A South Korean fashion designer has built a teeny-tiny flotation device he calls a 'wheelchair', to help his disabled pet goldfish swim.
Henry Kim, who hails from the capital city of Seoul, keeps over 20 goldfish in three different tanks in his home. However, sadly, many of the finned friends who have lived in his aquarium have perished as a result of something called "swim bladder disorder" - a common condition which forces them to float upside down or sink to the bottom of their bowl.
Check out this awesome footage of Henry's goldfish below:After Henry noticed that one of his fish showed all the tell-tale symptoms of swim bladder disorder, he decided to take action.
Visiting various search engines, he stumbled upon a number of tutorials for crafting fixes. Using simple materials, (mostly hollow plastic tubes tied in a knot) Henry was able to cobble together a special harness for the affected fish, which now allows it to swim upright, and without impediment.
The device has obviously worked well: Henry claims that fish with swim bladder disorder typically only survive another month or so, but thanks to Henry's wheelchair, the little fish can now expect to live another five or six months.
A swim bladder is an organ that most fish possess, which is filled with gases to help keep them buoyant, and stay at the current water depth without having to waste energy swimming.
The disease has a variety of causes, including dirty or unclean tanks, infection by intestinal parasites, or through constipation caused by overfeeding.
For swim bladder caused by constipation, a common remedy is to feed the fish a green pea, while vet surgeons can also adjust the buoyancy of the fish by placing a stone in the swim bladder or performing a partial removal of the bladder.
