Dead or Sleeping?

Question
Recently, my pet fish ( a black oranda ) ' died ' . . .  we think.  We can't find a cause for death, as we only had the fish a day, we found it in a large shell the next morning, where it had stayed for some time, and assumed it was dead.  Is it possible that my fish could have been sleeping? ITS HAUNTING ME

Answer
Good morning Rosie, Hanian, and Smem,

Well, it's not all too commonly known that fish are incapable of sleeping. That doesn't mean, however, that they do not take extended periods of rest over night, though. But lets start deeper then that

First, Goldfish are freshwater. If the shell was covered in salt, that'd have killed the fish. Bad water quality (strait tap water, water with chlorine, salt, sugar, ammonia, or other chemicals) would kill it. Water too hot (above 80 or so) or too cold (below 50) could have an effective role in cutting a fish's life short as well.

My guess is simply this: Gold fish are by far the dumbest of fish I've seen. Especially gold fish with soft heads, and exposed brains such as the oranda. The bubbly heads of the fish make for easy means of getting stuck. Because the fish seems so incapable of thinking ahead, its all too possible the fish got stuck in the shell, panicked, and died. Sounds silly, but heart attacks are common in bred fish. Inbreeding, and other factors lead to slightly more sensitive fish. Also, stress is a pretty common killer. Fish cant handle stress by venting like a person or more intelligent animal can. So a stressed fish, is a sick fish.

but no, fish don't sleep. if you were able to touch, net, and remove it from the shell without it squirming and fighting, it had passed.

Hope these ideas help solve the mystery. Have a great day, and good luck with the next fishie(s)