Gravel Vacuum Horror Story

Well, I pulled Fishlore up about 20 minutes ago to post this and got caught up in other threads. Anyway, I was vacuuming the gravel in my 60 gallon pairing tank with 3 Angelfish and 4 GBRs. To get to the point, a GBR was sucked into the vacuum intake and pinned. It took me at least a minute if not two to get it free. I can't tell if their has been any serious damage as the fish has been hiding ever since. It is extremely pale. If I'm correct, it is a Top Fin gravel vacuum. I've not seen anything about it saying to take caution with small fish. I didn't know if I was going to be able to free her, let alone save her life. She has barely moved since the incident. She only swims away when anything comes near her. I feel terrible about the entire thing. I attached pictures for reference.

 

I haven't had this happen to me yet but have had numerous close calls. This is why I will never leave any hoses/siphons unattended, even for second. Fish simply don't know any better. Be thankful yours is still able to swim away, I've heard horror stories of fish getting stuck in the hose and the suction being so strong that it's ripped them apart!

 

HI there!
I suppose it is taken as general knowledge to be careful with any fish while vacuuming. The smaller the fish and also the more inquisitive the fish, the more careful you have to be. For example fry would not even have the strengths to resist the sucking power.

But don't beat yourself up. We all make mistakes and ideally can learn from them. Good job you got it free and it's alive! Extremely good job it does not seem to have any obvious damage like bruises or broken fins (?)!

I have very limited experience with Rams but judging from your pictures (I'm sure it was not easy to take them) your fish does not look too bad at all. It certainly got scared and will be hiding for a while. I would wait and observe for any signs of injury.

Depending on the age of your fish the horizontal stripe might be a sign for stress (Young fry have these until they grow older) but I have scared mine accidentally before and they were A LOT paler- you could not even see the black dot on their side. They have returned to normal in a couple of hours.

Fingers crossed your fish will be alright!!!

 

I've had a few gravel vac mishaps in my time. I had a bandit cichlid about a year ago swim up the tube. Unfortunately for him he actually got sucked about halfway down the tubing between the tank and the sink. By the time I managed to reverse the flow and spit him back into the tank, he'd been torn apart. He was still alive but barely and the other fish were swarming him. So I had to quickly euthanize.

But even if you don't leave it unattended, it can still happen. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning the substrate and I moved one of my small driftwood pieces to get some of the gunk up under it. Now, before I did this I tapped on the top to scare any kuhlI loaches that might be under it out. After seeing a few scurry away I thought the coast was clear. Unfortunately once I moved it to start vacuuming a small striped kuhlI shot out and up the tube. I immediately pulled the tube out of the tank but he was already in the line. I raced to the sink and tried to catch him before he went down the drain...but I was not successful.

It's something we all take for granted and get used to but we have to stay attentive no matter what.

Luckily for you, your fish seems like he's ok. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he isn't injured or the other fish are picking on him

 

I have recently got danios, in my 30g. Since they're so small once we got them, not even an half inch, we were scared they would go up the gravel vac, so we visited 'Dicks Sporting Goods' and we picked up some clothing, and shoes for basketball, we took home hoes, and covered the intake of the gravel vac, try that. nothing except waste, and water can get thru them, Goodluck!

 

I've had a pearl gourami and a brazillian puffer sucked up the gravel vac. Puffer was fine once I managed to shove him back out of the hose into the water. Gourami's entire head was dislocated forward a bit. Dead.

That's it over about 17 years. Not really a big issue, and as long as your fish aren't too small. Fish are stupid.

I just make sure to shove the end into the gravel when I leave it if I have small fish.

 

The awful thing was I was standing right there. I've used this vacuum for years without issues. The fish was next to the vacuum one second and in it the next. She is about 1 inch heigh by 2 inches long. I wasn't expecting any of them to even be able to fit through the whole at all. She got stuck 1/3 to halfway into the tube. I could see small tetras or danios going into the tube, but a full grown GBR? When I tried to get her out, the piece inside that opens and closes came down right on her. I ended up yanking the tube part off of the other causing water to go all into my floor. I had to get enough pressure going through the tube to force her out. She had been free about 20 minutes before I took the pictures and had regained a bit of color.

 

Glad your fish is going to be okay. I personally put mesh on all my siphons, because I have heard a many horror stories.

 

I use a TopFin gravel vacuum too, but mine has a basket cover at the top of the tube to catch small fish before they become trapped. For the most part though my fish swim away from the vacuum, but I'm also constantly moving it being that it's only used in a 10 gallon tank.

