He's Faking It - For Now!

My fish is faking it. Several times over the past three or four days I have looked in the pond and thought one of my fish died. The first time I moved closer to the pond and he suddenly righted himself and swam off. Now I just go over and gently tap the side of the pond or speak to them all and he wakes up and swims around. When he's swimming, he's all over the place - zip, zip, zip. When he's begging for food, he kind of goes side up a bit, but keeps himself mostly bottom side down. I don't know what's wrong with him - if anything really is wrong! Could be he's constipated (his belly area is kind of dark...), has eaten too much, has a bloating problem, or something else. He could be dying. I don't know. I just keep an eye on the pond and if I see him floating there, looking like a mostly dead fish (visions of The Princess Bride go through my mind!*) I check to see. So far, although he never winks at me -ha ha - he does, however, sometimes move his eye a bit and focus on me. I think he's just teasing.

I hope that's all it is!

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*The Princess Bride (film)
[Inigo pounds on a door]
Miracle Max: Go away!
[Inigo pounds again]
Miracle Max: [opening a small window in the door] What? What?
Inigo: Are you the Miracle Max who worked for the King all those years?
Miracle Max: The King's stinking son fired me. And thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice on it? We're closed! [slams the window closed]
[Inigo pounds again]
Miracle Max: Beat it or I'll call the Brute Squad.
Fezzik: I'm on the Brute Squad.
Miracle Max: You are the Brute Squad!
Inigo: We need a miracle. It's very important.
Miracle Max: Look, I'm retired. And besides, why would you want someone the King's stinking son fired? I might kill whoever you wanted me to miracle.
Inigo: He's already dead.
Miracle Max: He is, eh? I'll take a look. Bring him in.

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Miracle Max: See, there's a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. Now, mostly dead: he's slightly alive. All dead, well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing that you can do.
Inigo: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.
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My fish has no clothes to go through..... I don't want to look through his scales, even if he is a goldfish!!