Fish have survived for 30 min in a saturated boric acid solution and can survive longer in strong borax solutions.
en.wikipedia.org Simply put, borax is a boron compound, mineral, and a salt of boric acid which most often comes in a powdered form.
en.wikipedia.org The habitat of the Andean flamingo is rich in boron compounds, specifically borax.
en.wikipedia.org Some of the earliest known fluxes were carbonate of soda, potash, charcoal, coke, borax, lime, lead sulfide and certain minerals containing phosphorus.
en.wikipedia.org Common minerals that are found in these deposits include bldite, borax, epsomite, gaylussite, glauberite, mirabilite, thenardite and trona.
en.wikipedia.org