Colleagues rally around Melbourne father whose 11-month-old died after falling into a fish tank

Colleagues of a Melbourne father whose 11-month-old tragically died after falling into a fish tank are raising money to help the family with medical costs.

Jugad Singh Bath drowned after falling into an in-ground fish tank in the backyard of his family's home in Pakenham.

His family had only taken their eyes off Jugad for a split second, a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family said.

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Waris Hamdard, a colleague of Jugad's father, Jagwant Singh, said he was rushed to hospital but was declared brain dead just a few days later.

He said the tragedy had occurred the week before Christmas and only a month before Jugad would turn one.

"To be honest I'm devastated," he told 9news.com.au.

"He went to the backyard and it was a tiny fish tank, just under a metre."

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Hamdard and Singh both work at Specialty Powder Coating in Pakenham.

He said he only found out about the tragedy after he noticed Singh had missed a few shifts.

"He's usually happy and bubbly, he's never missed a day, he's such a hardworking guy - if it was me, I wouldn't be able to go back," he said.

Hamdard said Singh couldn't afford to take any more days off work and is now trying to raise money to recuperate the family's hospital bills.

"The hospital bill was really shocking," Hamdard said.

"The family are on student visas, they only came here two years ago, luckily they had medical insurance but that only covers part of the costs."

Hamdard hopes to raise $6500 for the Singhs to help alleviate medical and funeral-related expenses.

The fundraiser has so far reached $1330.