O.k. so just now I looked over at my tank and Larry my big orange goldfish was WRAPPED around the filter intake tube and was stuck. I could'nt get him free, so I yanked the plung on the filter and he came off and sank to the bottom and was sitting there breathing a little. He's got some scale damage at the base of his tail fin and his fin is torn but he's swimming a little more. But the strange thing is, now my other two fish are acting strange, hiding, sitting on the bottom and "darting". I don't know how this could have happened. It's never happened before. I just did a tank clean not but 3-4 days ago. Should I do something? I'm scared for my fish. They were acting completely normal, then Larry got hurt and now they're all "stressed".


I did a large water change and have my filter on medium setting for now. They seem to be acting better. All 3 are swimming about together and nibbling on things. Need to try and get something to help Larry heal his fin and scales beside stress coat.

One of the members will give you good advice....but I wanted to stop in and say I understand. Its completely scary and upsetting.  

About 3 weeks ago my fish got sucked into the filter as well. He had a bit of fin damage, ruffed up scales and a purplish mark on his side.  The day it happened he was quiet and sat at the bottom of tank.  The next day he was a bit better and now he's completely recovered. I'm sure your Goldie will make a recovery.

Keep us posted on his status.

If you see any wounds, or torn fins,  I would add aquarium salt according to the instructions. If their isn't any wounds or torn fins look for anything strange on Larry observe him untill he gets back to normal. If he gets really bad I would quaritine him.

They're so cute in that video! Mostly what I notice is that he seems a bit shy simply, probably because of the accident. Fish tend to hide a little when they are hurting somewhere.
Does he eat normally? That's a very important thing, especially when hurt he needs particularly nutritious foods.
He'll probably recover on his own from the physical damage, a few scales can fall of anytime and tails can get torn only from bad water quality but will generally heal up again in no time.

About fish getting skinny, yes they can. It's sometimes referred to wasting away or wasting disease, and has something to do with internal parasites. Once I get access to the book I found that in I could post some more details on it for you I sort of doubt he would've gotten parasites just from this event, though it can be pretty traumatizing I think the chance for something more severe happening would be bigger if he would've gotten bleeding wounds or something.

Keep us posted on how it goes!

I dunno where he could have gotten a parasite from if he does how one, I suppose there's no way to tell for sure? He's not really eating as much as he did before this, but he seems to doing a bit better. Bit more active today. The incidents gotten me all paranoid he or one of my other fish could get stuck now! XD

Get better soon Larry.

That doesn't sound good at all... When the fish are losing control of themselves like that it's generally not a good sign.. maybe the shock from getting stuck is a bit too much? I can't think of anything you could do to help with this though, as I doubt a salt concentration could do much.

Oh no  
I'm so sorry to hear about Larry, I hope the little guy pulls through *fingers crossed*

Did you have a spare filter for the small critter keeper?

Sorry to hear your news

He was lucky to have an owner who cared so much.

Very sorry to hear that