My Cory's Face Has Been Sucked Up!

[Katty]

Thank you for the posts everyone

I have no doubt he was poorly in the first place... The whole ex-trio of albinos had just not been doing well lately. One wasted away to death for no apparent reason, this one got stuck in the filter, and the only one left now kinda sits tail-up, nose-down in the plants or substrate sometimes, and they were all doing that silly gulping thing. I don't know why my albinos have been doing so badly lately.

For the 2+ years I had them, I had a male betta in the tank with them. A few months ago I realized that he had been eating the albino's fins off, and I moved him to another tank. Some of the fins grew back after a while. Maybe it was too much damage over time, and wore them out? I don't even know if that's possible, but its the only thing I can think of that's ever gone wrong with them. Corys are supposed to live longer than 3 years, right?

The one young bronze though is going strong, he seems to be a constant companion to the one albino that is left. I feel bad for him though because he may soon be alone.

 

[This Old Spouse]

I've been known to put a piece of nylon stocking over the intake, held in place with a rubber band. I haven't lost a fish, or fry, yet. So sorry about your cory.

 

[JoshuaA]

I've unfortunately had two pygmy corys get caught on the Fluval 205 filter intake/strainer. The design is a little silly but they had been in the tank for 3 months so I assumed there was no problem. One day I was looking for them and unfortunately found two of the wedged in backwards on the strainer, I turned off the power and they didn't move so I knew they were dead. It looked like the way they had been wedged in had caused them to suffocate.

It's odd how sometimes things can appear perfectly safe as nothing has gone wrong ever before and been good for months and then bam...

I'm attempting to transfer some baby cherries over but I'm sceptical that they might either get sucked into my power head or through the filter intake. A clean up crew is in dire need at the moment.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

It was a young green neon tetra, which may be because it was young it was just too weak, but it was wedged in there pretty tight and was alive when I got it out but died a day later, it was squished. If you look up "Green Neon Tetra" on wikipedia it says "Avoid having a filter with excessively strong water intake because this little fish is prone to get sucked in by strong currents, perhaps even more so than the Neon Tetra." so they might just be weak swimmers in general. I'm not sure, but I'd hate to go look at the tank and see no neons swimming but find a fish milkshake in the filter

All the plant pots I've ever seen just have long slats like this picture, so I'm not sure if those kind would do any good. I think tights would muck up too fast, my fish poo a lot.

I found this, it would fit my filter, but I don't want to pay $5 to ship a sponge!

Here's something that might help you. If there is a PetSmart anywhere near you...

link


If I were you though, and I was as concerned as you regarding that filter inlet, I would probably just suck it up (sorry, no pun intended) and spend the $5 for shipping. Piece of mind is worth something too. (Maybe you would want to buy more than one, that way you can replace it, and the shipping costs would probably not go up.)

Adding this type of pre-filter should also give you some additional biological filtration, as the sponge will become home to a nice colony of bacteria. I would assume (having never used a prefilter sponge) that you are going to want to pull it off and give it a good rinse fairly often though - probably once a week or more.

 

[Katty]

It was a young green neon tetra, which may be because it was young it was just too weak, but it was wedged in there pretty tight and was alive when I got it out but died a day later, it was squished. If you look up "Green Neon Tetra" on wikipedia it says "Avoid having a filter with excessively strong water intake because this little fish is prone to get sucked in by strong currents, perhaps even more so than the Neon Tetra." so they might just be weak swimmers in general. I'm not sure, but I'd hate to go look at the tank and see no neons swimming but find a fish milkshake in the filter

All the plant pots I've ever seen just have long slats like this picture, so I'm not sure if those kind would do any good. I think tights would muck up too fast, my fish poo a lot.

I found this, it would fit my filter, but I don't want to pay $5 to ship a sponge!

Here's something that might help you. If there is a PetSmart anywhere near you...

link


If I were you though, and I was as concerned as you regarding that filter inlet, I would probably just suck it up (sorry, no pun intended) and spend the $5 for shipping. Piece of mind is worth something too. (Maybe you would want to buy more than one, that way you can replace it, and the shipping costs would probably not go up.)

Adding this type of pre-filter should also give you some additional biological filtration, as the sponge will become home to a nice colony of bacteria. I would assume (having never used a prefilter sponge) that you are going to want to pull it off and give it a good rinse fairly often though - probably once a week or more.

Oh wow, I missed this at the Petsmart site somehow. I shop there a lot (volunteer on the weekends). I will have to look for this when I go in on Friday.

Thanks for the link.

Also, that other darn albino cory died today! It seemed to have a swim bladder thing going on last night, kept flopping over sideways and spiraling out of control, and when I came home today he was dead and it looked like the other fishes got to him afterwards, his eyes were missing and he was hollow inside... That freaked me out a lot, seeing my little fish with holes for eyes and a hollowed out tummy...

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Oh wow, I missed this at the Petsmart site somehow. I shop there a lot (volunteer on the weekends). I will have to look for this when I go in on Friday.

Thanks for the link.

Also, that other darn albino cory died today! It seemed to have a swim bladder thing going on last night, kept flopping over sideways and spiraling out of control, and when I came home today he was dead and it looked like the other fishes got to him afterwards, his eyes were missing and he was hollow inside... That freaked me out a lot, seeing my little fish with holes for eyes and a hollowed out tummy...

Well, just remember, that the mantra "Fish are friends, not food." Doesn't really hold with the fishes. They will eat one another, whenever they get the chance. Their thinking is more along the line of: "Fish are food, not friends."

Good fishing!

 

[Katty]

Yeah I suppose that's true.

I can't decide if I should try replacing the lost cories for the sake of the lone bronze one or not. I might need to make a new topic though, I don't think this one is looked at anymore?

 

[fluttermoth]

Yeah I suppose that's true.

I can't decide if I should try replacing the lost cories for the sake of the lone bronze one or not. I might need to make a new topic though, I don't think this one is looked at anymore?

I'm looking! But, yeah; make a new topic. I've often had this dilemma myself and have never quite decided what is best so would be interested in other people's opinion on the matter.

I usually make my decision based on the fish's age; if it's less than half way through it's expected lifespan I get it company, if more then I don't.

OTOH I've had a few species of fish (including cories before I set up a dedicated tank and switched to a sand substrate) that I just don't seem to be able to keep and have kept 'singles' purely because I haven't wanted to risk more fishy lives

 

[Katty]

I'm looking! But, yeah; make a new topic. I've often had this dilemma myself and have never quite decided what is best so would be interested in other people's opinion on the matter.

I usually make my decision based on the fish's age; if it's less than half way through it's expected lifespan I get it company, if more then I don't.

OTOH I've had a few species of fish (including cories before I set up a dedicated tank and switched to a sand substrate) that I just don't seem to be able to keep and have kept 'singles' purely because I haven't wanted to risk more fishy lives

Aww thanks for looking lol. I think I will make a new topic though and get some opinions, it'll get more attention than buried in here.