Do fish feel pain?

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zx1snowman

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 25, 2020
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I have two fan tail goldfish with injuries, it looks like their muscle is pulled through their scales.

I was cleaning the foam pre filters I use on the input of my canister filters. The fish got too close to the input and got stuck to it.

Should I euthanize the two fish?

I use Fluvial foam filters as a prefilter.
 
Do you have pictures?
They don’t have the complex nerve receptors that we do, but can be stressed and aware something is wrong.
They do have amazing regenerative abilities, so it’s possible an injury like this can heal right over. As long as the fish is still capable of eating, it has a shot.
 
Deadeye said:
Do you have pictures?
They don’t have the complex nerve receptors that we do, but can be stressed and aware something is wrong.
They do have amazing regenerative abilities, so it’s possible an injury like this can heal right over. As long as the fish is still capable of eating, it has a shot.
Click to expand...
I will take some pic now and try to upload them.
 
Looks more like they have a bacterial or fungal infection to me. I’m not sure what the specific treatment would be but others should.
kno4te kno4te
 
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That is their muscle, they were struck to the intake of my canister filters. I had to pull them off.

I normally unplug the filters when I clean the pre filters. The filters leak at the o ring (one at the housing, one at the hose connection) when unplugged. I new o rings to replace next time I clean the canister filter.
 
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I don't get it. How can an individual fish get sucked into the intake at 3 or more distinct spots of its body, resulting in several cauliflower-looking injuries? The other fish shows two injuries at either side of its forehead. There is little to no muscle there.
 
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Hello; Not that I can prove it, but my take is yes, they can feel pain. How much pain is a question. Some areas on our bodies are more sensitive than others. Some people can tolerate pain better than others. I do not know where fish stand on that sort of scale.

The fish are seriously damaged. Seems likely some sort of infection will set in on tissue which is meant to be inside and protected. May also be internal damage from the pressure.

Comes down to you. Some folks will release a non-native fish into a local water to avoid doing the proper thing. Some folks may not be able to kill a suffering fish and will let things take their course. If you decide to let the fish live please keep a record for us. Not the sort of thing we get to study often.

Regardless a good lesson learned about shutting down powerful pumps. Thanks for that. We all make such unintended errors from time to time. I have.
 
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Deadeye said:
Looks more like they have a bacterial or fungal infection to me. I’m not sure what the specific treatment would be but others should.
kno4te kno4te
Click to expand...
Could be papilomas or some type of tumorous growth. Not sure if meds would help that.
 
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Hello; As the OP states in the first post the cause of the issue is known. The fish got sucked into an open intake of a powerful pump. I do suspect some infection issues will happen in time on the exposed internal tissues. Seems the suction was strong enough to pull tissue thru the skin or that when pulling the fish out of the tube the damages were made worse.

If the OP decides to let the fish live on a bath of methylene blue in a hospital tank might help prevent some infections. But if the Op is correct in that it is muscle tissue exposed, I fear the fish is doomed.
 
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