Euthanasia

[Mesome]

Hi Corina,
Have you read the pinned topic in this section? It may help to answer questions you have.
Why do you ask? Do you have a sick fish? If so, please tell us about it and see if anyone has any advice.
-Erin

 

[Corrina]

Sorry I haven't replied. Thanks for all the advice.

I had a female guppy who was completely psycho, and attacked everything that moved, regardless, so I had to put her to sleep. I didn't want to, but I couldn't get down to the lfs (She killed about 5 fish, I thought that was my Rosy Barb but after initial elmination I found out that was her, after I saw her attack).

I put her into a dish with some of the tank water and I used about 4 or 5 drops of clove oil, and then about 30 secs later she was dead

But now all my fish are thriving and are doing good, I just had to sacrifice her to save the rest.

 

[Fordaz]

One of my Cardinals had Paralysis in half of it's body and couldn't swim earlier this week, could only move it's head.

I caught him, put him in a bit of toilet roll and drove the blunt end of a knife into his head. Death was instant.

If you don't want to watch your fish's death but want a quick way of putting it down, I'd suggest that. Be aware that there will be a bit of blood though.

Euthanasia always sucks, and no one likes to do it, but it is a necessity. And when a fish is suffering you really need to shrug it off and just get on with it.

Generally speaking, the quickest deaths are the most humaine. Though they are usually the least favoured because of their gruesomeness.

Decapitation and Cranial Concussion are the two most surefire way of euthanising your fish with the least amount of stress caused to it. The only other method I'd personally suggest would be an anaesthetic overdose.

Clove oil isn't an approved anaesthetic for fish, and therefore I'm reluctant to use it. Though if you insist on using it, don't just immerse the fish in undiluted clove oil, as this will cause death by asphyxiation, and will not anesthetise it. It can be very stressful.

Instead, place the fish in about a half a gallon of water (preferably from the tank it came from), larger fish will need more water. Mix 4ml of Vodka, or any strong alcohol with 1ml of Clove Oil and add it to the half-gallon of water (adjust accordingly for larger water content).

The alcohol will enable the Clove Oil to mix with the water, if you don't use alcohol it will seperate and just float on the surface. Never put too much alcohol in, as this will stress the fish.

Your fish should be asleep within 1 or 2 minutes of the solution being mixed with the water. Leave the fish in overnight to prevent any possible chance of it regaining conciousness and then dispose of it.

 

[my_fallen_angel]

Hi, i'm not a cold blooded creature, fish are,

then why do we use a heater for tropical fish???


Freezing is not a way to kill your fish. It puts them through to much pain

 

[Teelie]

They fall into a kind of hibernative mode then sleep and then die when frozen. It's what happens to cold blooded animals. They don't feel pain from it.

 

[Vip]

A guppy all this time im thinking its a cichlid and it was sick, a spastic guppy???

 

[Fordaz]

Fish aren't cold blooded, they're poikilothermal. Which means their body temperature is soleley dependent on the temperature of their surroundings.

They cannot produce heat for themselfs, but do rely on heat to live (unlike cold blooded animals which can live in cold conditions).

Fish require a set temperature for neurological stability, I.E: The temperature range at which their brains and bodies can function. If the temperature exeeds or falls below that range, they will shut down and cease to function.

However, it's commonly agreed upon that although the fish will eventually be rendered unconcious by cooling or heating the water beyond a fish's tolerance level, it will suffer a great amount of stress as the water temperature changes around it, and thus Freezing (and indeed, boiling) is classed, by most people an scientific organisations as an unacceptable means of Euthanasia.

 

[luxum]

Well actually, it isn't commonly agreed upon, if you search around various fishkeeping sites, people are divided as to whether fish experience excessive stress from this method of euthanasia. (BTW i ~don't~ use a heater for my tropical tank, it stays in tropical range without one in my climate, but that's beside the point. The need for a heater in cool climates is ~because~ fish are cold-blooded creatures.) I have done it and kept checking the fish, it certainly did not show any outward signs of being stressed by the temperature drop. When i requested information i was asking for scientific studies proving one way or another whether it was humane, not just your personal opinion. As you can see, personal opinions vary.

One of the "acceptable" methods is to use CO2 to suffocate the fish. Don't think suffocating is stressful? Being removed from a tank and having your head chopped off sounds pretty stressful to me. Taking a bath in alcohol, i bet that's mighty stressful too. When i have to euthanize a fish, it is already stressed by whatever is making euthanasia something that has to be done, i question that a temperature drop is so stressful as to be inhumane. If someone has some actual scientific studies on this i would be happy to modify my position.

By the way, according to Merriam Webster, "poikilothermal" means cold-blooded. A cold-blooded animal does not have the ability to regulate it's own temperature and is dependent on the temperature of it's surroundings. Cold blooded does not mean "can tolerate cold."

Edit: by the way, i apologize for the tone of this post, i re-wrote it about 5 times and it still sounds really snotty. Sorry.

 

[Rudy2860]

I know clove oil will 'knock' out fish as it is used to trim puffer teeth.

1-2 drops puts a South African Puffer which is pretty small down long enough to trim its beak so i dont know if 1-2 drops would do the trick to put the fish down to the point of body function stopping. But then again the fish isnt subjected to it for very long so it might work, i wouldnt perhaps suggest more than 1 or 2 drops though.

note: the oil is added to a container the size of a coolwhip or standard margerine container

 

[wrs]

question:
why do yall care if this euthanasia is to stressfull or painful for the fish when ur killing it? i honestly dont see the point. ur killing it, y does it matter about stress? wont that help kill it quicker?

 

[Teelie]

It's a humane thing. No one wants to torture or hurt their pet just before killing it.

 

[wrs]

but who cares, theyre killing it. its just going 2 die, and it will be their own fault. killing it is inhumane, not stressing it out a bit. im sure its stressed out when ya tank it out of the tank anyways.

 

[Teelie]

The reason it's being killed is usually because it's going to die a bad death to begin with.

 

[wrs]

i know, i can read, but why does it matter if ur giving it stress or not. the fish will die either way. its going 2 be streesed out by taking it out of the tank. seems like verone says dont give it stress, but its going 2 have stress no matter what u do.

 

[Teelie]

I refer back to the previous posts on humanely killing the fish... I don't know what else to say or how to describe it to you.