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I just found my 1.5 year old (6 inch) RES with her leg stuck in the filter (fluval fx5 without the guard). she had her head out of the water and was just still with her leg stuck. i turned off the filter and slowly removed her leg from the input tube. it's really swollen and it's pink. i have no clue how long she was stuck like that for (could be a max of 3 hours).
what should i do? she can move it and kick with it and swim fully with it but i'm not sure if it's very painful for her. i don't know if i should let her stay in the water overnight or if i should dry dock her

Has her leg stayed the same, improved or worsened since you found her a few hours ago? If her leg seems the same or better maybe take a watch-and-see approach. If worse, call the vet in the morn.
As for worrying tonight, you can leave her in shallow water and then use your judgement to raise the water level or not.
In this case, it's your call. Just follow your instincts

penelope wrote:Has her leg stayed the same, improved or worsened since you found her a few hours ago? If her leg seems the same or better maybe take a watch-and-see approach. If worse, call the vet in the morn.
As for worrying tonight, you can leave her in shallow water and then use your judgement to raise the water level or not.
In this case, it's your call. Just follow your instincts

since last night, her leg has dramatically decreased in swelling and it isn't pink anymore. i think she'll be OK, thankfully. but i'll definitely be getting an input strainer to prevent future accidents

Wow, that's pretty scary. Keep an eye out for any discoloration, that is a serious sign. As for the strainer... absolutely use one and you can even make a larger one to envelope it for more protection.

steve wrote:Wow, that's pretty scary. Keep an eye out for any discoloration, that is a serious sign. As for the strainer... absolutely use one and you can even make a larger one to envelope it for more protection.

thanks, i will keep an eye on the colour. it seems to have returned back to the same colour as the other foot, so hopefully she didn't get any permanent damage. a double strainer is a good idea, do you have any recommendation as to what to use as an outer envelope?

A PVC pipe with many holes drilled into it.

great, thanks!!

What happened to the strainer that came with the FX5?