Betta Fish Forum banner

My fish just swam into the filter

2K views 21 replies 9 participants last post by  Neil D 
#1 ·
I was chatting online with a friend from home, looked over at "Hestia's" tank and saw him looking at the filter, which he usually does. I looked away one second, and the next I saw his tail waving from inside the filter. I usually keep the water level slightly above the lip of the filter to reduce any current.

I unplugged the filter and turned it on its side in the water and pulled out the cartridge slightly. "Hestia" swam out, a bit dirty and stressed but no worse for the wear.

I have a Whisper 10i filter for 1-3 gal tanks. I'm afraid of turning the filter back on in case he can fit down the tubing and get stuck. Am I just overly paranoid?
 
#2 ·
is it possible to rubber band a sponge to block Hestia from getting in it again?
 
#4 ·
He didn't get sucked up.

The filter has a cover, but it broke off and was a pain to keep on, so I threw it out. Basically the filter is an open cup with a cartridge. Air tubing is attached to the bottom.

I could baffle the filter to keep him from swimming further in,but it's after midnight and I have no supplies.

He literally swam into the mouth and down in the body to explore. That fish will bet he death of me.
 
#5 ·
Is there any way to tape a temporary cover to it? Like if you have any used containers like a sour cream cover might be able to do it.. just tape it over it and hope for the best for over night. If I had that same filter I'd be able to give better suggestions D= mine are the bigger ones.
 
#6 ·
Oh I know he didn't get sucked up, your filter is an internal one, right? So they can't really get sucked into those. I'm just saying what happened to me, what prompted me to start covering my filters.

If I were you I would just turn the filter off until you can get to the store and get the filter baffled. If he's done it once, he could try it again, and it's best not to take the chance.
 
#7 ·
Sorry for the typos - it's been a long night.

He didn't go in the filter again. He was stress striped when I got him to swim out, so I'm going to keep it shut off for tonight and figure out what to do tomorrow. Half my room is already packed, so there's not much I can do right now.
 
#8 ·
I have the same filter. The best advice I can give is to drop the water level in the tank (yes it will increase the current), and then use a sponge to baffle the output to reduce the chance of it happening again.
 
#9 ·
I'm free tomorrow (no classes!) so I'll probably get to a store and buy some baffles. I do plan on updating my filters at home anyway, so it'll be a temporary fix. Thanks for the help! He was still swimming around this morning so I assume he hasn't tried to explore the filter again. That boy scares me sometimes.
 
#11 ·
I wish someone could help me out with the clean rubberband, sponge trick.. I have my betta in a 1g QT tank for fin rot/stress and got his new 5g tetra crescent which uses the same filter as you mentioned I believe. It is on the lowest setting, but

is a trick to fill the water level above the lip where it says WHISPER?

Also, where does the sponge portion go when doing the baffle? and where would the rubberband go to hold it?
 
#16 ·
^ Agreed. That's why I posted this thread. I'm worried that if he does it again, he might not be able to turn his body around to at least get air. I wouldn't like to see a drowned fish. :(

I AM planning on upgrading both boys to nicer tanks with external filters, so a temporary fix should be OK. Octo doesn't seem like he's bright enough to swim into the filter, so I'm not worried about him. Hestia/Nero, I'm a bit worried.
 
#21 ·
You could try putting pantyhose over the outflow part of the filter. I have used pantyhose both to baffle my filters and to prevent any accidents ever since my first betta got sucked up the intake tube.
That's exactly what happened to me, Lola - including losing my first betta to the intake tube. =((

And I use pantyhose over the outflow, too.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top