I Think I'm Allergic to my Fish Tank

I've never heard of that before, but I wouldn't rule it out. Have you reacted to anyone else's fish tank this way? How did you manage in the store (full of fish tanks) when you were buying the fish?

There are a couple of other possibilites to consider:

When you got the area ready for the fish tank, did you stir up a lot of dust? You may have a dust allergy if that's the case,

OR

there's also the possibility that you're allergic to the fish food, if you got it on your hands and touched your face with it.

Try taking an antihistimine, and see if that makes the grossness and the cough go away. If it does, you probably have an allergy of some sort. Then wait and see--if it happens again tonight, it may be the tank. If it doesn't, it may have been the dust.

If it doesn't, you're probably turning into a zombie, and I can't help you there...

Or if you were cleaning out the old bowl, it may have been the goo and mold from there causing the problem. Take a day or so, and see if it clears up. It may have been just the cleaning and setting up causing the problems, and as soon as things settle, you'll be fine.

Or a zombie...

flush them down the toilet and see if it clears up.

Maybe, you need to get another zombie. They need buddies, too.

cray said:

flush them down the toilet and see if it clears up.

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cheaper than meds. should have thought of that.

or you could eat them and see if your condition gets worse.

personally, I'd hook them up to a battery and fry 'em.

perfect.

ButtonTheCat said:

Gaw. They'll die soon enough under my care. Well maybe they won't suffer from my poor care taking if I flush them.

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Sorry to tell you that if you got your goldfish a bigger tank, they'll likely live longer. The main reason goldfish die is because they need a lot more space than the typical bowl provides.

I have mine in a 25 gallon tank now. I call them "Shark 1" and "Shark 2."

ButtonTheCat said:

And no, I've never been allergic to anything before. Nothing I know of.

I can't tell but may be because of the extra moisture in the air? I'm looking online for someone who may have been allergic to their fish tanks, but I'm not coming up with much.

At the store I was just fine. I was eyeballing all the fish, picking out which one I wanted for a buddy for my own fish. I was cleaning out Bob's old fish bowl too and nothing happened.

Maybe it's Louisiana being high moisture levels in the air and I just added more moisture to the place?

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Extra moisture was my first thought, but I can't believe it's JUST more moisture, as people use humidifiers (the last one I saw was a Spongebob Squarepants) in rooms to help people with illnesses. It's gotta be something else.

Mold does grow in higher moisture areas, but I think that takes more than a day or two.

I can imagine sometime just before the end of the world in 2012 two large man-eating goldfish being discovered along the Louisiana coast.

My google-fu leads me to believe that it's not likely you're allergic to the fish(that's more likely to lead to dermatitis), but the algae/mould is a real possibility, especially if you've just cleaned the tank.

But that means you get out of cleaning the tank and can offload it onto someone else, right? Oh, and they have to keep it reaaaaal clean too.

I was thinking algae too. Quite possibly the fish food could cause your reactions. There's quite the amount of ingredients in fish food. I've owned fish tanks for years, salt and fresh, and never had a problem with my freshwater tanks. The saltwater, however, I've gotten rashes, but I think that's due to the salt in the water, plus there are tons of tiny life forms that can mess with you, especially if live rock is added. Bristleworms come to mind. I've been stung by them occasionally. I loved my tank as a saltwater reef, but I can't afford it as such anymore. Now it's a freshwater tank with algae infested live plants, that may get the heave ho.

A dehumidifier might help, or a tank cover. Fish tanks really don't produce allergens.

And joking aside, if you get rid of the fish, return them to the store. Flushing is seriously inhumane.

veinglory said:

...And joking aside, if you get rid of the fish, return them to the store. Flushing is seriously inhumane.

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This. And in addition, stop eating caviar, please.

Thank you.

Probably the old fishbowl you cleaned out. I borrowed a friend's shopvac once and had to clean it out. It was obvious from the debris inside that its last job was cleaning out a fishtank. I had major sinus congestion for a couple days afterward, but then it passed.