Did you know that goldfish can suffocate in their own water? Weird. I discovered this a couple of weeks ago when one of our three goldfish was floating at the top of the water, acting all weird. I can't flush them until they're totally dead, so I let him flop around. A few hours later, the second goldfish started floating and acting weird.
At first, I assumed the third fish was attempting fishicide.
The water was clear, but I decided to check the filter (disgusting) and do a partial water replacement. I'm not sure why, but I did. Perhaps to either shock them into total death or at least making the third fish more comfortable. (Sorry about all the death, but hey! A clean filter!)
An hour or two after I messed with the tank, both goldfish were fine. So I searched for information and learned that yes, fish can suffocate in their own ick.
So the goldfish are perfectly fine.
Unfortunately, this morning I discovered our Beta fish dead in his (her?) tank. I'm not quite sure what happened.
The tiny rope bridge between the tanks and the miniature gun with finprints are rather suspicious. I think it might have been the goldfish...
Suffocating fish?
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Posted by Carrie at 2:17 PM
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7 Angst(s):
The Beta fish probably performed a ritualistic death of sympathy.
Did you have fish sticks tonight?
The prettier, fancy betas are the males.
My uncle found out the hard way that fish could suffocate. He was a fish breeder ("What do you want to be when you grow up, Johnny?" "Fish breeder!" "...") and all 40 of his fish died within a week of each other. They looked for ick and everything, but there was no evidence to the fishy death. They had the oxygen levels tested, and they were WAY down. TO rpevent it from happening in the future, he bought one of those bubble-maker-disguised-as-a-dumb-rock thingies.
Maybe the fish just formed rival gangs and West Side Storied each other to death.
I wondered why I kept hearing "When you're a fish, you're a fish to the end..." in the middle of the night. That explains a lot.
A fish breeder. Dammit, why didn't they have that option on career day?
Maybe your SAT score revealed your perverse obsession with guppies.
Goldfish are strange and interesting things. We moved around 79 gallons of water and close to thirty goldfish across the country, from Nevada to Minnesota, when my wife and I moved. We loaded them into four seperate rubbermaid tubs, divided by size and whichever tank they'd been in.
It was January. It was freezing. Each night we had to lug four tubs up stairs into the hotel room, and each morning bring them back down to the car.
...And yet, they all survived.
Fast forward to a couple of months ago, when we moved from one mile away into our new home. Every single fish we owned (young and old) died.
(Except for our Placo. He's twelve inches long, four years old, and the biggest toughest fish around. He's damn sharp too.)
So, they can be unpredictable.
...
Were the goldfish the regular, thin feeder sort of fish? Or were they the kind of bubble-shaped goldfish? Because goldfish of certain breeds can get an air bubble trapped inside their stomach, thus essentially making them buoys on top of the water. Eventually, they can't get around, can't get to food, and die.
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