# Can fish choke?



## pringleringel

I think one of my neon tetras choked to death. I'm not sure but I found a dead one this morning. These guys are just little still, proabably almost an inch long. Yesterday I fed the tank some dried bloodworms. My other fish love them. 

I watched this little neon eat one that was as long as he was, he swallowed it but it was so long after he swallowed what he could there was still some sticking out of his mouth. 

Do you think it choked?


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## mec102778

They can choke, but everything I've read tetras can be rather delicate. Found this out when my 5 Neon Tetras died slowly 1 at a time.


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## pringleringel

Yeah, I'm treating that tank with Ridich right now so that could be the problem too. The rest seem fine though, eating and everything, no sign of disease. 

My gourami still has 2 spots on his fin though that aren't going away, been treating the tank for a week now. My heater in there is a pre-adjusted one so I can't up the temp or anything. I'm starting to wonder if it is even ich but I don't want to take a chance.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

Ive seen a 36" long fish with teeth choke on a whole rainbow trout, it did this two times with success last one he was unable to get it up and choked to death on it. Yes they can.


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## DocPoppi

A fish is not likely choke to death in the sense of suffocation. The anatomy of a fish puts the gills in front of the gullet. I've had many fish overeat, I had albino Oscar that would eat so many feeders he laid on the bottom with heads and tails sticking out of his mouth, he would "burp" and a few would escape. Certainly they can overeat, and or occlude thier gullet. There are a few other problems associated with eating that may have caused the death. 
Also I'm a big advocate of not using any chemicals to treat ich.
Use heat, and salt. Ive not lost fish to treating this way. But almost always have a problem with chemicals. Here is a good link. 
Using Heat to Treat Ich in Freshwater Tropical Fish - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish
"Buddha in your tank"


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

I dunno, a 36" musky downed a 22" rainbow trout, it choked to death, we watched it.


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## pringleringel

WhiteGloveAquatics said:


> I dunno, a 36" musky downed a 22" rainbow trout, it choked to death, we watched it.


 Sounds like dinner for 6.....

Just got done with a Northern and some bluegills.


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## WhiteGloveAquatics

Sounds yummy, Havnt had pike in years, still got some slabs from hardwater season left over I need to cook for breakfast one morning


It sounded cruel but I sure as heck aint dumb enough to stick my hand in a tank with a musky while its eating, heck not even if it wasnt eating lol, they hurt bad.


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## pringleringel

I've never tried musky but I've heard they aren't as good as northerns. I lost one last year on a tip-up that was over 20lbs.. He was wider than my 8" hole. I would've released him though.

Pike on the other hand, very good eats. 

How was the ice fishing in your area this year? I had the best year ice fishing of my life this year.. I caght some beauties..


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## DocPoppi

Well extreme cases anything could be possible... I've seen some crazy stuff, working as an underwater welder in the gulf of mexico for 7 years.
A fish has to take somthing in it's mouth so large as to lock open it's jaws, and occlude the space in front of gills, and even so a fish does not need it's mouth open to pass water over the gills. Fish are voracious and opportunistic eaters, nature has provided adaptation to prevent asphyxiation choking. I've seen similar to the pike/trout and Ive seen the fish float to the bottom, only to see it again without said mouthful swimming around lethargically. I also remember a LionFish I has long ago that did this. It had a bunch of fish in it's mouth and tried for more...it's mouth was stuck open, it's fins all clamped, kinda rolled and sank... Thought it was dead... But you could just barely makeout it's gills were moving, next day it was fine.
"Budhha in your tank"


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## sivakv

my blue dolphin once had shrimps sticking out of its wide open mouth, unable to swallow or spit it out. But it managed to swallow after some time. Some fishes are adapted to swallow larger feeds, like Archer or leaf fish. Not sure whether it chokes, but then my LFS guy said about a 4ft arawana die of over feeding.


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## Future Marine Biologist

They can in a sense. Though they have the remarkable ability to spit it back up my hartlequin rasboras do this all the time. It depends on how it happens on how fast they will pass on. If it blocks the gills they can not breath (or have difficulty breathing) and die soon after. If it blocks the throat they can not eat and will normally spit it out. They can last about a week like that.


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## holly12

Fish can indeed choke. Sometimes they get a chunk of food stuck, sometimes it's a piece of gravel. Some people say 'startling' the fish sometimes helps them to spit out the blockage.... I don't know though - scaring the fish kinda' seems to defeat the purpose of being so quiet and gentle around them.


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