This is a weird one.
I *had* a Panda Butterfly Goldfish.
It was fine this morning.
A few minutes ago, my daughter yells "Mommy your goldfishes eye fell out!"
I go to look at it, and yes, the eyeball was gone! Like it fell out.
It seemed sort of dead... or barely alive.
But I had to get rid of it... not responding well to anything.
Has anyone heard of goldfish losing their eye?
This goldfish I had, is one of those with big bulbous eyes that stick out.
I will ask the pet store...
I've had the fish for about 1 year.
It seemed fine other than that.
It just lived in the tank with an algae eater... nothing aggressive.
If any fish experts know anything?
Thanks!
**Adding this: Thank you to all!
EEEEwwww per Riley's info. But very appreciated info. :)
Also, I had one of those decorative aquarium Pagoda/bridges in the tank... maybe he/she bumped her eye... out? Per the suggestion that their eyes can pop out if squeezed...
And no, my daughter/ son would not have played with it or stuck their hands in the tank. They are good about "pets" and not messing with it. And they were with me prior to that, not M.I.A. or anything.
Hmm... maybe the algae eater was sucking stuff out of it... ? Egad!
...I do NOT see the eyeball anywhere in the tank... although I looked.... so, that's bizarre and suspicious... maybe algae eater did eat it?
My Goldfish... was black, with white. Panda Butterfly Goldfish are also called "Dragon eye" or telescope eye goldfish.
But the Panda Butterfly fish are so cute... I had named it "Spot." Clever me. LOL
I bought it last year... as a treat for myself. Just my very own.. and not the kids'.
I would have kept it... even with the eye missing, as I have seen fish with only 1 eye do fine... but "Spot"...well
seemed pretty dead-like. Just laying there on the bottom, barely moving and not responsive to prodding, nor fins/gill flaps moving.
My condolences, what a way to go.
Panda fish is gone, long live Panda.
I offer no advice, but I have to say that is one of the craziest things I have ever heard! I don't know that I've ever heard of a fish doing that, and it has never happened to me! That is just nuts!
Oh yeah... we had "adventures in Koi" where I learned far too much about goldfish (we thought we were buying goldfish... mislabeled tank)... learning how to cope with our ridiculously fast growing fish (even for koi... it was like he was on steroids... under 1 inch to 9 inches and 2.5 lbs in 6 months)
It can be caused by a number of things... i THINK the most common one the guy mentioned was an infection (similar to encephalitis) where the pressure builds up in their heads and their eyes pop out. Another fairly common one is that algae eaters suck the slime coat off of goldfish... which kills them via a number of different avenues... again, mostly infections. I wonder if the agae eater (we had 2) might have sucked on his eye?
Ooohh... .eeeew. I'm so sorry Susan.
R
I do not know how on earth I missed this post when first sent out. But I haven't laughed this hard about a tragedy in a long time.. You guys should go on tour together.. Hilarious..
Oh And Susan, sorry for your family's loss.
We also had goldfish with an algae eater. That algae eater was SO aggressive and would chase the other fish around the tank and try to suck the scales off their backs. I would NOT be surprised if the algae eater turned out to be your aquatic criminal.
Is it the big black goldfish with huge eyes? If it is, then yes the eyeballs will "pop out", but only if they are squeezed. They are very sensitive to pressure on their sides. Could it have been stuck some where in the tank, or possibly your little girl put her hands in the tank trying to play with it?
I actually saw my algae eater suck the eye out of one of my cichlids many years ago. I think the cichlid was not well -- kind of floating along the bottom -- and along came the algae eater and just sucked the eye right out. Right while I was eating lunch. Fish can be gross.
This happened to one of my fish. They are fresh water fish (not sure what kind). One of the eyes looked a little cloudy for several days and the next thing I knew, the eye was missing all together. the other eye was fine. He lived for several months that way, and eventually died. strange...
