While decease might be a factor here, I would like to say that while I do respect the opinion, a healthy fish can negate the inflow and avoid it, I do however disagree with that idea. I believe that with a broken or missing guard, a fish would be suddenly sucked into the pumps very focused suction at the broken part of the guard without time to react. It would like being sucker punched while walking in a crowd. There is no time to react to what you don't detect. As the guard is broken, it would be like going from minimal current into a whirlpool in no time flat. Once sealed against the pump there would be no escape.
I am sure that in my case, the fish was very healthy and actively feeding only about one hour before his/her demise.
Either/or, get a guard over that pump. I myself used a wiffleball and it works just fine.
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