# Would a goldfish survive being flushed down the toilet?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 19, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282 "2009-06-19T10:40:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@tgan3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tgan3)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/1 "2009-06-19T10:40:10Z")
Just a hypotethical question, animal or in this case fish lovers dont start acting up. I was just wondering whether a goldfish would survive and where it probably will end up?
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/2 "2009-06-19T11:04:36Z")
Once the fish left the drain-pipe of an individual house and joined the sanitary sewer system, it would be in a pretty toxic environment. I don’t think it would last long in a sanitary sewer pipe. Just a guess.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/3 "2009-06-19T11:12:14Z")
It would likely be left hung up in a pipe without water in your house. That one gallon of water doesn’t get material to the city sewer system when flushed. Think of the fish going a few feet further every time the toilet is flushed
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### Author:  [@tgan3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tgan3)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/4 "2009-06-19T11:15:44Z")
> [@Crotalus](#):
>
> Once the fish left the drain-pipe of an individual house and joined the sanitary sewer system, it would be in a pretty toxic environment. I don’t think it would last long in a sanitary sewer pipe. Just a guess.
Oh. I somehow always had this delusional thought that the goldfish might somehow survive and flow to the ocean. lol.
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### Author:  [@tgan3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tgan3)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/5 "2009-06-19T11:18:13Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> It would likely be left hung up in a pipe without water in your house. That one gallon of water doesn’t get material to the city sewer system when flushed. Think of the fish going a few feet further every time the toilet is flushed
Hmm wont the fish die first from the constant sh1t and pee literally being flushed down on him everytime? Just wondering. I know pee is actually mostly water though. But shit definetly has bacteria and stuff, and is defiently dirty.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/6 "2009-06-19T11:29:24Z")
> [@tgan3](#):
>
> Hmm wont the fish die first from the constant sh1t and pee literally being flushed down on him everytime? Just wondering. I know pee is actually mostly water though. But shit definetly has bacteria and stuff, and is defiently dirty.
A fish hung up in a waterless pipe dies.The lifeless fish makes it’s way further down the pipe each flush, unless it gets stuck. I never implied it was going to live.
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/7 "2009-06-19T11:59:25Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#):
>
> A fish hung up in a waterless pipe dies.The lifeless fish makes it’s way further down the pipe each flush, unless it gets stuck. I never implied it was going to live.
Yes, if the fish was fortunate (?) enough to make it to the main drain in a house where someone had left the water running or was draining a bath tub, it might make it to the sewer system, where the bacteria and other nasty stuff would do it in. Otherwise, it would have a good chance of being stranded as **Harmonious Discord** says. Either way, it’ not going to see the ocean unless the toilet is on a ship.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/8 "2009-06-19T12:07:16Z")
Anyway why would it want to make it to the ocean? It’s a fresh water fish that would die in the saltwater.
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### Author:  [@Drygon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drygon)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/9 "2009-06-19T12:14:15Z")
Let’s all say this together:
Finding Nemo is fiction.
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### Author:  [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/10 "2009-06-19T13:45:08Z")
And even if it _did_ by some “miracle” make it to the sewer main, and somehow survive a trip in _that_ (say, after a very heavy rain in one of those places with shared storm and sanitary sewers), it would ultimately end up in a sewage treatment plant\*. Not the ocean, not a lake, not a river, but a sewage treatment plant. There, it would be caught in a screen, and/or chopped up and hauled to a landfill, or if it squeezed through that it would be exposed a toxic goop of sewage, bacteria, enzymes, and whatever other water treatment chemicals are used at that particular plant, and whatever’s left would be decomposed, filtered out, squeezed dry, and carted to a landfill.
Getting eaten by a shark would be the very _least_ of its (or its Dad’s) worries.
\*Or, I suppose, your septic tank. Which would also be extremely inhospitable.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/11 "2009-06-19T14:33:06Z")
[Puppies survive.](http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212237875.shtml)
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### Author:  [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/12 "2009-06-19T14:41:47Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> [Puppies survive.](http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212237875.shtml)
Wow. I can barely manage to get a decent dump to flush down my toilet, and this kid gets a PUPPY to go down. Bizarre, horrifying, and sad, yet happy that it survived. However, I do have to think it’s a bit different. As foul as the air must be in those pipes, the water is surely worse. And fish will either have to live in the water or die outside of it. And if you’ve ever owned a fish, it’s a huge PITA to keep them from dying even in clean water.
Oh, and of course, if it hadn’t been rescued it wouldn’t have survived for long. You know, falling victim to alligators and such. 😃
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/13 "2009-06-19T15:13:46Z")
Actually, the job would start immediately, with the chlorine in your water burning it’s gills. Unless you are on an untreated well water system, the fish would begin to suffocate fairly quickly. Also, the chances are good that the water in the toilet, being fresh from the pipe, would be substantially colder than that in the bowl or bag, thus sending him into shock.
