Fish Stuck Under Filter

[Becca M]

We have just bought 4 mollies for our new fish tank. We put them in the bag floating for 15 minutes, added some water, waited another 10 and released them. One molly immediately went under our filter. (We have a Juwel Rio 125l with the enormous Juwel filter unit). There was a small gap where the sand had been moved by the air.

We then disturbed some sand nearby, it nearly came out, but then went further under. We waited a while to see if it could find its own way out, but looked very still.Using a mirror and a torch we then moved sand so it could escape the other way. The fish is now out, but seems more stressed than others.

I realise that what we did may have been wrong, but we were desperate! It is now swimming around with one of the other mollies, in an obvious pair. Is there anything we should be worried about? As I write this it looks slightly more relaxed.

Thanks!

 

[Marshall..]

You just added to its stress a little but at least it has other fish to feel more comfortable around. If he was definately trapped you have done the right thing.Hope he recovers quickly

 

[Becca M]

I'm pretty sure he was trapped, lots of 'wiggling' but no forward movement. The two saffron mollies, trapped molly included, are now staying very low in one corner of the tank. There is less sand here if that means anything! We tried to cover the gap to prevent this happening again.

The other two black mollies are exploring lots quite happily. Sorry if this is perfectly normal and I'm just being paranoid!

 

[Becca M]

All the fish are now in the bottom corner near the filter. The sand is lower at the front because we used it to cover the hole under the filter. Is this normal behaviour? There are rocks, plants and bogwood if they want to hide.

 

[Marshall..]

I think you should avoid putting your hands in the tank now for a while and maybe turn the lights out.
They sound pretty stressed and need some respite.
Just to check is your ph correct mollies need alkaline water.Bogwood will gradually lower your ph and is ok as long as you keep your ph high.
Don't remove it now anyway as I said leave the fish to settle.

 

[Becca M]

Thanks, the lights are out and we haven't disturbed the tank since.