Goldfish Stress

[Tispe]

Two days ago my home had a new roof put on, and the constant noise and
banging was awful. My cats ran for cover and I noticed my goldfish suddenly
went to the bottom of the tank and huddled together. They only swam around
when I fed them. Now, two days later they are still "laying low"......is
this caused by stress from the banging, as weird as this idea sounds? Can
they be ill or starting to get ill, and if so, what kind of illness, if any,
could be blamed on stress?

Thanks,
Tispe

[Daniel Morrow]

"Tispe" > wrote in message
link.net...
> Two days ago my home had a new roof put on, and the constant noise and
> banging was awful. My cats ran for cover and I noticed my goldfish
suddenly
> went to the bottom of the tank and huddled together. They only swam
around
> when I fed them. Now, two days later they are still "laying low"......is
> this caused by stress from the banging, as weird as this idea sounds?

Banging can create vibrations that can cause a fear in fish (including
goldfish), Fish have what is called a lateral organ which increases their
sensitivity to vibrations which lets them do things like prey on other
creatures in murky water and stuff like that. Fishes' ability to sense
vibrations is greatly enhanced by this organ and is pretty amazing what it
can do to increase a fishes' ability to "see" and "hear". I would recommend
not dumping a bunch of chemicals (i.e. medications) into your goldfish tank
unless you are sure they are really sick and you know what medications are
necessary. When I had fish in late grade school my imagination would run
wild and I would imagine that my bettas' color above the head was darker and
so I thought he had velvet so I tried curing him of it with medicine and I
must have made some kind of mistake (i.e. dosing, etc.) and he passed away
immaturely. Also - the more often medication is used above a certain
threshold the more likely the disease becomes medication resistant (i.e.
the pathogens evolve into creatures with resistance to the medication) which
is very bad. No one wants fish diseases to become worse, especially like
that, and especially as a whole. Good luck and later!

.. Can
> they be ill or starting to get ill, and if so, what kind of illness, if
any,
> could be blamed on stress?
>
> Thanks,
> Tispe
>
>