Skirt Tetra with Popped Eyes

Colin_T said:

The fish has a massive internal bacterial infection and is stuffed. Euthainse it asap.

Wrap it in paper towels, take it outsite and put it on a rock and squash its head. Then bury it. Wash hands with soapy water afterwards.

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Colin_T said:

The fish has a massive internal bacterial infection and is stuffed. Euthainse it asap.

Wrap it in paper towels, take it outsite and put it on a rock and squash its head. Then bury it. Wash hands with soapy water afterwards.

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awolf3303 said:

I don't think squashing its head is too necessary...

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

It's an instant death, which seems preferrable to dying in agony as your organs swell and you die slowly... this poor fish is beyond saving.

Clove oil is a gentler, easier (for us) way to euthanise, but it relies on having clove oil on hand.

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Falconwithaboxon said:

Clove oil? Interesting never thought of that. I hate squishing the fish but clove oil is expensive so I guess I'll stick to squishing for now

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

Clove oil isn't expensive! Go to any chemist, should be able to get a bottle of clove oil for less than five bucks. I bought a bottle for £2.50 not long ago. People often use it to calm a toothache, hence why many chemists stock it. If not, perhaps health food stores.

I've used clove oil to euthanise guppies and a goldfish, was a pretty peaceful way to go if you know how to mix it and gradually increase the dose. People use clove oil to put a fish to sleep (sleep sleep, not euthanise) for things like fin or eye surgery (check KingOfDIY youtube channel for a pretty cool video where he trims the fin and does eye surgery on his arawana) it sedates them, so if you sedate them first, can then overdose the clove oil to euthanise.

I learned how using this video. Adjust dosage according to water volume/fish size of course.

I keep some on hand now, only need a few drops, but I always hope never to have to use it again.

The time I didn't have clove oil on hand, I removed the guppy, placed in inside a folded piece of paper towel, hit the head hard with a book. That's not easy to do, but a quick death seemed much better for him than the suffering he was enduring. But it was horrible for me.

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Falconwithaboxon said:

I'll have to do some looking around for it then. Cheapest I'm seeing online is $8 an ounce, which is just insane to me.

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

That does seem super expensive! It's annoying that I can't view Amazon if it's a US link, or vice versa, grr! Right now on UK Amazon, I can see a 10 ml bottle of clove essential oil for £1.45.
I can't imagine why there would be such a price difference!

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AdoraBelle Dearheart said:

I'm really sorry for you loss, I'm sorry I didn't say so sooner!

I'd say that you should be careful about whether the others might have the same thing. Keep the tank clean - clean fresh water and pristine water quality is the best medicine possible, and monitor the other fish for any signs of illness. If you see anything wrong, take photos or even better, a video, and post here for more advice There's every chance that the rest are okay, but if you take extra care of the tank right now, it increases the fishes chances of fighting off any potential pathogens.

Just nicked this advice from one of @Colin_T 's previous postings, so all credit goes to Colin! He's the disease expert, and gives this advice to follow after losing a fish, especially when the cause is unknown;

"
Wipe the inside of the glass down with a clean fish sponge.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. The water changes and gravel cleaning will reduce the number of disease organisms in the water and provide a cleaner environment for the remaining fish to recover in.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it is added to the tank.

Clean the filter if it hasn't been done in the last 2 weeks. However, if the filter is less than 6 weeks old, do not clean it. Wash the filter materials/ media in a bucket of tank water and re-use them. Tip the bucket of dirty water on the garden/ lawn. Cleaning the filter means less gunk and cleaner water with fewer pathogens."

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