Do you think my fantail will be okay??

Question

I was doing a water change today and although I normally am very careful not to get my fish caught in my pitcher, I missed my fantail swimming into it today. I didn't realize it until I had already poured him into the toilet. It was my last pitcher of my water change so I'm pretty sure he was only swimming in his own water but he did fall from pretty high up. I'm also worried about the bacteria and germs in my toilet. He seems okay, but do you think he will get sick. Will he get my other fish sick?

Answer 1

Been there done that. LOL ;)

If there was going to be a problem from the fall it would have shown up immediately, if the fish is showing no ill effects its probably OK.

Since there was really no toilet water left in the bowl you shouldn't have any problems from chlorine, and carp (goldfish) live in crap water in nature with no ill effects so any germs that your fish might have picked up on his trip won't be a problem.

Good luck.
E.
P.S. Don't feel to bad, I've been keeping fish for years and have made worse mistakes than this. Live and Learn. lol ;)))

Answer 2

If he's swimming around ok, then he should be just fine. No need to worry about the potential for bacteria or diseases in the toilet water, no fish diseases would be living in there and there is usually only a limited amount of potentially harmful bacteria in the water at any given time. No doubt he will be fine in that regard too. You can always watch him closely for signs of disease, but no doubt you do that anyway and you really shouldn't expect a problem.

MM