Fish ICU

In our unit at work we have a huge 12-gallon BioSphere fishtank that houses 2 goldfish whom everyone loves. They are lovingly named after our favorite candy and favorite potato chip.
Everyone stops by to say hello to the fish, and I have had the high honor at times to be able to feed the fish in the morning if the MA who cares for them is on vacation.

Yesterday morning at 0802 crisis occured. One of the goldfish was barely hanging onto life and was discovered floating listlessly towards the top of the tank. A code orange was called and a cardiologist soon arrived to initiate ACLS life saving measures. The goldfish was scooped out and put into oxygenated water, 4 L via nasal cannula. The doctor even pushed on the goldfishes stomach for awhile to see if CPR would help things. The goldfish continued to be unresponsive. Finally after two minutes of unresponsiveness there was a few flits of his tail and some gill movement began again. Once stabilized in a smaller 2 gallon tank, the fish was transferred to Fish ICU and immediately started on antibiotic fish food and antibiotic water cleaner. The other goldfish is currently being treated with antibiotics as a precautionary measure.

Finally this afternoon the fish turned a corner, the nurses were excited because he had a small bowel movement for the first time in a few days. He was discharged from Fish ICU at 1700 today and returned to his 12-gallon tank. The on-call cardiologist will keep them both in observation over the weekend until we return on Monday.

If you think any of this is a joke, it's absolutely not. We actually do keep fish antibiotics on hand. The medical assistants actually called a Code Orange yesterday, and the cardiologist did attempt resuscitation, and Fish ICU was kept in one of the Doctor's offices. And the RN supervisor actually tracks the fish's bowel movements.