Mystery: Fish out of water

This morning I noticed something on the ground, close to my pond and did
not
recognize it as being the largest goldfish we have. He is about 8 or 9
inches,
very fat.

We had dug a new 8 x 12 ft. pond in the fall and filled it with well
water,
an airstone, lots of that green underwater oxygenating plant (elodea?)
and
slowly added most of the goldfish from a smaller pond. It has a deep end
of
about 3 ft., the rest is a little shallower. We live in North Carolina,
on
the coast. Nights have been in the high 20's and 30's lately. The
goldfish
were slow but active until the pond got a skim of ice. Only the large
goldfish continued to be seen above the plants, but even he was down
deep
this past cold spell.

That is why it is unbelievable to me that what I saw this morning (from
my
window) was that fish lying on some stones, not moving. I thought it was
something reddish blown into the yard. He was there for a minimum of 5
hours
before we checked it out and put him back into the water!

What do you make of this? I still find it incredible that a fish can go
all
that time without water, but he seems fine now. And how did he get out?
The
pond is undisturbed otherwise.

Charlie

most likely he jumped out, I had an orfe found the slit in the plastic covering over
the pond (it is now netted year round).
yeah, it is amazing how long they survive in the air. but consider they are air
breathers so as long as their gills are wet and dissolving oxygen and in cold weather
they dont need much oxygen. in hot weather the gills would dessicate and then the
fish would die. Ingrid

charlie wrote:
. He was there for a minimum of 5
hoursbefore we checked it out and put him back into the water!

What do you make of this? I still find it incredible that a fish can go
all
that time without water, but he seems fine now. And how did he get out?
The
pond is undisturbed otherwise.

Charlie



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.
WEll, if he jumped out, he was smart or lucky to land close to our
kitchen window and not in the bushes on the other side.

Doing a search, I found a post about a dried up lifeless fish being put
back into the water...moving him back and forth and he came back to
life. Seems these fish are like Lazarus rising from the dead!

Charlie




wrote:

most likely he jumped out, I had an orfe found the slit in the plastic covering over
the pond (it is now netted year round).
yeah, it is amazing how long they survive in the air. but consider they are air
breathers so as long as their gills are wet and dissolving oxygen and in cold weather
they dont need much oxygen. in hot weather the gills would dessicate and then the
fish would die. Ingrid

charlie wrote:
. He was there for a minimum of 5
hoursbefore we checked it out and put him back into the water!

What do you make of this? I still find it incredible that a fish can go
all
that time without water, but he seems fine now. And how did he get out?
The
pond is undisturbed otherwise.

Charlie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

I had a fish that did the same thing 3 times. I moved him to my nieces pond for
a short time while I was making another bigger pond. I brought him home and he
lived happy for a couple of weeks and then jumped out one last time. This last
time my dog decided to taste him. I'm glad you were able to save your guy, but
beware, he might jump out again!!! If you have jumpers I would take Ingrids
suggestion and cover your pond with netting. Judi

Charlie wrote:
Seems these fish are like Lazarus rising from the dead!

Ingrid wrote:
the pond (it is now netted year round).