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I have put this in the art section because building a "wheelchair" for a goldfish is a work of art. He has swim bladder disease and cannot stay upright. In fact on his own all he can do is lie on the bottom of the tank. The special "chair" keeps him upright and lets him swim.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0

I think it is remarkable and ingenious. Goldfish can live a long time and with the help of his special float/stabalizer this goldfish can live a long and happy life. He looks very comfortable in it and if they keep perfecting the design it will be even better.

I love the fact that someone is willing to do this much for a goldfish.
This is lovely and amazing. I am glad Dean managed to help the fish.

This reminds me of something sad which happened today. There was the most beautiful gold coloured fish -very tiny, only about 2" long -floating as dead fish do, on its side on top of the fish pond at Sally-cat's house.
There have only been 2 deaths in 5 years, so I was sad to see a third. This one was a true gold colour, looked like a piece of jewelry on top of the water.
I fished it out to bury it. But as I moved it, I saw its head move and it 'breathed'. I put it back in the water. But an hour later it was still looking horrible and floating like a dead fish. So I got it out, explained to it very gently what was going to happen, then euthanised it very swiftly. So fast it wouldn't have known what happened.

Now....reading this....I am wondering if I did the wrong thing. Maybe that beautiful tiny fish needed a 'wheelchair'  or some special treatment.... :Sad Sad.
If he was floating on the top of the water he was dying. He could have lasted for hours and hours gaping for oxygen. It is harder for them to breath when they can't swim.

The goldfish with the wheel chair had a recognizable disease that destroys the fishes ability to balance. He was lying on the bottom of his tank. The wheelchair let him stay upright and swim.

It is sad that the pond has lost fish. It has been a long winter for them. They should still be hibernating. The warm and cold weather may have caused the fish to be active too soon. If there have only been 3 fish deaths in 5 years the pond is doing very well. The fish might have had some kind of bacterial infection. It can happen and it would be hard for the fish to survive.

I am glad you didn't leave him to suffer. Fish feel pain and distress and dying slowly would be very hard.
Yes I don't think 3 deaths in 5 years is so bad. The main fish there are big -about 8" long. I noticed some little ones also, very tiny, which have been around for a while and I don't think the big ones hurt them.
I don't feed them in the winter. I am meant not to until the water warms up, as their digestive systems cannot cope with food when it is cold. They are usually fine and healthy through the winter. I catch glimpses of them sometimes swimming around. I think they get a very basic digestible nutrition from the water itself or fine particles in the water.

That tiny fish didn't appear damaged at all, or swollen, or as if anything was obviously wrong. Maybe it was some infection, but wouldn't others be affected...(?) The others all seem fine.
I couldn't examine its dead body etc as there was hardly a trace left of it after I had dispatched it.
No there was no way I could leave it struggling like that.
The pond is obviously doing very well. It is a wonderful life for a fish, being in an outdoor pond. The survival rate sounds very good.  There are lots of things that can kill a fish. It would be very hard to tell just by looking at it. The fact that the other fish are well is a sign that the pond is well.

I love seeing fish in a pond. There is something peaceful about watching fish swimming. They are better to not eat when it is cold. They slow down and barely breath when it is below a certain temperature.  If the fish are swimming around it must be getting warmer.