Is petting a fish bad? Will it harm the fish?

[Trickster]

Im asking this because when i cleaned my Goldfish countainer (He was bought as a feeder and still very small About 1.5 inches) I petted with my finger last night, and my brother did with his aswell, the next mourning we both wake up to dead goldfish! Is this because we petted them? I need to know before i try petting my betta (1 trick im teaching him is not to fear human hands and allow petting). I dont want to kill my betta aswell.


Extra info: My goldfish was living on crunched up betta flakes (only food i had)
And he had a damage top fin.

[grnlemonade]

since he ws a feeder, he is dead prob due to a disease. i have pet my flowerhorns before, but doing it too much can be bad. the reason behind this is because petting the fish too much can wear off the fishes natural slime-coat

[Trickster]

thx

[kc5gvn]

Hi Trickster, As grnlemonade said, petting them too much can rub their slime coating off, causing them to fungus. Just petting them once shouldn't cause any problem and would take longer than over night for any thing life threatening. The damaged dorsal fin could have been fin rot a type of fungus. Also, I don't know the makeup of the Betta Flakes but some foods like brine shrimp can cause Goldfish to become blocked up (constipated), and can lead to death of the fish.

[Pacuguy]

its ok to pet them once and awhile, but i would wait till your fish is full grown because fish are more hardy when they reach maturity.
I pet my 18" pacus everytime i clean the tank(about once a week). They expect it now im sure!

[Trickster]

thx, how big does a betta get, and what kind of fish is yours? the 1 u pet...

[grnlemonade]

how big does a betta get? usually when u buy them at fishstores they are at there max. size because they are sold usually when they are around 1 year old. and i belive pacuguy is talking aobut petting a pacu.