Fish Got Stuck In Filter?!

[Cookielici0us]

So I was in the kitchen making food...and SUDDENLY! I hear this sucking noise from my fish tank... and the water slowly stopping.... I walk over and see the gate preventing fishes into the filter had fallen off. I assumed that there wasn't enough physics happening in this picture so I put back on the gate and plugged my filter back in. No suction. I look at my fishes and I notice only TWO platies... i have three!!! and they usually stick together so one being gone is surprising...So i look around the tank doing a head count but I'm still missing ONE PLATY so I take the filter apart and OUT COMES A PLATY! Freshly scaled and shredded. V_V;; I scream at this point slightly disgusted... slightly is an understatement... There was no hope for this platy as it was basically ripped apart by the filter... so I wrapped it up and threw it away. I've had that platy for half a year and it is VERY special. So...Now...for my other fishes...

Do I do a water change?
I'll assume yes...but i just planted some plants and i know that it would upset the roots....I don't know how to gravel vac with out doing so....

Generally WHAT DO I DO IN THIS SITUATION?!
Scrub my filter clean?! D:

 

[HAMBONE]

So I was in the kitchen making food...and SUDDENLY! I hear this sucking noise from my fish tank... and the water slowly stopping.... I walk over and see the gate preventing fishes into the filter had fallen off. I assumed that there wasn't enough physics happening in this picture so I put back on the gate and plugged my filter back in. No suction. I look at my fishes and I notice only TWO platies... i have three!!! and they usually stick together so one being gone is surprising...So i look around the tank doing a head count but I'm still missing ONE PLATY so I take the filter apart and OUT COMES A PLATY! Freshly scaled and shredded. V_V;; I scream at this point slightly disgusted... slightly is an understatement... There was no hope for this platy as it was basically ripped apart by the filter... so I wrapped it up and threw it away. I've had that platy for half a year and it is VERY special.

So...Now...for my other fishes...

Do I do a water change?
I'll assume yes...but i just planted some plants and i know that it would upset the roots....I don't know how to gravel vac with out doing so....

Generally WHAT DO I DO IN THIS SITUATION?!
Scrub my filter clean?! D:

was your tank cycled??

 

[Cookielici0us]

Yes It's been cycled since August V_V
or at least 3-2 months.

 

[Tuxyu3]

Why would you need to do a water change?
Why would a water change upset the plants roots?
Why would you scrub the filter clean? It's only some scales and maybe some flesh, no real biggy.
Did you not kill the fish before disposing of it?

 

[Cookielici0us]

Why would you need to do a water change?
Why would a water change upset the plants roots?
Why would you scrub the filter clean? It's only some scales and maybe some flesh, no real biggy.
Did you not kill the fish before disposing of it?

Why would you need to do a water change?
Would the scales and flesh ruin the ammonia?
Why would a water change upset the plants roots?
I just got them and the store cut off the roots for me so it would increase the growth rate of the plants or something. So they aren't so entirely in the soil because i got them last week.
Why would you scrub the filter clean? It's only some scales and maybe some flesh, no real biggy.
Did you not kill the fish before disposing of it?
It was dead o_o;; when took it out of the filter.

 

[Tuxyu3]

My apologies on the killing part, i misinterpreted the bit about there being no hope for it to mean it was only nearly dead.

The scales and flesh of the fish may excrete some extra ammonia but i would imagine it is nothing your filter bacteria can't take care of.
For future reference if you need to do an emergency water change i would advise not disturbing the substrate until the problem subsides, stirring it up may just make the water quality drop more. Though you should of course clean it when your tank is healthy

One more thing, if anything like this happens again then do not scrub the filter clean, this may just hamper the bacteria's ability to deal with it. If necessary give the filter a gentle 'swish about' in tank water to get most of the debris of it. I generally would never do anything to a filter that could be described as 'scrubbing', it sounds pretty brutal

 

[Cookielici0us]

My apologies on the killing part, i misinterpreted the bit about there being no hope for it to mean it was only nearly dead.

The scales and flesh of the fish may excrete some extra ammonia but i would imagine it is nothing your filter bacteria can't take care of.
For future reference if you need to do an emergency water change i would advise not disturbing the substrate until the problem subsides, stirring it up may just make the water quality drop more. Though you should of course clean it when your tank is healthy

One more thing, if anything like this happens again then do not scrub the filter clean, this may just hamper the bacteria's ability to deal with it. If necessary give the filter a gentle 'swish about' in tank water to get most of the debris of it. I generally would never do anything to a filter that could be described as 'scrubbing', it sounds pretty brutal

thank you for your advice :3 i looked in my filter and noticed green gunk in there is that normal? lol