Betta got stuck in the filter intake

Our poor Betta got stuck in the filter intake, I feel especially bad because I didn't see him when I came home and just assumed he was hiding, we found him last night when we were going to bed, shut off the filter and he swam out. He's missing almost all of his fins, he'd clearly been in there most of the day. There is only the clear/white part remaining of his bottom fins. He seems happy and alert, I read quite a bit about this last night around the web but wanted to post here for advice too. I thought for sure he was toast but he's swimming around happy as can be.

I assume that there is an underlying problem or he wouldn't have gotten stuck? I've seen him down there a lot before, there's plenty of places to hide and this is one of the areas he goes to, he's never been stuck before and his fins were all pristine before this so I know he hasn't had any issues with it. He used to sit on the bottom of the tank for a few minutes sometimes but hasn't been doing that lately at all since we cut down on feeding him. We now have the filter all the way down (it was on a medium flow) it's a 3.5 gallon and the levels are all normal. There's a pygmy Cory, 5 Norman Lampeyes and Betta in there. It's the 3.5 gallon glofish kit (long story on how we got that..I swear this tank is cursed.) There's a heater in the tank but it's not adjustable and stays at 75. I left the lights off today so there is a little residual light in the room but I had seen where that could be soothing for him to recover.

I've read about using aquarium salt and doing extra water changes, should I move Betta to another tank and do that? I didn't want to move him immediately after all that trauma and freak him out even more. I plan on getting a sponge filter for that tank so this doesn't happen again, opinions on that would be appreciated too.

poffman wrote:I plan on getting a sponge filter for that tank so this doesn't happen again, opinions on that would be appreciated too.

See the sponge filter attached to the intake of the HOB filter.  Got these filters from ebay.
OR
you can just get a sponge filter like the one on left side of picture.
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Thanks Kara!!! I was worried about the salts impact on everyone else..

SiRWesDragon wrote:

poffman wrote:I plan on getting a sponge filter for that tank so this doesn't happen again, opinions on that would be appreciated too.

See the sponge filter attached to the intake of the HOB filter.  Got these filters from ebay.
OR
you can just get a sponge filter like the one on left side of picture.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

That's a nice way to do it, mine is the internal filter in the tank right now but this could be a good option for my shrimp tank..

I use this to all my small tanks. 36gal bowfront, 30gal, and 10gal.

Betta-man did not make it

On a positive note, we did find our shrimp in there that we haven't seen in 2 months... I think it's time that tank is retired, it's been bad juju.

Aww I'm sorry he didn't make it...

What kind of filter? The only filter I have ever had issue with is the Fluval seemless tank filter. Way too strong for such a lil tank. On a side note thats the down side to genetically altering a species. We have created betta's that have huge beautiful fins at the expense that the fish cannot swim half as well as just about any other fish in the natural world. Sorry about the losses and injuries. Sponge covers sounds like the best alternative

Chiisai wrote:What kind of filter? The only filter I have ever had issue with is the Fluval seemless tank filter. Way too strong for such a lil tank.  On a side note thats the down side to genetically altering a species. We have created betta's that have huge beautiful fins at the expense that the fish cannot swim half as well as just about any other fish in the natural world. Sorry about the losses and injuries. Sponge covers sounds like the best alternative

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That's the tank setup, this tank has been nothing but trouble.. time for it to go away me thinks. Sponge filters would have been a much better way to filter this tank but of course they want to make money off the filter inserts once a month..

Yeah I use to have those filters in all my 10gals but discovered the bulk refils is nothing more then charcoal in a jar and the fabric sleeves. So unless you want to play mr./mrs fix it. You have to pay more for the individual filters. I am surprised you had issues with that filter. I actually like that filter as it wasnt strong enough to suck fry into it.

Poffman dont quit. Move on to another tank.  

Chiisai wrote:Yeah I use to have those filters in all my 10gals but discovered the bulk refils is nothing more then charcoal in a jar and the fabric sleeves. So unless you want to play mr./mrs fix it. You have to pay more for the individual filters. I am surprised you had issues with that filter. I actually like that filter as it wasnt strong enough to suck fry into it.

The bulk refills are a joke for sure, but they are pretty easy. Do you have something covering the bottom of the intake? I read that a lot of people use pantyhouse or other light fabrics over them to avoid this.. I am guessing he was sick a while..

SiRWesDragon wrote:Poffman dont quit. Move on to another tank.  

Oh don't worry I'm not getting rid of my 60 gallon or my 24 anytime soon    

Mine used to rest on the intake of my canister all the time. I'd give the pipe a little nudge and he'd swim right off.