Well, I had a catfish die yesterday and he was on bottom. When my old pleco died years back he was on the bottom. So was an African knife and big ass Chinese algae eater (6 inches and an inch in diameter easy). I don't generally leave dead fish in my tank long term but that Chinese sat on a rock for three days before I realized he was dead.
Do dead fish usually eventually float?
- Thread starter spiff44
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Yeah, I'm not entirely convinced that sometimes they will lay on the bottom until completely rotted away. I have seen fish in ponds and in tanks that lay on the bottom for days. Wishful thinking I guess. Floating fish are much easier to get to.
If they are intact they will float, just may take sometime. I think temperature can play a role as this can speed up or decrease decomposition.
If they have a well developed swim bladder; and organ used specifically to generate buoyancy; they will float for a bit until I guess the gasses in the swim bladder break down or escape.
Any dead animal will start to float once it becomes bloated with natural gasses as it decays, but you really should never have a dead fish in your tank for that long.
Any dead animal will start to float once it becomes bloated with natural gasses as it decays, but you really should never have a dead fish in your tank for that long.
True, but sometimes you don't know if its there if you can't see it. I have a huge pile of rocks in my tank. I bought one of those optical cables for inspecting sewer lines specifically so I can search through it occasionally. But its a hassle.. if I knew they would always float I wouldn't worry too much about it. I like my rocks and so do the fish.. not likely to get rid of them.
I have noted that I would sometimes find dead fish floating that were clearly partially rotten already. I never know if I just hadn't noticed it or if they were on the floor for a while first.
I have noted that I would sometimes find dead fish floating that were clearly partially rotten already. I never know if I just hadn't noticed it or if they were on the floor for a while first.
I'm wondering if they began to rise, the whole Boyle's law thing happened, they popped, and went back down. I think it's important to note that buoyancy will only increase as volume of the vessel increases. If a full balloon is taken to the bottom of water where pressure increases, it will shrink, while removing pressure increases volume, but volume can only increase if the balloon has no holes. I'm wondering if your balloons (your fish) either had a hole initially or popped on the way up before you noticed.
As for the behind the rock problem, could you face a powerhead there to increase current and blow anything out from behind them?
Just my observations, never actually recorded info...... fish that tend to be on bottom are very slow to float. Fish that tend to be mid or top level float a lot sooner. As someone mentioned earlier I think it has to do with capacity of swim bladder. Interesting topic!
