# My filter is killing my fish, suggestions?



## Russell Crowe

I have a beta, two mollies and now only 3 neon tetras because of my filter. The smallest fish are getting sucked into the filter when I am not looking. I can't be there to watch them all the time. Is there an attachment I could get to fix this problem? There is obviously a way to fix this problem I just don't know how. BTW I am a poor college student so the cheaper way to fix the problem the better. Solutions?


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## fighttest

you could fit an aquarium filter sponge onto the filter intake or find a very porous sponge to fit onto it


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## MikeyG

Get something like this:

Amazon.com: Hagen Fluval Edge Pre-Filter Sponge: Kitchen & Dining

or just go to the fish store and ask for a prefilter sponge to put over your filter intake. That should do the trick.


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## Russell Crowe

Thanks guys I will go to the pet store tomorrow and fix this problem asap. Thanks again.


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## Fishin Pole

you could also take a piece of pantyhose material and rubberband it on the end of the intake of your filter.....This slows the flow down a bit, but then the suction is not as strong for the tetras if they swim close to it.......every few days you will have to remove it to allow the filter to suck up the debris trapped against it, then you can put it right back on.............I use this method in my one fry tank and havent lost a fish yet.........


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## Calmwaters

I once put a paper clip on the intake tube to lift it up slightly to reduce the suction.


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## Tyyrlym

I'd be very careful with putting a sponge over the intake, that greatly increases the strain on the pump. What kind of filter do you have and did it come with a piece that looks like a cage for the intake? If your fish are in good condition the cage will provide more than enough stand off for healthy fish to not be sucked into the filter. I have a powerful Marineland Eclipse filter and my bettas regularly swim right by the intake without a problem.


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## Twistersmom

I have to agree with Tyyrlyym, if your filter has a "caged intake" , a healthy fish should be able to swim away. 
Do to a faulty filter, I had to put a much over size filter on a 10 gal tank with some very small fish and fry. I have not seen any fish caught on the filter intake. Do you think it may be possible that the fish were weak from illness and got sucked in by the filter?


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## MikeyG

I had that happen to a couple of neon tetras...I bought 5 at Petco and none survived, and those two ended up attached to the intake. 

So even with fry in the tank you shouldn't use a prefilter over the intake? I wonder what they make them for?


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## Twistersmom

MikeyG said:


> I had that happen to a couple of neon tetras...I bought 5 at Petco and none survived, and those two ended up attached to the intake.
> 
> So even with fry in the tank you shouldn't use a prefilter over the intake? I wonder what they make them for?


I have not kept neon tetras, but I have read that they can be hard fish to keep, very sensitive. I wonder if your fish where not also ill. The only fish that I have had sucked into the intake, where fish near death.


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## jeaninel

I've never had a fish sucked up by the filter. I agree that a healthy fish should have no problem swimming away. The fry in my guppy tank even go right up to the filter intake to pick at the algae growing there and I've never found any fry in the filter. They may have just been weak or sick.


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## MikeyG

I'm fairly certain they died long before being sucked in by the intake...I lost them all within 2 days, so I think something was up with them.


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