Clowns and powerheads don't mix...

[travis32]

Well, in my QT, I had just put a low flow powerhead (probably 400gph or even less than that.)

It was just setting in the bottom of the tank and it's been operational for 4 - 5 months with no issues other than a shell occasionally getting stuck to it when I did a water change and disturbed the little bit of sand / cc I had in it.

Well, last night I tucked the clowns in for nighty night, and they quickly went to sleep.. The one, woke up to a disturbing nightmare!! except it wasn't a nightmare it was reality. He evidently went to sleep too close to the power head and drifted into the 1/2" intake. He was alive this morning, I quickly powered off the power head and shook him loose. He swam away from it and had control of his swimming ability.. And he swam like a normal clown.

However, his gut looked like a Giant HICKEY, amplified by 10 times. And his tail was bent. some scales may have come off when I dislodged him, but, he's alive and acting (as normal as a severely injured clown can act.)

I'm not sure what the humane thing to do is? See if he has any chance of recovering or just take him out now? He had less than 2 weeks to go to get his own large piece of safe realestate in the new 125g I'm getting.

So, I guess, does he have any chance of recovery? Or will he soon get infections and die a horrible and excruciating death? Or is the "swollen gut" just the result of the power head suction and he'll eventually just recover?

Reminds me of when as kid I had suctioned a bottle to my mouth just goofing around and all of a sudden my lips turned brown and were all swollen. I had burst blood vessels all over my lips and mouth. I didn't even feel it and nothing happened other than a week later they healed. Slightly different than having one's gut sucked to a powerhead for a few hours. Can't say I have any idea what that would feel like.

I'm so ready for my luck to change! :sad2:

 

[cec09]

I had a foxface do that and he recovered fine. Good luck. I hope all goes well for the little guy

 

[travis32]

Wow. glad the fox face did!! Thanks!! gives me a little hope. I felt so sorry for the poor guy. He's the fatter of the 2 clowns I have. I felt terrible for the little guy. Talk about waking up to a rough Monday morning!!

 

[Chris27]

Give it some time, the clown may recover just fine. Powerheads are a necessary evil, when a fish gets stuck in one, it's usually because they are sick and unable to swim away, hopefully this was just a case of the clown being a clown so to speak.

 

[travis32]

I thought that too Chris. However, the main reason I'm discounting (for the moment) sickness, is A) I just did a water change a week ago, and nothing has changed in the past week to indicate sickness or things taking a turn for the worse...

B) The Clowns sleep so soundly at night they don't have a clue what's going on around them. and they sleep in the strangest of places. I wouldn't be surprised if the clown actually swam into the powerhead in his sleep or simply fell asleep too close to it.

C) If it had been during the day, I agree something would have been wrong. Given this happened over night, and given B above, circumstancial evidence points to a sleep-swimming clown.

who knows though. Fish are sometimes fishy. I'll check out the water conditions tonight.

 

[Palting]

Anyway you can attach a filter or casing around the powerhead? With the clown injured, he may come too close and not be able to swim away from the powerhead and it may happen again.

 

[Kweli]

Doesnt the powerhead have a safety attachment/filter

 

[travis32]

This one didn't, I got it used from another person. The intake was just open. That's my fault for not thinking about that. The person must have just used it for mixing salt or something. The intake has a plate over it with 3 or 4 holes for water to flow throw, but, either the typical housing is missing or etc.

Eitherway, I don't use it in any tank and thought it would be low enough flow to just circulate the water in the QT tank..

I'm going to pull it out, there's sufficient oxygenation with the airstone until everything is moved over to the new tank.

 

[Alysiak00]

there should be a cone shaped filter that just pops on the bottom. see if a fellow reefer (the aquarium kind) has an extra one, or you could use a piece of pantyhose (preferably clean ones) as a temporary fix

 

[rancoo]

I had a Chromis that this happened too, he was pretty bad. He swam in a circle for a few hours and i thought when i woke up the next day it would be dead. But, its fins and dorsal are almost all the way grown back and its seems very healthy after about 3 weeks.

 

[dublo8]

Ouch. I had a firefish do this as well. didn't end up so well with the firefish though... I think the clown should be fine. def. keep a close eye on him though and at first signs of any distress (beyond what he has encountered) pull him immediatly. good luck to the both of you.

 

[sslak]

That's one of the things I like most about the Tunze powerheads is because there is no "intake" with extremely high suction for critters to get sucked into.

 

[bathompson]

I have a maxijet 1200 that one of my percs went head first into. It was curtains for him, no chance for recovery! I added the guard and haven't had any problems since.

