Tank Decor Can Pin Your Goldie Down if You're Not Careful About Placement

[Lolafish]

I made the sad mistake of allowing my very large, rambunctious oranda, to get stuck in-between a statue and tank wall, due to not having enough space for him to comfortably fit his body. 

One morning I woke up to find my beautiful Sumo lying upside down in the corner of his tank, pinned between the tank wall and a statue! I was mortified!  During his struggle, he had managed to rip his tail and scrape off several scales, as well as scrape the underside of his belly.  I had no idea how many hours he had been in that position, or how long he had to struggle.  When discovered, he wasn't even moving.

I screamed for my husband, who came running, and moved the statue so he could free himself.  Although Sumo swam around as if nothing had happened, I knew he had to be shaken and stressed.  I moved him into a 20 gallon hospital tank for several days, salted to .1% to relieve him of any pain his scrapes might had caused.  He did sulk for a few days, although continued to eat. 

Once added back to the main tank, of course I rearranged his decor as to minimalize any further mishaps.  I have seen him practically get his little head stuck in-between the river stones and the filter intake tubes, so I am constantly arranging and rearranging things to keep him safe.  Although his tail and scales are healing quickly,  I will never forget practically having a heart attack upon discovering his accident!

On the same note, over a year ago I had a baby red cap oranda that got stuck inside of a faux barnacle decoration, after trying to swim through one of the holes that ended up being too small.  Luckily, I had been watching him as he did it, and was able to remove him safely.  Of course I immediately took out anything that he could potentially swim inside of.  It was that day that I learned not to put anything in my goldies' tanks that had holes in it. 

I am constantly learning what I can and cannot get away with, and each day lean more and more towards nothing but bare bottomed tanks and large river stones placed strategically along the bottom.

[zookey]

I can completely understand the horror that went through your mind when you found your fish in that position!

I came home from work one day to find my moore stuck in the corner between an ornament and in the fake plants that were glued to the side of it.  He was all covered in a white slime and was kinda in a head down position.  I really thought he was dead!  I had not spent alot of time looking at the fish in the morning that day...... they were fasting and I was late for work.  (How guilty I felt!) So I don't know for sure how long he had been in that corner.  I netted him out thinking he was dead for all the white slime on him but when I pushed the ornament and twisted the plants he went shooting out of them, but then flipped over and began to float.  I netted him again and when he would get near the top of the water he would right himself in the net and seem to be okay.  I f I realeased him he would start to go deeper and then lose all balance and flip over and begin to float again.  The current in my tank would just roll and shove him all over and his fins would all stick straight out and he would look like he had passed.  I finally netted him and used a binder clip to secure the net at the very top of my tank where he had a little current but not alot.  I kept him in the net for 2 days until I could let him go deeper and he could maintain balance, but he still could go no more than a few inches so I graduated him into a breeder net.  After a couple of weeks in the net his white slime all dissapeared and he was back to his normal self.  I think when he was stuck he may have damaged his swim bladder and I remember reading on some website that you could cure swim bladder by putting your fish in water just deep enough to cover them for a few days, then gradually increasing the depth of the water until they were back in the normal depth of water for their tank.  I don't remember where I had read it but it seemed to do the trick with this poor moore.  I do pay extra close attention now as to where things are placed in my tank and there are no silk or plastic plants in the tanks anymore.  I was so terrified to loose my moore.  He had been rescued from certain dealth by my husband - who complains about how much time I spend with the fish - I couldn't loose him to my poor placement of decorations!  Happily he is still with me 4 months after that day he got stuck.  I just thought it may be helpful to let people know that they can help the poor little ones who get stuck and injur their ability to control their balance and floaties.

[goldfishlove]

Gosh that is horrific indeed *( Sorry to hear they got stuck. I've never seen this with goldies (but can totally see how it happens). I have dealt with Bettas who wind up in situations where they get stuck. It's so awful because they drown. I have learned the hard way how to arrange my filters so that they can't jam themselves in between it and the glass.

[Lari]

We have varying sized greek ruins set up in most of our tanks. A few months ago we did have a problem with one of them when one of our approximately 5" long Wakins got lodged in the 'well' of this particular ornament. I don't know how long she had been in there but when I found her and got her out she'd lost some scales and had a torn upper lip. Luckily she did survive and we filled the well with river rock stones so none of the goldies that are in the tank now (The Wakins are now out in the pond) can ever repeat that scenario.
The ornament in question is visible in one of the pictures in my sig line.

[SeaWitch]

I don't have any decor in my GF tanks.  I plan ongetting some plants, but I have had my moor get stuck between things before, so no more! 

Lari, your fish are beautiful in your siggy!!!

[Lari]

Thanks Sea Witch, The first two are of 'Flower' Named before he was sexed obviously ;-)He has won a couple awards at GF shows he's been in.  We want to attempt to start breeding butterfly tail ryukins and hope he makes a good daddy when he gets a little bigger.
We have to find just the right female first also.
The other one is a Female we got recently, and her name hasn't become apparent yet... but while we really like her she doesn't have quite as long of a tail as we're hoping for so we're not sure if they do mate we'll get what we're looking for Also the Calico/Calico mix might not make quite the impact and variety in babies as if we had a solid/Calico we've been told.

[claire_uk]

Before I made the box to cover my filter pipes, Mika would get stuck behind them when she was getting away from the boys. Only once did she hurt herself, she managed to get stuck between the intake pipe and glass, and it is a very small gap.
Mysti my big orange oranda has also getherself stuck there, which I still dont know how she managed it, as she is twice the size of Mika, at least.
If they can get in it they will, it doesnt really matter if you think the gap is too small.

Lovely fish n your sig, I love their tails.