# Drifting, possibly injured, DP



## time4mercy (Apr 21, 2010)

Hi,

Been having a bad week, and this just tops it off.

I bought two DP's on Tuesday for the 10 gal in my office. They seemed perfectly fine until I arrived at work this morning. One of the puffers is more or less drifting in the tank and getting thrown around by the filter outflow. While I was googling around trying to figure out what I could do, it got stuck to the intake, which makes me wonder if that's what caused the problem in the first place. I have a piece of nylon stocking that I intended on putting over the intake, but keep forgetting it at home (not a morning person). 

I feel like total crap. I've unplugged the filter for the moment and am trying to think of a way to fix the intake, but there's not much around my office in terms of raw materials. Once the stores open up, I should be able to dash out somwhere (I am within range of IPU, King Ed, etc.) What can I do to help this little one out? S/he has no visible signs of illness/injury, but is just lying on the bottom now that the filter isn't running.

I brought my test kits home so can't test again, but on Tuesday the tank was zero for ammonia and nitrites, and 10 ppm nitrates (it's a planted tank). There are a few little ramshorns in there, and I gave the DP's a tiny pinch of Hikari bloodworms yesterday.

The other DP seems right as rain - currently cruising the tank and checking stuff out.

Any help would be much appreciated. I feel awful.


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## `GhostDogg´ (Apr 22, 2010)

You can buy pre-filter sponges that slip right over the intake.

I've tried the nylon stocking with my fry, & that works, but I find the sponges work best & it's easier to clean.


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## time4mercy (Apr 21, 2010)

`GhostDogg´ said:


> You can buy pre-filter sponges that slip right over the intake.
> 
> I've tried the nylon stocking with my fry, & that works, but I find the sponges work best & it's easier to clean.


I've asked at a few places (for a pre-filter sponge) and have either gotten a sales pitch for a new filter or one of these: o_0.

I saw a post on a cichlid forum for a DIY with an UNUSED car wash sponge. . . might try that later if necessary. For now I have the stocking on there, and it seems to be working fine. Thanks for that.

Unfortunately, the puffer died shortly after I posted. I brought it back to the LFS and they were very reassuring. My water was good, the fish looked good (other than being dead, of course), and it was likely just "one of those things."

I decided to get a replacement, and both of them are doing fine. I put a bunch of baby ramshorns in the tank this moring, and the DP's went straight to work. They are sooo funny to watch.


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