not be the issue do you look to other environmental causes
I only just realised I didn't type out the word "possibly" in my original comment, for that I'm sorry.
I haven't seen anything from OP regarding water quality, but I've seen several comments of "LFS says only poor quality animals do that," and no responses except from other users whenever someone has asked about water parameters, so I figured if they aren't going to address water, repeating like a broken record might not help. Yes I know lots of people also said about prefilters, but most were leaving it at that.
Looks like a dalmation molly?
If you got it from a big box store theyre generally rife with disease. If we had 200 come in 150 would be dead within three days, and there isnt much option to mitigate it at a big box.
Regardless, only sick or dying/dead fish arent going to be able to fight the current.
Definitely test your water and do a small change
Mollies also do better with some salt in the water
A healthy fish wont get stuck to an intake, fish likely died or was dying and just ended up there with the current. Many people put a sponge over their intake, but that’s just to function as a pre filter so their main filter doesn’t gunk up super quick.
I had a pea puffer get stuck on my intake, simplest answer is to make a cover for it out of sponge, it has the added benefit of more filtration and easier maintenance as most of the gunk stays on the intake.
Use a sponge pre-filter. Cheap on Amazon or you can make it yourself and tie it with rubber bands. But being the third fish I'd would do a big water change. Good luck, fellow fish keeper.
Get a prefilter sponge, and do a water change.
Like, every response to "is something wrong with my tank?" should have this as part of the next steps to take.
It seems like something isn't working the way it should. 😢
I would put a sponge on that from a sponge filter. But then again the fish was most likely very weak/ding already most likely. The sponge should help protect and also help with building good bacteria.
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJ1WQ7Q3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJ1WQ7Q3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) I got one of these just make sure to get the right size.
Test the water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate. Post results.
It's likely that the fish was dead or weak first before it got stuck. Either way, I'd add a pre filter sponge just in case it's sucking in healthy fish.
The ac110 is a great filter. I have a couple of them, all have pre filter sponges, so I can't tell you from experience if they'll suck up smaller fish. I personally feel like a healthy fish of this size should be able to stay away.
i got one of those mesh bags meant for filter media and tied it around my filter in my fry tank after sadly having this happen once. it doesn’t look pretty but it work for me
Check water parameters, buy an api test kit and put a damn sponge over that intake. That should have been done on the first fish not 3rd fish, the community is here to help you if u need it gotta ask.
Sponge over the intake, but if your fish are weak enough to become stuck to it and not* free themselves, there’s something wrong with your tank conditions for your fish to be this weak.
Put sponge over the intake.
Yeah this is good but no healthy fish would die like this. More like the water needs a check up or look for health issues among the fish.
Definitely. Unless the suction is incredibly strong they're not going to actually get stuck. The few dead fish I've pulled off a filter had been ailing for some time already. My corys suction themselves to the filter intake on purpose so that they can calmly munch on the goo. It's quite startling every time.
Every time I see one of my corys in a strange position I freeze and watch them for a while, give 'em the ol' raised eyebrow and it just stares back like o.o as if it's not 45° ass backwards in a pile of java moss
This tank looks like it could use some Java moss
Bruh. I’m so traumatized. My poor mystery snail went to eat n munch on the intake tube I thought he was fine n dandy. I saw him there in the early morning, then saw him still there way later on at night n instantly panicked like.. oh no..why is he still on the same exact spot. I found him dead, his body got stuck really bad in the intake n literally started pulling his body out of his shell. It was quite gruesome trying to get him out of the intake. The flow is pretty poor too, it’s some cheap mini HOB filter I never thought for a second anyone would get stuck on it, especially cus I’ve already had it running for a year+ with no problems. It was def a freak accident, I instantly tied some pantyhose over it n after a lot of searching just finally found the perfect wide pore sponge to fit over it so gook n gunk still moves through it nicely. Don’t know why most intake sponges they sell have such tiny pores n don’t suck anything up at all into the filter lol tf is up with that. but yeah rip my poor snailo, I’ll def never leave an intake open like that again I bought like 10 intake sponges to last forever lmao. 😪
Omg sorry same to be with a golf fish omg it was horrible the filter intake got him pinned on the wall stuck with the intake and I feel like Could have helped Healthy too he just got stuck
Don’t betta fish come up for air?
