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Originally Posted by Redlemon
I wonder how long a flushed goldfish would survive. It seemed to be no problem in the movie Finding Nemo, but I'm pretty sure that no goldfish would survive secondary treatment at a wastewater treatment plant. But, could it survive in the sewer system before it reached the treatment plant? Or would it be killed by (a) reduced oxygen levels, (b) toxics in the sewage, (c) physical trauma caused by the flushing operation, or (d) other?
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A bog standard goldfish, probably a good few hours in the sewer system, maybe more. As you said, it wouldn't survive treatment.
The most likely cause of death would be stress, caused by sewage toxins. Goldfish are hardy little guys, it does take a lot to kill them relative to other fish, and because they already live in a cold (relative) water enviroment, thermal shock generally wouldn't really kill them the same way it would a tropical fish.
Sewage toxins, such as ammonia, nitrite, chemicals e.t.c would cause an immense amount of physilogical, and psycological stress on the poor citter, which is where death would most likely occur. In a cleaner sewage system, i'd imagine physical damage from fast currents may do the damage.
Then theres always the possibilty it could drown.
To be honest, theres just so many ways death could occur i don't really want to think about it, or list them, but surfice to say, it would be slow and painfull.