The Puffer Forum

I have kept fish for 16 years and I never had happen what I am about to tell you:

I was doing a water change to my goldfish aquarium late last night and I had looked down for a second to check the water level in the draining bucket when I felt a thud on the hose. I quickly looked up to see my Veiltail goldfish's head stuck onto the hose and so I quickly stopped the siphon to let him swim free and I was horrified to see his eyeball dangling out of the side of his head as he frantically swam to a corner of the aquarium and was breathing heavily, clearly in shock as to what happened. I quickly grabbed a net and carefully scooped him out of the aquarium and tried to do an emergency surgery to pop his eyeball back into its socket before it completely got tore off by something.

After having a chat with PP on FB I placed the poor fish in a small 2 gallon quarantine tank with an airstone that was doubling as a secondary snail breeder tank and I added some salt and Melafix to the water and then I also decided to place a small 5-10 gallon HOB power filter on it to maximize the water filtration and circulation of the Meds. I also turned up the water temperature to minimize an infection risk.




I checked in on him this morning and he is doing fine and eating well. Fortunately his eye remained inside the socket but he kinda resembles a telescope goldfish from that side now. He was swimming a bit erratic though and I fear his damaged eye may not heal.

My goldfish are very personable creatures very much like the puffers as they would like to swim up and kiss my fingers anytime I stuck my hand in the water. I just felt horrible for what happened and I feel like a amateur fish keeper again. He was one of my prettiest fancy goldfish and I mutilated him.

So lesson here folks is to be very careful and pay attention to your fish during water changes and do not underestimate the power of a siphon hose.

Duh!?!?

A tip: When not doing a gravel vac, use an elastic and a stocking to cover the intake. The mesh size will depend on the fish size. If it is a fry tank.. use a regular socking... then you can increase the mesh size from there.

I'm so sorry to hear that, I really hope your goldie will be ok. I think your amazing to have reacted the way you did. Your goldies lucky to have you

I always use a sponge on the end of my siphon when I'm draining water.

hopefully your goldie will recover quickly!

on a side note, disasters come in 3's they say. first being the driftwood with the ram, this being the second... who will be 3rd???

Yoshi got stuck in the Bak Pak pump today ='( thank goodness I was there to see it happen and shut off the power really quick, but hopefully that was the "3rd." Not sure why it fell off, now it feels a little loose, but it's never happened before, and the skimmer is still relatively new. Never thought I'd ever feel my heart stop.

jus85411 wrote:hopefully your goldie will recover quickly!

on a side note, disasters come in 3's they say. first being the driftwood with the ram, this being the second... who will be 3rd???

I'm the 3rd, My Cuttlefish got stuck against the powerhead and died today

Arny wrote:

jus85411 wrote:hopefully your goldie will recover quickly!

on a side note, disasters come in 3's they say. first being the driftwood with the ram, this being the second... who will be 3rd???

I'm the 3rd, My Cuttlefish got stuck against the powerhead and died today

=( I'm so sorry Arny.

I have to used a syphon with a pump because my aquarium is just above floor level so the suction is very weak. This is a freak accident, looks blind in one eye now.

I am sorry that everyone else in this community is falling victim to freak accidents too.

I may have to cut the eye off my Veiltail as it fell out again and looks very ugly now. I know he is suffering despite the extensive treatments I have administered to him. I am hoping his eye socket will not get infected or I may have to kill him.

If I have to walk away from a tank I'm draining, I'll shove the end into the substrate & close the lid on the hose, to keep it there. Putting a stocking or sponge on the end isn't going to help much in removing detritus.

Guys this is such bad news. Hopefully the bad luck is over. 3 disasters so close, not good. Sorry you lost yours arny, wishing well for the other 2 poorlies

Pufferpunk wrote:If I have to walk away from a tank I'm draining, I'll shove the end into the substrate & close the lid on the hose, to keep it there. Putting a stocking or sponge on the end isn't going to help much in removing detritus.

I vacuum all of the debris first. I never, ever, ever take my eye away from the end of the hose, and I keep a length of it folded and ready to kink immediately in case a fish darts in front of the flow and I need to stop the suction.

Then, when I'm content with the vacuuming, I stick the sponge on the end of the hose, clamp it to the side of the tank so that the hose is positioned to the 50% water line, and then I'm able to come to the computer or leave it otherwise semi-unattended without having to worry about anyone getting sucked up or too much water taken out.

I'm a very paranoid person by nature.

If it makes you feel and better, I have an over-20 years old goldfish who has been totally blind for years. He gets only sinking food (pre-wetted in a shot glass) poured into a reptile water dish in one corner of the tank. he recognizes the flavor of food in the water and swims right to the dish and eats just fine. That is not the first blind fish I have kept.

I am careful not to rearrange the tank decor, so he does not run into things.

I'm so sorry to hear about your misfortune...and you as well, Arny.