Just Had a HUGE Scare....

[DragonFish]

Oh dear god I'm STILL shaking....like, just oh my god. @_@ I'm SO thankful I noticed this before I left....

Several times a day(THANKFULLY)I get up and go watch/'play'/check on all of my boys a little more close up(they're all in my room, and I can see them all from my computer desk and whatnot). During my most recent check, I couldn't seem to find Ciel. Hes not known for coming up to greet me unless its feeding time, but he'll generally peek out at me or I can see him somewhere. After a couple of minutes of not seeing him, I check the other side of the five gallon to see if he somehow magically got in with Sebastian......nope. I check behind to see if he somehow magically jumped out of the tank even though the lid is rather secure.....nope.
Concerned now, I lift the lid and start moving plants....

And I find him trapped by the suction of the filter intake in between the intake and the pantyhose that I have wrapped around it.
Of course I completely FLIPPED out, turned off the filter, got him unstuck, then cupped him while I went in and secured the pantyhose(it had been a little low, the first couple of bands of the intake were visible)a little better with two more rubber bands.

He appears, apart from being understandably stressed, to have gotten away with just a tad bit of fin damage(which is a little shocking....hes got MASSIVE fins, just a little chunk of his anal fin was taken off. You can't even see it in the pictures I took....). I've seen and treated worse from divider mishaps so I'm not particularly worried about the actual treatment.....but heres my Dilemma:
In a few hours I will be leaving for the weekend. I'll be gone tonight, tomorrow, and at least half of Sunday. Currently he is back in his half of the 5 gallon, filter off....but I'm unsure if I should go ahead and move him to my empty 2 gallon KK, go ahead and let him be....or maybe even just switch him with Sebastian(his current tank mate).

Thoughts?

[megaredize]

i wouldnt leave the filter off for too long it can kill your cycle if it is cycled. if you are really worried about this happening again i would put him in a KK. and getting a pre filter sponge in the future may be better than the panty hose but i dont know i dont have any of my intakes blocked. here is a pic of a pre filter sponge if you didnt already know http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=3650250

[ChoclateBetta]

Wow when my ten gallon he would appear and disappear he is dead but he has decendents are alive today so glad it seems like he might be okay.

[MSG]

• To be on the safe side place Mr Ciel in the 2G while you're gone for the weekend.
• Leave the side he was occupying empty, but leave the filter on.
• As long as he's healthy, he should be still be alive when you get back on Sunday.
• Instead of using rubber bands, get some releasable cable ties to secure the mesh over the filter intake.

Have a great weekend.

[DragonFish]

The filter wasn't off for more then ten minutes....I've currently switched him and Sebastian and turned it back on for just that reason; not wanting to loose my cycle and whatnot.
I have one of those sponges, but the problem I've had with it is that its big and bulky, takes up a lot of room. 8/ Also in this tank, it would push at the divider and make it lean. Maybe thats just the one I have though...I've had it for a while now....maybe they've trimmed them down, I'll have to check them out my next Petsmart run.

Edit: Releasable cable ties....? Those are safe? I would have never thought of those....

Anywho, thank you for your replys guys. I'll definitely look into the sponge again and those cable tie things if the sponge doesn't work out. I'm still super freaked, but overall Ciel appears to be OK. Its not too pale or clamped, though he seems about as freaked out as I am....xD
I'm going to wait and see how he does in the calmer side of the 5 gallon I think for right now....I'm rather worried about moving him from a cycled tank to one with all fresh water and changing his entire environment while I'm not there to monitor him. Watching Sebastian swim around the newly secured baffled filter intake like a hawk, cup in hand, I'm a little more comfortable that its much more secure now

[DragonFish]

So a little update.....despite my freak out, as scary as the incident was, Ciel made it though the past couple of days(which I mostly expected him too, but still...). He doesn't seem to be a very happy camper....but he did come up to greet me when I went to check on him, even flared a tad bit at me, and has eaten a couple of pellets since I got home several hours ago.
I was able to get a much better look at the damage...it seems his back end is injured, and he has just a little trouble swimming with it....I really hope he hasn't permanently injured himself. 8/
A couple of pictures!