Goldfish and stones

Question
One of our goldfish keeps eating stones from the bottom and seems to be choking.  He is a boggle eyed black and gold fish (about 3 years old)and his right eye is larger and cloudy - we presume blind.  The first choking we gently squeezed him and many stones came out, but he is still scooping up stones and keeping them in his mouth.  He is sitting on the bottom "panting" with a mouthful of stones.  HELP! PLEASE!

Answer
Hi Natalie,

Is normal for Goldfish to pick stones up from the bottom of the tank in their search for food. In the wild they move rocks to find insect larvae and tasty scraps that could have fallen to the bottom.

The trouble is your substrate is far too small for the fish. Goldfish need a large, gravel substrate that they cannot physically fit into their mouths.

It is possible to perform a 'heimlich' manouvere on a fish but be very careful with him!

Basically, you need to replace the gravel with bigger stones, he should then be absolutely fine.

Good luck!

Tom