 

[aleonn]

Since the clownfish is in QT anyway, I'd leave him in and observe closely. As long as he's eating well (you can always supplement with Selcon or other vitamin supplements), that's the best you can do.

 

[travis32]

yeah, he had a little bit of bleeding on his side, and my wife described him as having a large hickey. It's very sad because it's a clown pair (Oscellaris) and my wife said he would lay down in pvc pipe and then the other one would swim in and nudge him to swim, and then he'd start swimming some.. It's possible the mate may nudge him to recover, but, the swollen "hickey" with light bleeding may have done him in. I'll see if he eats. She said he looks better now than he did this morning and he sporatically swims about.

So, we'll see if he eats. He was a really good eater of flake food and shrimp. I may soak some shrimp in garlic if he doesn't take to the flake. When I move the other two fish in a couple weeks, if this one is still alive he may have to stay in QT by himself. We'll see if he lives that long first. Thanks for the good luck wishes!! He was around $20.00, but, he was such a good fish and good personality, and fit well with everything so far.. Plus the mate might not be too happy about losing him.

Here's to hoping for a full recovery. And right now he wouldn't have the strength to swim away from a powerhead, so, I'll leave the powerhead out for the moment.

He doesn't swim in circles though. Just bobs up and down like a normal clown. that tells me his swim bladder is o.k.. He's not like just floating off wherever.. He actually can control his movement up / down / left /right. Which is very good, but, it's a matter of other infections and/or internal damage to organs and / or internal bleeding.

The fact he had a little blood on his side, makes me concerned. I'm guessing fish don't have much blood to start with..

The QT has a heavy bioload right now, so I don't want to risk him dieing and killing the other two fish. But, I guess that's what prime / amquel are for...

 

[Fishfish0001]

He is probably a bit stressed right now, so its probably better to let him rest where he is, and try not to amke him move a ton.

I would spot feed him too.

Hope he does ok.

 

[aleonn]

I see why you took out the powerhead, but just to make sure, you do have some sort of water circulation and surface agitation, right? Hope he eats and pulls through!

 

[Drewbaby]

I had this happen to my foxface with a maxijet 1200 with the intake guard. He was wrapped completely around it. It happened at night and I found him this way the next morning. I immediately shut off the powerhead, but he wasn't able to straighten his body out and looked like a donut. He got a little better, but 2 days later he was a goner. It sounds like your clown has a chance though. Just keep a close eye on him. The first 72 hours after an incident like this is the critical point after that you should be in the clear.

 

[travis32]

Aleon, yes, I have two HOB filters, 1 of which has an airstone in it that airates the water as it goes into the tank. It's been setup this way for 3 months with fish in it. The powerhead did little to agitate the surface, it wasn't that powerful. It just circulated the water at the bottom of the tank up to the top of the tank. Yes, the surface is continuously agitated, and air is pumped into the HOB filter to oxidize it as it goes into the tank .

Yeah the clown definately looks better. He did periodically lay on the injured side in the PVC pipe. But, watching him the last 3 or 4 hours (from a distance so as to not stress him more) he is now able to hold himself upright instead of laying on his side. He's breathing hard and his mate is constantly swimming back and forth in and out of his pipe trying to let us know there's something wrong. it also flick some food into the pvc pipe for him as it floated towards her. He moves around in the pipe, will swim in a circle now and then and wiggles his fins...

The biggest thing I see as a healthy sign is that he keeps himself upright. And yes the clown initially looked like a doughnut. Broken tail or something, but, he did straighten himself out. I'm pretty sure he has a gut ache and a back ache and probably a headache.

Sorry about the foxface Drew! I think the clown has a chance, but, we'll see, tomorrow morning will be exactly 24 hours after the rescue.

I haven't seen him eat yet, but, it's only the first 12 hours. I really don't expect him to eat yet... I can't imagine have my guts sucked on by a giant vaccum for a few hours and then wanting to have a big meal...

 

[travis32]

RIP: Clyde the Orange and Wish Clownfish. In Clyde vs. the powerhead intake, Clyde succombed to the powerhead. His death was brutal, at last he is in peace.

Next Up, Bonnie's revenge on the powerhead for what it did to her mate. Beware the wrath of the angered female oscellaris clown!

Well, o.k. hopefully that doesn't happen, not to mention the powerhead is off. But, poor clyde was found dead in the Betta's den. My guess is he died, and the betta saw a chance for some easy food.. I'm guessing the betta dragged it to his den as a trophy.. Nothing was eaten off the clown, so I got to it time before the betta created a mess.

I dosed a full dose of prime right away this morning and the clown body wasn't deteriorated, so, I think (fingers crossed as I didn't have time to test parameters or time to do a water change) I may have caught it in time to prevent anymore damage.