 

I hope she recovers soon! Good thing you were there to see it happen, things could have been much much worse otherwise.

 

I always try to avoid fish with the vac. Most are scared of it now, except for my smallest, most annoying ones: Glowlight tetras.

 

She is looking a lot better. I tried to get pictures, but she retreated to the main cave type decoration.

 

That's one thing that scares me about putting the end of the tube outside or down the drain. I siphon into buckets. I've had a juvie albino cory go through the vac once, but he safely made it into the bucket. I put him back in the main tank and he was fine! But to think about them going down the drain makes me shudder.

Hopefully your GBR pulls through!

 

I've used the vacuum before with smaller fish without any incidents, however, a fairly large GBR (at least fairly large for female rams). That was the last thing I expected to happen. I meant to vacuum out the Auratus tank, but I was too petrified to even consider it even though they are all 3-4 inches.

 

I raced to the sink and tried to catch him before he went down the drain...but I was not successful.

Heh, that does remind me, years ago I did have to rescue a tetra from a puddle on the sidewalk, and another one I had to rescue from the toilet.

 

Heh, that does remind me, years ago I did have to rescue a tetra from a puddle on the sidewalk, and another one I had to rescue from the toilet.

OOPS. yeah my biggest fear since I got a python that drains into the tub. All my fish except the two guppies won't fit so I'm not to overly concerned, just ridiculously paranoid.

 

Yep, has happened to me before, but worse...
A Molly which I thought didnt fit inside the filter intake (plus he was healthy so I thought it was impossible for him to get sucked) somehow managed to get sucked into a HOB filter. He got ripped in half quite literally. His internal organs were not touched and his gonopodium was intact but he died anyways, I would imagine the pain was extreme for the fish and that his internal organs probably got squished. He somehow managed to get out, if it wasn't for that he probably would have lived in my filter for quite some time because I did not know he was inside it. His very supportive and friendly tank mates (tiger barbs) also tried to eat him alive just like in tyguy7760´s case.
The fish "swam" around for about an hour and a half or so in a hospital tank, I honestly thought he was gonna make it but he suddenly died.

I like handfeeding my fish every now and then (cool trick to show visitors lol) so I usually grab the end of the siphon and cover it with my fingers so no fish get sucked in. All of them think its food time when my hands enter to the tank so I have to cover my siphon or else someone will get sucked in.
Loosing a fish to the drain sounds even worse than getting your fish ripped in half tho.

 

Heh, that does remind me, years ago I did have to rescue a tetra from a puddle on the sidewalk, and another one I had to rescue from the toilet.

Not as valuable of a critter, but when we got our ghost shrimp one jumped out of the net while trying to put them into the tank. He went into the drain, and landed on the strainer crosspiece. My girlfriend got it out with chopsticks. It made it and is still alive to this day.

 

I always put a bit of plastic netting from a media bag over my siphon with a rubber band to prevent that. Got the idea from Solid Gold actually. I use a python water changer and the sink is pretty far away from the fish tank, so there's a lot of running back and forth and I can't monitor the vacuum the whole time. So far no mishaps.

 

I lost one on my last water change,I didn`t notice he was gone until later on that night!

 

An amazing story of survival happened to me a few weeks ago. I was vacuuming up into a bucket and my husband looks in the bucket and sees a RCS swimming around in the bucket! It somehow managed to get through the siphon unscathed. I caught him and put him in the tank and he swam off, probably to be eaten by my guppies.

 

I use just at the top of my vacuum tube. There are a lot of different sizes available. I have a bit of the PVC connect to the tube then the strainer then the long section of PVC. Won't help everything but fish aren't making it to the drain, that's for sure. I'm sorry for your loss... truly.

 

I've had a few gravel vac mishaps in my time. I had a bandit cichlid about a year ago swim up the tube. Unfortunately for him he actually got sucked about halfway down the tubing between the tank and the sink. By the time I managed to reverse the flow and spit him back into the tank, he'd been torn apart. He was still alive but barely and the other fish were swarming him. So I had to quickly euthanize.

But even if you don't leave it unattended, it can still happen. A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning the substrate and I moved one of my small driftwood pieces to get some of the gunk up under it. Now, before I did this I tapped on the top to scare any kuhlI loaches that might be under it out. After seeing a few scurry away I thought the coast was clear. Unfortunately once I moved it to start vacuuming a small striped kuhlI shot out and up the tube. I immediately pulled the tube out of the tank but he was already in the line. I raced to the sink and tried to catch him before he went down the drain...but I was not successful.

