fish in overflow box

[CTurtleGirl]

A couple months ago I got a neon goby. Well I saw him the first two days and then never again. I figured he didn't make it or something. Well yesterday I just happened to look at the right time in the overflow box and there he was swimming around. He was very small so he must have fit between the teeth of the overflow box. Anyways, I have a durso standpipe in my overflow box so I'ts really hard to fit a net in there to catch the goby. Has anyone else had this happen? Is there any way to get him out of there? Thanks!

CTurtleGirl

 

[Gordo]

I had the same thing happen to my six-line wrasse a couple of months ago. What I had to do was drain the overflow down to where there was almost no water in it (1/2") and then net the little bugger. I had to rig up an extension handle for the net with a piece of PVC pipe. I’m sure it was a little traumatic for the fish, but he recovered in about a day.

~Gordo~

 

[acropora]

It is also not necessary to glue the PVC components of a Durso.BY not gluing them ,You are able to take it apart and clean it. In this case,you can take the elbow off and unscrew the standpipe and any fish in the overflow will travel to the sump for rescue.

 

[cdeakle]

A free ticket to Wild Waves water park huh? LOL

 

[acropora]

Exactly.:lol:

 

[CTurtleGirl]

Of course the durso standpipe is glued together! Geez I really thought that one through when building the tank. I decided to try to manually siphon out the goby into a bucket. Does that sound like a good idea? Will he survive the ride? He is really hard to see cause its a black back tank and he is mostly black. If I can't get him out of the overflow can he survive in there?

Thanks!

 

[acropora]

Most everyone glues the PVC.That is why I mentioned it, because it is not necessary. I use the PVC solvent on the very bottom where the male adapter connects to the standpipe. This makes it easy to screw and unscrew the stand pipe. Can your fish survive? Long term survival is doubtful, since it is in a stressful situation with feeding also difficult. You may be able to cut off the PVC tee with a PVC cable saw. This is a basic tool found at H.D. which is basically a cable with a handle on each end. You slip the cable around the PVC and it can cut the PVC tee off. Then you can easily unscrew the standpipe. This may be the least stressful option for the goby. Good Luck.