Anyone have a fish go directly into a powerhead?

[eagerreefer]

So I step away from my tank for one minute to prepare some food for my fishies and come back to detritus flying everywhere. To my horror I realized said detritus was from my McCoskers flasher wrasse that decided to go head first directly into my mp40 for some reason. I had a Limpet Wide flow urchin guard so I know he wasn't sucked in through the side. It wasn't a situation where I had turned the powerhead off and on either, he just must have fought the flow to get in. Only thing I can think of was since I run reef crest mode maybe he trying to go in during a lower flow period and when the powerhead ramped up and it was too late. I thought I had taken proper precautions by having the intake well covered but apparently not. Going to be switching to a guard with more protection in the front as well even if that impedes flow. I feel stupid for not switching earlier but at the same time this could have happened with most the guards on the market including the default cover from Ecotech. Freak accident but I guess a warning to my fellow reefers that it can still happen.

RIP little guy, he was such a friendly tank mate and an absolute hog at feeding time.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

So I step away from my tank for one minute to prepare some food for my fishies and come back to detritus flying everywhere. To my horror I realized said detritus was from my McCoskers flasher wrasse that decided to go head first directly into my mp40 for some reason. I had a Limpet Wide flow urchin guard so I know he wasn't sucked in through the side. It wasn't a situation where I had turned the powerhead off and on either, he just must have fought the flow to get in. Only thing I can think of was since I run reef crest mode maybe he trying to go in during a lower flow period and when the powerhead ramped up and it was too late. I thought I had taken proper precautions by having the intake well covered but apparently not. Going to be switching to a guard with more protection in the front as well even if that impedes flow. I feel stupid for not switching earlier but at the same time this could have happened with most the guards on the market including the default cover from Ecotech. Freak accident but I guess a warning to my fellow reefers that it can still happen.

RIP little guy, he was such a friendly tank mate and an absolute hog at feeding time.

Sorry for your loss

I have NemProtects for my MP40s but I only use them when something is sickly or an anemone seems like it may be thinking about moving. Its got side as well as front coverage, so it would have stopped what happened from happening (but I've got them under my desk and not currently ON my MP40s...).

Appreciate the warning... thought provoking RIP flasher wrasse

 

[eagerreefer]

Sorry for your loss

I have NemProtects for my MP40s but I only use them when something is sickly or an anemone seems like it may be thinking about moving. Its got side as well as front coverage, so it would have stopped what happened from happening (but I've got them under my desk and not currently ON my MP40s...).

Appreciate the warning... thought provoking RIP flasher wrasse

Thanks for the kind words. I actually did have a nemprotect which makes me feel even more stupid for not using it... but I just didn't like how it loosely slipped over the whole mp40 instead of locking in like the Neat Aquatics ones do. I had one similar on my mp10 and it kept falling off. Well I dug it up and playing around with a bit I realized the front cover plate popped off quite easily and was a good enough match with the Neat Aquatic guard for me to superglue it directly onto the front. Maybe a good enough solution until someone makes a solid one-piece version of it.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Sorry to hear about your wrasse. I've only really ever used gyre style pumps and the slots are too small for even tiny fish to get inside so it's not been an issue.

 

[Treefer32]

I have fish that swim into the flow of my mp40s. My large tangs take turns swimming in front of the mp40s every morning. I don't know why, but they just love it. They'll fight over who gets which mp40... I once had a blue throat trigger that liked swimming in circles around my mp40s. Occasionally he's get stuck on them and then wriggle himself off. I thought he was sick, but he just liked doing it. He eventually died because he wasn't agressive enough at eating and stayed hidden in a cave and died.. My tangs didn't like him. Nothing to do with an MP40. But, some fish like playing in the flow. Never heard of one swimming into the blades though.... eeek! So sorry!

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Sorry to hear about your wrasse. I've only really ever used gyre style pumps and the slots are too small for even tiny fish to get inside so it's not been an issue.

