Do fish choke?

[Squirrelbuddies]

I know this is a weird question and they cannot choke like we do, but...

I have this great dalmation lyre tail molly who's quite a hoot. She's very active and has a voracious appetite. Always following me in the tank as I walk around the room.

Anyway, earlier today, I found her in the back of the tank, lifeless except for rapidly moving lips..fins all clamped. Thought perhaps she was giving birth. Not so. She spit out a chunk of the plec's algae wafer. Not much improvement. Then another chunk came out. Looking better. And then a third chunk and she was her old self again.

Anything I can do to prevent this from happening again??

 

[LoachLover]

Reprimand her

 

[fufanu360]

try not to give small enough peices of the wafer that she can swallow

 

[LoachLover]

try not to give small enough peices of the wafer that she can swallow

Can't really stop fish from doing that kind of stuff though

 

[clutterydrawer]

i dont know from experience, but ive heard that animals learn from experience and dont eat stuff that has previosuly made them ill. dunno if fish have this kind of capacity but maybe shell "learn from her mistakes"?

 

[fufanu360]

try not to give small enough peices of the wafer that she can swallow

Can't really stop fish from doing that kind of stuff though

true, they'll just make it small enough TO swallow

 

[LoachLover]

try not to give small enough peices of the wafer that she can swallow 

Can't really stop fish from doing that kind of stuff though

true, they'll just make it small enough TO swallow

Yeah, I've never had a fish have that problem before though

 

[Sorrell]

This is actually a big problem with bettas, they are notorious chokers. I agree feed smaller pieces and/or keep a close eye on them while they are eating. If you notice this again, you can pull the fish and manually dislodge the piece of food

 

[mwm]

How would you go about dislodging food? Im very interested

 

[gale]

How would you go about dislodging food? Im very interested

Very tiny tweezers? toothpick??

 

[mwm]

TOOTH PICK! lol i dont think so

 

[ddm18]

I'd say that there's pretty much nothing you can do, but there's also pretty much nothing to worry about. I've never heard of a fish actually dying from eating a piece of food too big for it. Anyone?

The fact that the fish was able to spit the food out, is surely a sign that it will be able to do it next time as well. In the wild, fish don't get fed with nice bite-sized pieces of food!

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

mwm Posted on Jan 16 2005, 06:16 AM
How would you go about dislodging food? Im very interested


Heimlich for fishes?!

 

[Paul_MTS]

Usually if you lift a fish out of the water they will spit it out, I'ved done this a few times with oscars at work.

Also on larger fish you are able to remove the blockage with twizzers etc.

They often sort it out themselfs, although if you feed a algae waffer whole they are only going to beable to pick at it and not swallow it.

 

[Sorrell]

I'd say that there's pretty much nothing you can do, but there's also pretty much nothing to worry about. I've never heard of a fish actually dying from eating a piece of food too big for it. Anyone?

The fact that the fish was able to spit the food out, is surely a sign that it will be able to do it next time as well. In the wild, fish don't get fed with nice bite-sized pieces of food!

If you read my above post I say that it's very common in bettas, and yes they do die from it.

Think about all the fish that we strip, kinda the same concept