My stupid fish swallowed a marble!

[junk250]

Yesterday I fed my fish(a rock bass brim,like a bluegill/bass hybred,a native fish here in kentucky,aggressive little sucker),a minnow and he sucked up a mouthfull of minnow,gravel,and a marble!!!I waited for him to spit out the marble but he never did,the dummy swallowed it !I have thought about taking any gravel ect.,out of the tank,but I figured that in the wild they must get mouthfulls of gravel and know how to discern between food and rocks(he usually gets some gravel,but spits it out),but he definately swallowed the marble. Should I try to squeeze it out of him the way it came in?I'm sure it wont go through the other way

 

[kevy]

Hahahaha, oh man...thats the funniest thing I've heard all day. I have no idea what you should do though. How big of a tank do you keep him in? I always though it would be interesting to keep something like that in a tank. Does he pick on everything else in the tank?

 

[junk250]

Yes he is very interesting,about 5" by himself in a 10 gallon.Yes he picks on anything dropped in tank,eaten within 2 seconds.I dropped the marble in by accident a while back while feeding and he picked it up and spit it out a few times thinking it might be food,it was a yellow cats eye marble and he was visually attracted to it,but he just scooped it up with the minnow in his exitement of feeding time.

 

[smb]

This is a new one.

I don't know what to do. It's not like his acids will dissolve it, I don't think, but it seems a sure death trying to squeeze it out or sticking anything in there to try and get it out.

I'm sure this has happened before to someone so hopefully they'll know what to do.

I wouldn't take the gravel out tho.

 

[val]

Hopefully, the marble will pass through the digestive track and be able to just plop out the other end. If not, he might begin to get noticeably fatter and become very constipated.

Valerie

 

[junk250]

I'm afraid his little anus wont accomadate a 3/4" marble He's usually begging for food this time of day,and he's not...I'm worried.Here's a pic of the patient.

 

[kevy]

Couple questions if you don't mind answering them... (I have no suggestions about what to do I'm just interested in your fish)

How big is he?

What does he eat?

How long have you had him?

Rockbass are pretty messy arn't they?

Does he dig up fake plants?

 

[HawkEye]

you are going to have one constipated fishy!!! hopefully he'll regurgitate it back up and spit it out...or maybe he'll be fine...marbles are smooth and will move around in his belly...

All kidding aside, I would call a vetranarian and see what she/he says...

 

[Mogo]

Have you tried opening his mouth to check if maybe it's stuck in his buccal cavity or upper throat? Poor thing. BTW, how big was this marble? Hopefully not a King Croaker

 

[smb]

Have you tried opening his mouth to check if maybe it's stuck in his buccal cavity or upper throat? Poor thing. BTW, how big was this marble? Hopefully not a King Croaker

Great suggestion, Mogo!

Just make sure when you check that you don't dislocate the jaw.

 

[junk250]

HAWKEYE,"Ladies and gentleman,take off your pants and slide on the ice",Isn't that a W C Fields quote??? I'm a W.C. fan too.Here's another..."Don't drink the water...fish f*** in it!".

 

[junk250]

Mogo,all kidding aside,no its definatly swallowed.But obviously not digested,seems the only hope is to force back out the mouth?

 

[smb]

Mogo,all kidding aside,no its definatly swallowed.But obviously not digested,seems the only hope is to force back out the mouth?

I can't speak for Mogo, and will let him/her do so, but I think he/she was serious. It was actually a good suggestion, imo.

My reply in return was meant seriously also. I wasn't trying to poke fun to you at a time like this.

Edit: spelling.

 

[junk250]

No,I was kidding about the W.C Fields thing,I understand you all are trying to help,I appreciate it.

 

[HawkEye]

junk250, W.C. Fields may have said that but I got it from M*A*S*H...Dr. Sydney Freidman (the psychiatrist) used to say that a lot...and he definitly said it in the farewell episode of M*A*S*H... 8)