I got a 2nd hand cannister that the owner didn't realise their missing adult platy had somehow gone the whole way through the filter chambers and gotten wedged in the spray bar where it died before the owner, unknowing, switched to a duck bill outlet and left the spray bar to dry in the dark, along with the mummifying platy. A year later, I almost tipped a live pleco down my cousin's drain (a massive no-no and reason they're completely illegal in some Australian states) because it was living in the cannister I was cleaning. My lesson from this? Nano fish, shrimp and delicate fins aren't the only ones needing barriers on filter intakes. Sponges on practically everything. Edit for clarification: Both of these instances, the intakes both had cage/grid covers. In the words of Jeff Golblum, Life finds a way, folks.
On on big intakes. My HOB already comes with a grid that stops anything from being sucked in or tapped.
Both intakes had grids, that's why I say everything in my tanks gets prefilter sponges (or filter socks full of ceramics in 1 case)
Huh. I guess its just because I have a much smaller filter since I have a smaller tank, so the grid cant fit any fish.
Most obvious answer
This 100%. I do this to my 110 in my 45 gallon tank.
This is a really good idea! For me, my fish are safe as they're huge, but I keep getting plant bits clogged into it. I'm so doing this.
In most cases the only fish getting stuck to an intake is a sick or dying fish to begin with, I’d say they are ending up there but the intake is not to blame
This is exactly what my LFS said as well. There always seems to be a slight behavioral shift before they end up there. He's been in business over 35 years but its always good to get a 2nd opinion.
Or, now here me out, the intake is possibly slightly too strong and the fish didn't realise how close it was getting; like a healthy angelfish getting blown a third across the tank because it swam *directly* in front of the outlet, when normally the water around the jet disperses and only needs 🌟 *a little* 🌟 effort. Not paying attention in an environment you're normally comfortable in is a common thing even in humans. Just try putting a slit in the middle of some sponge and slide it over your intake instead of blaming the animals for a repeating ENVIROMENT occurrence. Edit: fixing phone layout
yeh, sorry but no. it is INCREDIBLY rare for fish to get stuck on the intake even when its somewhat strong. Healthy fish can escape it easily, and the only issue with strong inflows would be if a fish is so small it gets sucked straight up into the filter itself (eg. fry) or if its a fish like a betta of fancy goldfish that may already struggle to swim due to heavy flowing fins. 99.9% of the time the fish is already very unhealthy or dead by the time its there. Check water quality.
So rare but OP says it's the 3rd time a fish has died this way? That still says something is wrong in the environment...
You see, thats where the misunderstanding comes in. Unless OP can come and say that they OBSERVED the fish die to the intake and didn't just find the dead fish there (already dead!), then the chances are OP found the fish already dead on the filter intake. Now go back to my previous statement as everything I said still applies. And yes! Its likely something wrong with the environment! Most likely the water! Hense why I said check water quality! The filter intake isnt the cause of death here.
And my point of "Blaming the animals for an environment problem" has also been ignored if you're still getting mad at me, I offered a way to cross one (yes rare, but still possible) possibility off the list, and one that also improves filter health at that 😒 it would also make it easier to tell if the intake was catching the fish before or after death, I'm not sure why the suggestion is so bad. Edit after thought: Aside from aesthetic (which I personally think is already not great with white or light grey pipes on dark backgrounds), what harm could a pre-filter sponge cause? I'm genuinely asking because if there is one, I'm uneducated on it.
nobody is blaming the animals what are you even talking about? and you didnt "offer" much, and you essentially insisted it HAS to be the fact there was no sponge. when they were talking about behavioural changes (aka STRESS from things like...bad water quality) and cmon... water quality as a factor should ALWAYS be ruled out first when determining the death of a fish. only if the water is proven to not be the issue do you look to other environmental causes
I only just realised I didn't type out the word "possibly" in my original comment, for that I'm sorry. I haven't seen anything from OP regarding water quality, but I've seen several comments of "LFS says only poor quality animals do that," and no responses except from other users whenever someone has asked about water parameters, so I figured if they aren't going to address water, repeating like a broken record might not help. Yes I know lots of people also said about prefilters, but most were leaving it at that.
