My friend’s mum, whilst drunk, poured beer into a fish bowl, it died, what did the beer do to this poor fishy?? xx

Question: My friend's mum, whilst drunk, poured beer into a fish bowl, it died, what did the beer do to this poor fishy?? xx

Asked by chloelyk to Antonia, Douglas, Hugh, Matt, Tom on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
- Matthew Hurley answered on 15 Jun 2010:
  
  Three things could have happened – an air embolus (a bubble of air trapping the movement of water so the fish suffocates), intoxication (the alcohol being toxic) or the acid in the alcohol burning the skin. Either way this doesn’t sound very nice – either for your fish or for your friend.
- Tom Hardy answered on 15 Jun 2010:
  
  Oh dear! Well fish breathe oxygen that they take from the water via their gills. But fish are also very sensitive to temperature and pH. pH is a measure of how acidic or alkali something is. Beer is acidic so I guess the water got too acidic an the fish couldn’t survive!
- Antonia Hamilton answered on 16 Jun 2010:
  
  the alcohol would probably be too dilute to kill the fish (unless she poured in 10 beers), but something else in the beer might not be good for it. Or the fish might have been old and died anyway. we can’t tell from just one test if beer kills goldfish.

Question: My friend's mum, whilst drunk, poured beer into a fish bowl, it died, what did the beer do to this poor fishy?? xx