Bad Euthanasia Experience

[vancouver]

My female betta had horrible dropsy.. was getting worse and worse so I decided to euthanise today..

I couldn't imagine squishing it's head, so I tried the shock method.

Quickly dropping it into freezing cold water... then waiting a few seconds and putting it into burning hot water.

Well.. IT DIDNT WORK.

My poor little girl went from freezing cold to burning hot twice and was still alive.

I then had to squish her head.

I'm not a fan of that method.. might work for some fish.. but did not work for me. I would not recommend trying it with bettas.

I used it to put down one of my cichlids that was barely alive and it worked, but it did not work on my betta.

 

[babybell911]

i used the freezing cold method but not the hot after. The cold worked excellent with oneram and ok with a platy. Punctured the brain too just to make sure

 

[vancouver]

I was hoping the cold would be enough.. but I had burning hot water in a bucket just in case it didn't.

That sucked badly.. the poor little girl was still breathing after going through it twice.


She was so messed up though.. had horrible dropsy... pineconed stomach, ugly lesions, breathing heavily, not swimming much..

Then she freaked when I put her in the cold.. then to hot.. still breathing... back to cold.. still breathing... back to hot... still breathing.

Then i had to squish her head.. bad experience.

 

[babybell911]

yeah i can imagine. I wanted to do the clove oil method as I think that would be a peaceful way but couldnt get hold of any.
Least we know now for next time.
Even though it didnt go as planned you did the best thing for her though.

 

[vancouver]

I was hoping she would just die overnight.. then when I go into the fishroom she perks up as much as she can to see me.

I'm definitely going to be setting up filters in my betta tanks now.. I didn't think I was doing bad on the water changes aspect.. but I guess I was.

 

[-=Joel=-]

The quickest and best way in my experience is either a hammer or brick to the head of the fish.

It will kill it instantly before it even realizes its been hit.

The only way this can ail is if you dont feel confident in yourself to do it and dont hit it hard enough. In this situation ask a friend who has no interest in fish or who doesn't mind doing it to do the deed.

Putting fish in ICE cold water or freezer, the fish will feel pain and discomfort before going to sleep.

Joel

 

[catxx]

this is when you need to know a teenage boy. they have no fear in squishing things.
i've never had the guts to do it for sick bettas
i've dispatched a few sick endlers with the aid of a heavy hardback book though.

 

[tetraman]

The best way is to put them in a container, and put it the freezer, so their metabolizm slows down slowely until they go into a never-ending sleep.

this is when you need to know a teenage boy. they have no fear in squishing things.

I could never squish a fish's head off, and I'm a 13 year old boy.

It's funny how you need so much special equipment and knowledge to keep fish alive, but it's this hard killing them when you want to.

 

[vancouver]

I ended up using the cap of a gatorade bottle to squish it.. wasn't going to use my fingers and it was the closest thing I thought would work..

I don't think I'll use the shock method again.

I used to just put them in the dark in a container to die while they sleep... but the betta looked horrible and was suffering so I wanted to end it as soon as I could.. boy did that not happen

 

[ulster exile]

Tetraman, No. As Joel said, putting it in the freezer causes it pain! If you were put in a freezer, you would die...eventually...but you'd suffer a lot first of all.

Best to do something quickly (hammer to the head or using a sharp knife to decapitate it) or overdose on clove oil to put it to sleep (my preferred method).

 

[tetraman]

But we are warm blooded, can survive in colder temperatures, and wouldn't have the air around us slowley cool.

 

[PlecMama]

It's funny how you need so much special equipment and knowledge to keep fish alive, but it's this hard killing them when you want to.

I like this line of thinking, it's very true. I don't think I could do it, even the brick thing. What do you do? carry it outside in your hand with no water then squish it? that would be horrid for it, surely. I hate the thought that one of my big guys might get sick, what the hell do you do with a foot long fish?

 

[vancouver]

The big fish would be serious trouble..

I had a 5'' cichlid that was beat up badly.. it could only move one of it's gills.. couldn't swim.. the cold water deal worked on him thankfully.

I would have just let it sit in the dark overnight and hope it died so I wouldn't have to do anything gruesome like drop something on it's head.

 

[three-fingers]

I always hate this subject, I've no idea what i would do if i needed to .

this is when you need to know a teenage boy. they have no fear in squishing things.

I'm 15, and that's simply not a true generalization for so many obvious reasons . A bit of a silly remark to make on a forum with so many 'younger' users, but I'm sure you never meant any offence to anybody .

 

[jfeld]

I think it's kind of tough to argue - regardless of whether you're talking about a warm or cold-blooded animal - that freezing to death is a humane and easy way for any creature to be euthanized. As many have already said on this post, the "best" death (it does seem a cruel topic) is a quick one where the animal experiences no suffering. As unpleasant and harsh as destroying a fish's brain seems, it's the method that is least stressful to the fish.