Powerhead ate my pipefish

Paul B

Paul B

Premium Member
I can't believe how stupid I am. Well, yes I can. I have been having a problem losing pipefish for a long time and I couldn't figure out why.
But I did now and I should have realized it which is driving me crazy because I usually see these potential problems. The problem started a couple of years ago when I changed from my ancient 25+ year old powerheads and started using Korilla's. The pumps are fine but they have a bunch of long slots on the sides where the water enters to be pumped out by the propeller.
That slot is the same diameter as most pipefish and pipefish not being the tuna's of the sea, can't pull free once they get stuck in a slot.
Now I think I solved the problem as I glued these acrylic bands around the powerhead. This one is done and I will now do the other one. I still have my dragon faced pipefish but if I had not seen this, He would be toast, or at least pipefish gel.
Now I am trying to get a few more pipefish but of course no one has any. :debi:

 
That is actually not going to do it. They are drawn to the food that gets caught in the intake and get sucked in themselves. You need to cover the entire intake with a mesh material to make those power heads pipefish safe.

If you go back on previous threads you can see this has been happening for at least ten years.
 
It has been happening a lot longer than that as I have lost many pipefish over the years.
If you put a mesh over the entire thing they still get stuck to the mesh unless the mesh is a good distance away from the grill. This fix is a test and although it looks like it won't work, I think it will. The pipefish can get away as long as they are perpendicular to the grill slots. That is what the rings of acrylic is supposed to do. The pipefish don't actually go into the slots as they are a little narrow for them. The fish get caught in the slots which are slightly smaller than the fish. I tested it with a piece of flexable tubing the same width as a pipefish and it seems to work. But if it doesn't, I will design something else. This design, like everything in my tank (and home) will be constantly tweeked and upgraded until it is perfect. The pipefish stay near the bottom and only go to the top when I feed them, but I turn off the powerhead to feed and I watch them so they don't go into the powerhead before I turn it back on.
But thanks for your comments. You may still be correct.
 
I have two powerheads in my seahorse tank which are covered with some washing nets that I got from the soap power,I find that the seahorses will go up to the powerheads but they only rest there side on it they can pull away when they like.Also the nets are changed at evey water change and clean ones put on.
 
kudagirl said:
I have two powerheads in my seahorse tank which are covered with some washing nets that I got from the soap power,I find that the seahorses will go up to the powerheads but they only rest there side on it they can pull away when they like.Also the nets are changed at evey water change and clean ones put on.
Click to expand...

Washing nets as in the mesh bags for delicate laundry in the washing machine? Do you have a picture by chance? I'll be getting my horses soon (tank has been up and running about 5 months) but am still working on someway to horse proof the powerheads.
 
I got a new multi banded pipefish today and strung fishing line around those acrylic bands on my powerheads. I still am going to tweek them some more and tomorrow I may go back and get more of those pipefish as I like to have breeding pairs of all my fish
 
Fallling said:
Washing nets as in the mesh bags for delicate laundry in the washing machine? Do you have a picture by chance? I'll be getting my horses soon (tank has been up and running about 5 months) but am still working on someway to horse proof the powerheads.
Click to expand...

The washing nets I use are the one you would have got to put your washing tablets in before you put them into the washing machine.I find that these fit nicely over the powerheads,after each water change the net are changed and clean ones put on.

I find that some of the seahorses like to hang on the sides of the powerheads.
 
I have pipefish swimming against MP60 no issues ...

I trully believe that fish get stuck to power heads only when they are weak ....
 
With most fish that is true, but the Korilia's have slots on their sides that are exactly pipefish size and if they get stuck in there, they can't get out as pipefish are not the tuna of the sea
 
No, I don't even know what a MP60 is as all my popwerheads are from the 70s and 80s except the Korilia's
 
what if you also put your powerheads on a timer so they stopped running for a minute every hour or so then any trapped pipefish can get off. Idk how long they can survive like that but probably a hour at least
 
I thought about that but sometimes they don't start or they start in reverse so I would rather watch them. The pipefish are safe now that I re designed the powerheads.
 
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