Fish trapped in overflow
- Thread starter SteveDola
- Start date
Paula
I'm still around . ..
Hey Steve - This has happened to me a few times and it is so difficult to get a net in there with all the pipework. I have had to flush out my overflow to get the fish out by taking the drain pipes out completely and let the water from the overflow drain into a bucket - hopefully with the trapped fish ...
To fence it in I have gotten some of the plastic mesh from the crafts store - Michael's, AC Moore and Joanne's fabrics all carry it. (you will find it in the needlepoint section) It comes in different colors if you want to be creative - or just boring black. You will need to clean it every now and then as crap builds up on it ... but it works great for keeping errant fish out of the overflow! Unless of course they "go for the gold" and actually jump in .. . then you have to give them an "A" for effort and take the drain pipes out again.
Good luck!
Paula
To fence it in I have gotten some of the plastic mesh from the crafts store - Michael's, AC Moore and Joanne's fabrics all carry it. (you will find it in the needlepoint section) It comes in different colors if you want to be creative - or just boring black. You will need to clean it every now and then as crap builds up on it ... but it works great for keeping errant fish out of the overflow! Unless of course they "go for the gold" and actually jump in .. . then you have to give them an "A" for effort and take the drain pipes out again.
Good luck!
Paula
Kevin McG
Ni Hao!
This has happened to me a couple of times and this is what I did.
The 1st time I had a small green chromis get in there. I really didn't want to pull the plumbing so what I did was take a 3/4" peice of tubing and snaked it down to about the level the chromis was hanging out and gave the other end of the tube a HUGE suck! the little guy came up the 1st try
beginners luck I guess.
The second time I wasn't so lucky, I had a scooter blenny in there and I figured it would be easy this time.....no such luck
I gave up after about a hour and drinking 1/2 gallon of water. I ended up pulling the return line and he fell into a 5 gallon bucket i had waiting below.One problem with that though my return line developed a small leak in which required a new bulkhead.
I went out and bought some netting and went above the entire overflow and haven't had another fish in there since {Knock on wood}
The 1st time I had a small green chromis get in there. I really didn't want to pull the plumbing so what I did was take a 3/4" peice of tubing and snaked it down to about the level the chromis was hanging out and gave the other end of the tube a HUGE suck! the little guy came up the 1st try
beginners luck I guess.The second time I wasn't so lucky, I had a scooter blenny in there and I figured it would be easy this time.....no such luck
I gave up after about a hour and drinking 1/2 gallon of water. I ended up pulling the return line and he fell into a 5 gallon bucket i had waiting below.One problem with that though my return line developed a small leak in which required a new bulkhead.
I went out and bought some netting and went above the entire overflow and haven't had another fish in there since {Knock on wood}
Try a couple of searches on this topic, it's been discussed before. Be creative on the searches, I don't remember the thread titles but it's come up at least twice this past year.
I've been able to catch a perc 10X plus with my hand to get it out of an overflow that she had a habit of getting into (but a wrasse would probablly be way too quick to catch this way).
One way is to pull out the duroso and let it "flush into the sump", but if you do this you risk impaling the fish on a feather duster tube or something. If you want to try this method hold a mesh filter bag over the overflow so the fish goes right there instead of having to catch it in the sump.
You can also carefully pull the duroso but hold it right over the bulkhead so the overflow drains slowly (either way shut the main pump off first) then pick the fish up with your hand or a net once it's stuck in .5 inches of water
(this can't be good for a fish but I've done it and not killed the fish along with my many bare handed clown rescues, yes I still have that clown, she's about 4 yrs old).
so search for those old threads, other people had better ideas than mine.
jk
I've been able to catch a perc 10X plus with my hand to get it out of an overflow that she had a habit of getting into (but a wrasse would probablly be way too quick to catch this way).
One way is to pull out the duroso and let it "flush into the sump", but if you do this you risk impaling the fish on a feather duster tube or something. If you want to try this method hold a mesh filter bag over the overflow so the fish goes right there instead of having to catch it in the sump.
You can also carefully pull the duroso but hold it right over the bulkhead so the overflow drains slowly (either way shut the main pump off first) then pick the fish up with your hand or a net once it's stuck in .5 inches of water
(this can't be good for a fish but I've done it and not killed the fish along with my many bare handed clown rescues, yes I still have that clown, she's about 4 yrs old).
so search for those old threads, other people had better ideas than mine.
jk
alsie1
Non-member
overflow fish
Good luck in whatever you try - I stuffed floss down to the bottom of the overflow from one corner of the overflow cutting down of the living area and then repeating it driving the fish up closer to the top as to be able to grab with my hand or a small net. Did this when one of my Hippos did a swan dive into the overflow. My Hippo lived in the overflow for months before I got him out. Got to admit I never covered my overflow afterwards cause I would rather try a rescue instead of a fish flopping on a cover dying being out of water. I redid my tank a couple of weeks ago and found a damsel that was in the overflow for over 2 years and I never saw it when I got my Hippo out. He had no color to him and was 4 times the size as when first put in the tank. He dissapeared within a week of when he went in the tank.
Good luck in whatever you try - I stuffed floss down to the bottom of the overflow from one corner of the overflow cutting down of the living area and then repeating it driving the fish up closer to the top as to be able to grab with my hand or a small net. Did this when one of my Hippos did a swan dive into the overflow. My Hippo lived in the overflow for months before I got him out. Got to admit I never covered my overflow afterwards cause I would rather try a rescue instead of a fish flopping on a cover dying being out of water. I redid my tank a couple of weeks ago and found a damsel that was in the overflow for over 2 years and I never saw it when I got my Hippo out. He had no color to him and was 4 times the size as when first put in the tank. He dissapeared within a week of when he went in the tank.
gordonzoo
Non-member
Most every overflow is a little different so my advice may not work. My perc watched nemo and did the same. My overflow has a pipe in the middle. When the net came around he would circle the pipe. I ended up making something to block his circular escape bending the smaller net to make it thin and corralled him that way.
Rich
Rich
