Kingskid
11-30-2005, 06:55 PM
So, we have six (umm, five as of yesterday) Fancy Goldfish. We noticed pretty soon after we bought the two black ones that they both kept floating near the top of the water. The one has gotten worse over the weeks and now is struggling to stay right side up. He literally spends about ten seconds fighting to swim down to the bottom and then gives up and floats straight to the top and stays there, up side down and looking dead. Then another fish will swim by and poke him and he fights toward the bottom again. I feel awful for the little guy - I mean, it can't be a very fun life. We read up on the issue and it seems that it's pretty common with fancy goldfish to have broken float bladders and I read somewhere that they eventually die from complications of it. I dunno. I feel bad for him, but then again I just can't flush an alive fish. We also read that the most humane way to "put down" a fish is to put him in a bag of water in the freezer. They apparently enjoy (using that word loosely) the colder water, but their hearts slow down b/c of it and they eventually "fall asleep." BUT - I can't imagine putting that darned thing in my freezer either and I hate to watch it suffer.
What would you do??
What would you do??