Do fish get upset tummies?

[isaly]

A friend was over yesterday evening for dinner and beers. We fed the tetras a little too liberally, I think. Didn’t dump a bunch in, just kept putting small pinches of flake food in which they’d finish, prompting another pinch…and another…twenty four fish…there was beer and a little Glenfiddich involved…

Later she noticed one serpae pointing herself kind of steeply downward and swimming jerkily toward the bottom, little fits and starts, like serpae often do, but aiming toward the bottom, never really coming too close to the gravel.

She suggested something was amiss, no other problems, no spots, wounds, fins are fine, no discolorations or anything else looked wrong other than this…only one doing it…I don’t know.

Everything appears okay this am, so I texted her that the problem had apparently resolved.

Do fish get upset tummies? I’m thinking he just ate a lot. Maybe the suspect serpae was doing the fish equivalent of…..ohmygodIgottapuke…

I notice over time the serpae the fiercest eaters. I’ve seem many high speed three and four way near misses going for food and it usually involves at least two of these guys…eight serpae with thirteen black neon and three white skirts.

Ideas?

[Guppysnail]

I have no idea if fish get upset tummies. That is a good question. My initial thought on reading this was different.  That amount of food all at once is more than your available amount of beneficial bacteria that consumes the ammonia/nitrite from your usual feeding. This may have caused temporary ammonia/nitrite spikes causing unusual behavior in your fish. However I do not know if fish get tummy aches and I know if I overindulge and get a tummy ache I have unusual behavior also 😁. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by Guppysnail

[isaly]

On 3/6/2022 at 3:10 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have no idea if fish get upset tummies. That is a good question. My initial thought on reading this was different.  That amount of food all at once is more than your available amount of beneficial bacteria that consumes the ammonia/nitrite from your usual feeding. This may have caused temporary ammonia/nitrite spikes causing unusual behavior in your fish. However I do not know if fish get tummy aches and I know if I overindulge and get a tummy ache I have unusual behavior also 😁. 

Something in the water, ammonia, nitrite, polonium, hee hee hee, seems more global and might likely affect more than one fish, although I guess you gotta start somewhere. We fed small amounts over time which they finished. Very little waste. It wasn't an obscene amount of food, we just got into watching 'em swarm and frenzy. One fish acted a little off.

My informed rookie reasoning: 

Aggressive feeder, maybe this fish is one of the more aggressive of the aggressive feeders. There was lots o' food which was eaten. This was a half hour or so after feeding. Fish have digestive tracts...mouth, throat, stomach, intestine...why NOT a cast of eyes bigger than her little tummy and ensuing indigestion?

...and now they're all fine. 

Edited March 6, 2022 by isaly

[isaly]

Unless....

too bad there's no 'other shoe drop' emoticon.

which brings me to another question, where's the taco emoticon — although I get the feeling I'm not the first person to notice.