And let’s not forget the bashing he’d receive on the way down. He’s gonna be smacking into walls and whacked around pretty good in the u bend.
He won’t die quickly or painlessly, but he will die.
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### Author:  [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/14 "2009-06-19T15:18:47Z")
Not to mention the chlorine in the water. I know that my town uses some type of chlorine that requires treatment before using water for ponds or aquariums. You used to be able to just let the water sit for a couple days and the chlorine would evaporate out, but no longer.
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### Author:  [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/15 "2009-06-19T19:54:33Z")
> [@troub](#):
>
> And even if it _did_ by some “miracle” make it to the sewer main, and somehow survive a trip in _that_ (say, after a very heavy rain in one of those places with shared storm and sanitary sewers), it would ultimately end up in a sewage treatment plant\*. Not the ocean, not a lake, not a river, but a sewage treatment plant. There, it would be caught in a screen, and/or chopped up and hauled to a landfill, or if it squeezed through that it would be exposed a toxic goop of sewage, bacteria, enzymes, and whatever other water treatment chemicals are used at that particular plant, and whatever’s left would be decomposed, filtered out, squeezed dry, and carted to a landfill.
>
> **Getting eaten by a shark would be the very _least_ of its (or its Dad’s) worries.**
> \*Or, I suppose, your septic tank. Which would also be extremely inhospitable.
I must confess, in my college days I did indeed swallow several live goldfish. I never did eat a clownfish thought. I bet they taste like (rubber)chicken.
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### Author:  [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/16 "2009-06-19T21:04:18Z")
> [@redtail23](#):
>
> Not to mention the chlorine in the water. I know that my town uses some type of chlorine that requires treatment before using water for ponds or aquariums. You used to be able to just let the water sit for a couple days and the chlorine would evaporate out, but no longer.
They’re likley using chloramines. My water authority just started that and we got the same warning. The water also tastes like garbage now.
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### Author:  [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/17 "2009-06-19T22:54:55Z")
Should I mention all the ammonia? It is very toxic to fish. Even if by chance the goldfish had enough water, and it was an air breather, the level of ammonia in the system would severely burn the eyes, gills, skin.
FYI, chlorine at least breaks down. Chloramines don’t, or at least, don’t with the speed of chlorine, which is why water systems have begun using it.
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2009, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/18 "2009-06-20T06:20:05Z")
> [@Shark](#):
>
> I must confess, in my college days I did indeed swallow several live goldfish. I never did eat a clownfish thought. I bet they taste like (rubber)chicken.
No. They just taste…funny.
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### Author:  [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2009, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/19 "2009-06-20T06:34:25Z")
> [@troub](#):
>
> And even if it _did_ by some “miracle” make it to the sewer main, and somehow survive a trip in _that_ (say, after a very heavy rain in one of those places with shared storm and sanitary sewers), it would ultimately end up in a sewage treatment plant\*. Not the ocean, not a lake, not a river, but a sewage treatment plant. There, it would be caught in a screen, and/or chopped up and hauled to a landfill, or if it squeezed through that it would be exposed a toxic goop of sewage, bacteria, enzymes, and whatever other water treatment chemicals are used at that particular plant, and whatever’s left would be decomposed, filtered out, squeezed dry, and carted to a landfill.
>
> Getting eaten by a shark would be the very _least_ of its (or its Dad’s) worries.
> \*Or, I suppose, your septic tank. Which would also be extremely inhospitable.
What if it were in Victoria, BC?
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### Author:  [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)
#### Post date: [June 21, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-goldfish-survive-being-flushed-down-the-toilet/500282/20 "2009-06-21T03:48:06Z")
> [@troub](#):
>
> And even if it _did_ by some “miracle” make it to the sewer main, and somehow survive a trip in _that_ (say, after a very heavy rain in one of those places with shared storm and sanitary sewers), it would ultimately end up in a sewage treatment plant\*. Not the ocean, not a lake, not a river, but a sewage treatment plant. There, it would be caught in a screen, **and/or chopped up and hauled to a landfill** , or if it squeezed through that it would be exposed a toxic goop of sewage, bacteria, enzymes, and whatever other water treatment chemicals are used at that particular plant, and whatever’s left would be decomposed, filtered out, squeezed dry, and carted to a landfill.
>
> Getting eaten by a shark would be the very _least_ of its (or its Dad’s) worries.
> \*Or, I suppose, your septic tank. Which would also be extremely inhospitable.
Grinding Nemo?
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