I love this fish, but he's pretty dumb. I just saw him choking on some gravel and he ended up getting it out on his own. I was just wondering what I do in that situation if he can't get it out. He went right back to picking at the rocks after he dislodged that one. I also think he cut himself getting it out. What can I do about that???
He's a shubunkin and has a pretty large mouth.
2007-02-14 07:50:06 · 9 answers · asked by Mommy to Boys 6 in Pets ➔ Fish
My gravel is just the standard gravel that you can buy at wal-mart. He just got it turned the wrong way and it got stuck.
BTW, serious answers please!
2007-02-14 08:13:11 · update #1
The recommended thing to do when this happens is to take the fish out of the tank, wrap a towel around the fish to minimize flopping about, and remove the piece of gravel from the fish's mouth with dull ended tweezers or forceps. Be very careful not to push the stone further down the fish's throat. If you feel you are not going to have success going through the mouth, insert a Q-tip through the gill and push the stone out through the mouth. He's not a dumb fish. This is his nature. Goldfish LOVE to play with gravel and will rearrange all day long. I have had friends who have come home from work to find that every single stone in the tank had been collected into one giant pile, leaving the rest of the bottom of tank completely clear of all gravel! So, you should be very careful about the size of your substrate. Gravel has its good points and bad. It should either be very small, very large or none at all. The problem with very large or none at all, is that you are removing your primary source of beneficial bacteria, and in this case, your only option for a filter would be to use an external wet/dry system, or combination system of a power filter, bio-wheel wet/dry such as the Marineland Magnum 350 Pro. The deal if you choose to use smaller gravel is it must be so small that it could pass through their system if swallowed without getting stuck, but you can't use sand because, when they play in it, it blows up and sand floating in the water can get stuck in the fish's gills and cut up their gills. Standard size is 1.5-2 mm. You should look for gravel around 1mm, but make sure that it doesn't raise the ph.
2007-02-14 08:35:33 · answer #1 · answered by Venice Girl 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Perform fish CPR. just kidding...
Your gravel must be pretty big to get choked by a Shubunkin. I'm sorry, I don't know what to do, honestly.
2007-02-14 07:59:12 · answer #2 · answered by Rover 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To be sure that won't happen again, you might remove the gravel and put in aquarium sand in it's place.
2007-02-14 07:54:12 · answer #3 · answered by Veneta T 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Nothing you could really do in that circumstance, but then again given time he will get it unstuck. It could be stuck in his mouth for several days without causing him any real harm so don't worry about it too much.
MM
2007-02-14 08:16:14 · answer #4 · answered by magicman116 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
You should not have gravel with goldfish, remove the fish or the gravel, your choice.
2007-02-14 09:13:49 · answer #5 · answered by bzzflygirl 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋
When ever this comes up I usually call 911 and proceed to give the fish mouth to mouth.
2007-02-14 10:06:16 · answer #6 · answered by jeff 1 · 0⤊ 4⤋
get rid of the gravel and put something else in, you cant perform cpr on a fish
2007-02-14 07:53:18 · answer #7 · answered by riteaid89 2 · 1⤊ 4⤋
Pick it up off the driveway and put it back in the tank.
2007-02-14 07:53:45 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
I would get a sand substrate
2007-02-14 08:41:00 · answer #9 · answered by Skittles 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