Texas, US (BBN) – Faced with a poorly pet goldfish that was unable to swim properly, an aquarium-worker named Derek has been hailed as a hero after fashioning a tiny ‘wheelchair’ for the animal.
The contraption came to the public’s attention after an image of it was shared on Twitter by Youtuber Taylor Dean, reports The Telegraph.
Fish affected by swim bladder disease are unable to control their buoyancy, and may be found floating upside down, leaning to one side side or swimming at the top of the water.
The goldfish in the picture was had swim bladder issues that “prevented it from holding itself upright, and made it permanently stuck at the bottom of its tank,” Derek told Buzzfeed News.
Describing his fish-wheelchair, Derek added: “I got some airline tubing that people usually use in their tank and just placed it around the goldfish.
I added some valves to the bottom of it, which acted as a ‘chair’ to prop him up.
“I added weights to the bottom of the ‘chair’ and something to keep him afloat on top (styrofoam), and slowly removed pieces until I achieved just the right buoyancy to make it easy for him to swim around without feeling like he’s dragging around a chair.
“The bottom weight is almost equal to the pull on top so it works quite well for him!”
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