# Be careful with those filter and power head intakes



## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

I lost a really nice fish last night to a power head. The power head had one of the snap on intake strainers and airline feeding into it. I went to sleep and awoke to a large bubbling sound, like an air line had come loose under water. Got up to see the intake strainer missing and my favorite female stuck to the intake on her side. I quickly grabbed at every plug behind the tank yanking them from the socket . I took her out and laid her in my hand but it was too late, sigh.

I knew the pump had a slightly loose strainer but it didn't fall off when lightly pulled and I figured with the added suction from the powerhead it wouldn't be an issue. So , if you have one like that , get the thing fixed where it can't possibly come off even when you tug on it. I have now zip tied any of my remaining strainers to the intakes where I can't get them off without cutting the zip tie.

I let my guard down one minute and it cost me a lot.

I am also going to be picking up a power strip for my setups. It never occurred to me until last night that when something goes wrong I have to unplug a bunch of cords. I'm going to put it all on one master switch so if something happens in the future I can just hit one switch.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

Why do you think this fish died from the powerhead? guts sucked out? propeller shredded fish?

Totally agree about adding powerbars... most useful thing in this hobby. Don't forget to add drip loops to your cords though.


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## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

I had something similar happen to me. On the FX5 the strainer doesnt sit flush with the back glass wall and my Sunburst somehow got wedged in back of it when I was doing a water change. He was stuck less than 30mins. with the FX5 off and still almost died. He couldnt keep himself upright...I had to keep him upright by holding him in a net for about 30mins and he made a full comeback! :thumb:






Sorry for your loss cgmark.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Number6 said:


> Why do you think this fish died from the powerhead? guts sucked out? propeller shredded fish?
> 
> Totally agree about adding powerbars... most useful thing in this hobby. Don't forget to add drip loops to your cords though.


I will also add that a GFCI is a good idea also. First thing I do when I set up my tanks.


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

Number6 said:


> Why do you think this fish died from the powerhead? guts sucked out? propeller shredded fish?
> 
> Totally agree about adding powerbars... most useful thing in this hobby. Don't forget to add drip loops to your cords though.


I'm not sure. I looked on the fish carefully and saw no physical damage except around the mouth it was very blood red but not bleeding. I am guessing it was the stress of being pulled against the intake and probably frantically trying to free itself and not being able to. The power switch is definitely something I am doing, I already had the drip loops, just never thought about the need to turn it all off at once.


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## zanardi (Nov 26, 2011)

I've lost fish before to being sucked into various powerhead and filter intakes. Currently my little fish get sucked into my overflow box all the time on my wet/dry setup. The fortunate thing about that is they are generally unharmed by the trip! I just scoop them back into the aquarium.

You said yours got trapped overnight. Everyone of my experiences has been at night as well. Fish sleep and my theory is that my fish get sucked into the filters while they are lethargic at night. I've watched my fish at night and they seem to sort of drift around the tank in a stupor. They probably drift too close to an intake and get sucked in.

During the day fish must be able sense strong flow or maybe the noise or vibration of powerheads, etc. because they never seem to get anywhere close to them. Although when I vacumn my tank they seem obsessed with getting near the intake of my siphon tube which is odd.

Just my theory on the world...........


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

I just cant think of how being pinned to a filter ends up killing the fish. *** seen tiny 1 inch fry get pinned to an incredibly strong filter intake and they pull themselves off without issue...


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

Number6 said:


> I just cant think of how being pinned to a filter ends up killing the fish. I've seen tiny 1 inch fry get pinned to an incredibly strong filter intake and they pull themselves off without issue...


It think what you are referring to is one that gets pulled against something like a strainer. In that situation the total power of the pump still has paths to get water through. What happened to mine is its body was totally covering the pipe, no strainer because it fell off. It has the entire suction power of the filter pulling against its side, might have been strong enough to break bones. Take the cover off a power head in the water and put your hand over the inlet, some of the bigger power heads have really strong suction.


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

*cgmark*
Have you ever rescued a perfectly healthy fish off the intake of a pump ( with strainer off) ?

I have... fish was hilarious looking but mostly unharmed.

If you've never had the experience, then perhaps the fish was already dead or dying?
Any other sick fish in this tank or one of your other display tanks?


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

Number6 said:


> *cgmark*
> Have you ever rescued a perfectly healthy fish off the intake of a pump ( with strainer off) ?
> 
> I have... fish was hilarious looking but mostly unharmed.
> ...


 I have lost fish 2 different times now to pump intakes and both were perfectly healthy. This last one I examined carefully for any life to make sure it wasn't just stunned. It was absolutely dead. The first one I lost you could see on its side a circle of blood under the scales the size of the intake pipe so I am assuming it ruptured something internal. This second one had what looked like lots of extra blood in the mouth and gill areas.

Something else I just thought about that probably makes a huge difference is where the intake attaches to on the fish. I could see the tail area not being bad but both of mine were on the upper area around the gills.


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## GoldfishesAndCichlids (Feb 16, 2012)

Sad stories! =D>


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## TonkaGamer (Jul 31, 2004)

I was cleaning my FX5 intake strainer and a small angel came over to check it out, the angel got sucked up in the tube and into the filter. Not pretty...

I don't doubt that that much suction could cause internal injury and death if the fish had been larger and not entirely sucked into the filter.


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