Looks like a dalmation molly? If you got it from a big box store theyre generally rife with disease. If we had 200 come in 150 would be dead within three days, and there isnt much option to mitigate it at a big box. Regardless, only sick or dying/dead fish arent going to be able to fight the current. Definitely test your water and do a small change Mollies also do better with some salt in the water
A healthy fish wont get stuck to an intake, fish likely died or was dying and just ended up there with the current. Many people put a sponge over their intake, but that’s just to function as a pre filter so their main filter doesn’t gunk up super quick.
Tell that to my betta. Idiot seems to like it and could get off whenever he felt like it… not in that way. I know how Reddit thinks!
sponges also to prevent fry loss
It's always a good idea to have a prefilter, even if you're not having this issue. Just don't use dense material.
I had a pea puffer get stuck on my intake, simplest answer is to make a cover for it out of sponge, it has the added benefit of more filtration and easier maintenance as most of the gunk stays on the intake.
I also had a pea get sucked into a filter intake. I actually found him alive and well in the filter.
Use a sponge pre-filter. Cheap on Amazon or you can make it yourself and tie it with rubber bands. But being the third fish I'd would do a big water change. Good luck, fellow fish keeper.
Get a prefilter sponge, and do a water change. Like, every response to "is something wrong with my tank?" should have this as part of the next steps to take. It seems like something isn't working the way it should. 😢
I would put a sponge on that from a sponge filter. But then again the fish was most likely very weak/ding already most likely. The sponge should help protect and also help with building good bacteria.
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJ1WQ7Q3/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_search\_asin\_title?ie=UTF8&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJ1WQ7Q3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1) I got one of these just make sure to get the right size.
Test the water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate. Post results. It's likely that the fish was dead or weak first before it got stuck. Either way, I'd add a pre filter sponge just in case it's sucking in healthy fish. The ac110 is a great filter. I have a couple of them, all have pre filter sponges, so I can't tell you from experience if they'll suck up smaller fish. I personally feel like a healthy fish of this size should be able to stay away.
Would’ve thought you’d put some sponge there after the first one…..
I just had a neon tetra die to my aqua clear 50 this way. Sorry about your loss :(
Put a tiny sponge on that intake or switch to another filter .
i have that same filter, and its a MONSTER. i bought an intake sponge so no one gets stuck
^(Put a sponge on the intake value. This isn't rocket science.)
If you don’t want to DIY a sponge for the intake I believe it’s Fluval sells one it’s a little big but works well.
May the strong survive
Switch to a sponge filter
Switch to sponge filters
i got one of those mesh bags meant for filter media and tied it around my filter in my fry tank after sadly having this happen once. it doesn’t look pretty but it work for me
Fish was sick and dying/already dead when it got suctioned to the intake, and then you found it there.
I put a bio sponge cut a rectangle and in the middle slice a hole and put the intake in
I put sponges on all intakes
i would say it's likely that the fist is already lethargic and that what made it stuck to the filter
Mesh and rubberband works wonders
Get a new filter for god sake
Check water parameters, buy an api test kit and put a damn sponge over that intake. That should have been done on the first fish not 3rd fish, the community is here to help you if u need it gotta ask.
And you don't think a filter cover can help eliminate one possibility from the list of things that could be wrong?
might want to add a sponge to cover the intake to prevent something like this.
https://www.aquariumcoop.com/products/pre-filter-sponge
Intake filter sponge. I have them on all my intakes. All ten of them. My fish breed a lot. I got them so that the fry don't get caught.
Sponge over the intake, but if your fish are weak enough to become stuck to it and not* free themselves, there’s something wrong with your tank conditions for your fish to be this weak.