It's something we all take for granted and get used to but we have to stay attentive no matter what.

Luckily for you, your fish seems like he's ok. Just keep an eye on him and make sure he isn't injured or the other fish are picking on him

What I do is because I do not have a sink nearby, I use a bucket. I one of my Neon Tetras gets sucked in the tube, he will go into the bucket. I can always scoop him out. I reccomend doing this just for saftey even if you do have a sink nearby.

 

What I do is because I do not have a sink nearby, I use a bucket. I one of my Neon Tetras gets sucked in the tube, he will go into the bucket. I can always scoop him out. I reccomend doing this just for saftey even if you do have a sink nearby.

Well that's great in theory but when you are doing a 50 percent water change on a 75 gallon or larger tank then using a 5 gallon bucket is going to take 7 or more trips at a minimum.... Let alone having multiple tanks

 

Well that's great in theory but when you are doing a 50 percent water change on a 75 gallon or larger tank then using a 5 gallon bucket is going to take 7 or more trips at a minimum.... Let alone having multiple tanks

That's why you use a powered solution like mine. I gravel vac into a bucket and in the bucket I have the intake for my transfer pump... wham bam water is in the tub. The intake lays flat and has tiny little holes so no worries there as far as sucking up any stock.

I have to admit though... the powered water changing system isn't very popular. Don't ask me why I guess people don't mind wasting water and/or carrying buckets.

 

Well that's great in theory but when you are doing a 50 percent water change on a 75 gallon or larger tank then using a 5 gallon bucket is going to take 7 or more trips at a minimum.... Let alone having multiple tanks

It takes me 40 or more minutes to change 25-30 percent of water in my 60s using a 5 gallon bucket. With a transfer process it takes me 15. I don't have an hour and a half to do water changes on 2 of my 60s alone.

 

That's why you use a powered solution like mine. I gravel vac into a bucket and in the bucket I have the intake for my transfer pump... wham bam water is in the tub. The intake lays flat and has tiny little holes so no worries there as far as sucking up any stock.

I have to admit though... the powered water changing system isn't very popular. Don't ask me why I guess people don't mind wasting water and/or carrying buckets.

I'm seriously gonna look again at your other post about your powered system, because my back is bad right now, and the buckets are so heavy! Thanks for sharing it!

 

I'm seriously gonna look again at your other post about your powered system, because my back is bad right now, and the buckets are so heavy! Thanks for sharing it!

It really works well ma'am. My changes are very fast and if I had anything bigger than my 30 or multiple tanks I wouldn't live without it.

 

That's why you use a powered solution like mine. I gravel vac into a bucket and in the bucket I have the intake for my transfer pump... wham bam water is in the tub. The intake lays flat and has tiny little holes so no worries there as far as sucking up any stock.

I have to admit though... the powered water changing system isn't very popular. Don't ask me why I guess people don't mind wasting water and/or carrying buckets.

I'd be interested to hear more about this power solution

 

I'd be interested to hear more about this power solution

Here you go sir:

 

Had an angel get sucked into an unattended siphon tube she died unfortunately. I now have my siphon tube setup so I take my gravel vac off and put a modified spray bar on which I sit near the bottom of my tank as the water pull is spread over about 10 small holes it doesn't effect the flow but also doesn't pull enough to catch even small fry

 

I have had guppies get sucked up the vacuum and right through the hose and into the bucket (thank heavens for the bucket) I just scoop them out and back into the tank. I have also found fry in the bucket numerous times, so for tanks with fry or any breeding fish I check the bucket with a flashlight to spot movement and rescue. Or in the case of egg layers I only do water changes and not gravel vacs as the fry are like swimming eyelashes and when startled you can't find them. I have had fry sucked into canister filters and they survive until the next filter change.

 

I have had fry sucked into canister filters and they survive until the next filter change.

I've had between 20 and 30 BN fry living in my filters when mine were breeding a couple of years ago especially in the HOB I was running on the 55gal breeder I gave up trying to stop them they helped keep the filter clean and was less poop to Clean out of the tank

 

What about cutting a thin piece of plastic with the profile of your tank, shoo all the critters to one end and use the plastic to keep them in place while you vac the half of the tank with no critters. I've seen it suggested to do half the tank on a rotating basis anyway.

Note to self, when doing the aquascape for the new tank, leave slot for barrier lol.