# Help! filter vacuuming sleeping fish



## Dr. Dolittle (Nov 8, 2010)

I have had my aquarium for three months now, and I have a 55 gallon tank with an Aqueon Quietflow 55 filter. The filter is meant for a 55 gallon tank. I am not sure if i am getting stupid fish or what, but about once every few days i wake up and a fish went into their sleeping/rest mode near the filter's intake and is wrapped around it still alive. 

I unplug the filter and let them swim away and then plug it back in. they keep doing this until they die sadly. I have had five fish die on me this way. Is there any way to prevent them from doing this? So far they have just been red wag platys and yellow guppies doing this.The filter seems to suck scales off of them when they get stuck to it, and i would quarantine them for a bit, but my girlfriend turned my 30 gallon quarantine tank into a turtle tank for some red eared sliders.
any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

In the 55 gallon tank I have 3 sunburst platys, had 3 red wag platys, 3 cremecicle mollies, 5 yellow guppies, 1 dwarf gourami, 5 red finned minor tetra, and 3 albino cory cats. All are about 3/4 of an inch to 1 1/4 inches long.


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

Unfortunately, fish don't get stuck to filters for no reason at all. This means they are sick or weak in some way. How often do you change your water and everything? Also, how long has this tank been established?


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## Dr. Dolittle (Nov 8, 2010)

The tank has been running for about two months, it was started the last week of september, let it run for a week without fish to make sure it was going smoothly and then stocked two or three at a time, once a week till i got all of them in there. they seem fine when the lights go out, when they come on in the morning the fish are wrapped around the intake valve of the filter. I change 20 gallons of the 55 gallons in the tank every three to four days. I use water that is already heated to the same temp as the tank and add declorinator to the buckets of water 24 hours prior. I try to keep all of my factors the same when i do anything to the tank. I also change the filter pads that hold the activated carbon and block debree once every three weeks.


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## cldarnell (Nov 8, 2010)

Snyder is right...something is going on with your fish. Until you figure it out, is it possible to turn down your flow rate? I am not familiar with your filter, but all of mine are similar and have a flow rate adjustment. Also, you might try putting a sponge filter of pre-filter "sock" over your intake for now.

Good luck...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Agree, healthy fish don't get filter-stuck. Put a big block of foam over the intake, but I bet you will see fish that look partly paralyzed, have trouble swimming, and then die. Check you water quality as you "cycle" may not be complete and you may be slowing it changing the media too often. Nitrite poisoning is a possibility until a tank has been at full fish load for 3 months. 

But you may have introduced a sneaky disease with one of your later additions. In your place, I would be inspecting fish with magnifiers and cycling through the meds on my self (quick-cure, Prazi-Pro). Would you think me cruel if I told you to feed any fish with symptoms to the turtle?


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## Dr. Dolittle (Nov 8, 2010)

http://www.petco.com/product/102601...Fish_2-_-Aqueon Aquarium Power Filters-102601

That is the link to a photo of my filter. it is a simple hang on the tank filter. Where would you get something like a filter sock or sponge filter? I looked for a sponge filter when i started my aquarium but couldn't find any place that sold them, not even ebay.

Thank you for the time and comments. anything to help is appreciated.


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## Dr. Dolittle (Nov 8, 2010)

lol the thought had passed through my mind, however the girlfriend named all the freaking fish, makes it hard when she does something to attach herself to them.... but they all came from petsmart, so its very possible with disease. I have been doing my testing of the water once a day, and nitrites and nitrates are good, will get the occasional spike in ammonia, but i let it go for a day or so in the .5ppm range and then do a water change if it doesn't go down. always worked so far.


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## glassweaver (May 14, 2010)

I used to use one of these ones when I had a filter like yours. Needed to be cleaned off once or twice a week though, but that also cut down on the number of media bags I went through. That should keep him off the intake at least.

I dont know about petco, but both petsmarts around here carry those. Don't be turned off that it says it's for fluval filters or something like that. It will fit. 

Also, if your local places literally just dont have those, you could go for something like this and zip tie it around the intake.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Get an "aquarium filter sponge" for an aquaclear filter and poke a hole in it and stick it over the intake tube (take the strainer off). Or buy a "pre-filter" which is a sponge with connectors to tubes. http://www.google.com/products/cata...og_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CGAQ8wIwAw#


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## glassweaver (May 14, 2010)

OH. YEAH. One thing I just thought of. Are you building your own filter bags? I used to fill my own when I had one of those filters because there was NEVER enough carbon in the prebuilt ones and NO zeolite (which sucks out the ammonia). 

Either way, I'd try adding a weekly dose of amquel, feeling free to add another dose if you still have ammonia show up in tests. I've it at 2x the recommended dose before and not a single fish seemed to care. That should instantly zap any ammonia and what doesnt get used just stays in the water ready to zap any newly formed ammonia. And if nitrates give you a problem you could also try easybalance with nitraban.

EDIT: If you have live plants, they won't like the recommended weekly dose of nitraban.


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