I also use 2 gyres and feel those tiny slots are capable of grabbing the edge of a fin or shrimp foot or ... and then with the fast rotation they'd rip off the fin+ or foot+ or... as it rotates quickly back into housing. I do random but I never let it stop for this fear reason. I do turn off entirely during feeding, and I try to ensure nothing has rested on any of 4 gyre heads before powering manually back on.

I do not have a hawkfish - they love to perch and I fear I'd kill it... I did loose neon blue goby with no trace - they are small and perch... now wondering if I accidentally killed it

 

[SaltyT]

So I step away from my tank for one minute to prepare some food for my fishies and come back to detritus flying everywhere. To my horror I realized said detritus was from my McCoskers flasher wrasse that decided to go head first directly into my mp40 for some reason. I had a Limpet Wide flow urchin guard so I know he wasn't sucked in through the side. It wasn't a situation where I had turned the powerhead off and on either, he just must have fought the flow to get in. Only thing I can think of was since I run reef crest mode maybe he trying to go in during a lower flow period and when the powerhead ramped up and it was too late. I thought I had taken proper precautions by having the intake well covered but apparently not. Going to be switching to a guard with more protection in the front as well even if that impedes flow. I feel stupid for not switching earlier but at the same time this could have happened with most the guards on the market including the default cover from Ecotech. Freak accident but I guess a warning to my fellow reefers that it can still happen.

RIP little guy, he was such a friendly tank mate and an absolute hog at feeding time.

Wrasses can spook easily he may have gotten spooked and darted very quickly in an unlucky direction right into the MP40. Sorry for your loss

 

[Ajayabb]

I have a Blue Reef Chromi that got chased into my powerhead by my Maroon Clownfish. Chewed up his tail pretty good but he survived and grew his tail back

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Thanks for the kind words. I actually did have a nemprotect which makes me feel even more stupid for not using it... but I just didn't like how it loosely slipped over the whole mp40 instead of locking in like the Neat Aquatics ones do. I had one similar on my mp10 and it kept falling off. Well I dug it up and playing around with a bit I realized the front cover plate popped off quite easily and was a good enough match with the Neat Aquatic guard for me to superglue it directly onto the front. Maybe a good enough solution until someone makes a solid one-piece version of it.

Oh, my NemProtects snap on ... takes some force. Maybe try pressing hard before superglue... just a thought... might also be they aren't all as tight as mine unknown but thought I'd mention my snugness

 

[DaddyFish]

I had a Niger Trigger that surfed directly into the GYREs for hours every day. He and another trigger went to war one day and the Niger lost.

Fish do crazy things, especially when we're not watching. Very sorry for your loss. It's the active ones we miss most.

 

[youcallmenny1]

I also use 2 gyres and feel those tiny slots are capable of grabbing the edge of a fin or shrimp foot or ... and then with the fast rotation they'd rip off the fin+ or foot+ or... as it rotates quickly back into housing. I do random but I never let it stop for this fear reason. I do turn off entirely during feeding, and I try to ensure nothing has rested on any of 4 gyre heads before powering manually back on.

I do not have a hawkfish - they love to perch and I fear I'd kill it... I did loose neon blue goby with no trace - they are small and perch... now wondering if I accidentally killed it

I have a peninsula so I just use the one large gyre on the weir side in a wave pulse that creates a big wave across the whole tank. I've had a flame hawk in there for quite some time and it's never been a problem. The gyre is pretty close to the top though too. There's also a sailfin blenny and several shrimps, no seafood blender yet! They've all been in there at least a year.

 

[binaryfuneral]

I had a sea goblin who decided to hang out by my powerhead and got his dorsal spines caught between the inflow slats on the side. Took the sheathes right off his spines. Water was full of venom. Putting my hand into the tank with a wound from a hangnail hurt like a you know what. It certainly has happened to me but never a fish swimming directly into the outflow.