This is more hypothetical than anything else.
I am a human physician, so I don't really know much about fish medicine other than what I have learned by caring for my own fish.
I was reading the guide in the beginner's forum about euthanasia and the #1 recommendation is a benzocaine or other --caine bath.
Applying what I know about human medicine, here is my issue.
--caines are effective local anaethetics. You get these at the dentist or for stitches. However, --caines are also used systemically, not as anaethestics, but for cardiac antiarrhythmics. At high doses they are proarrhythmic and deadly. That's why when giving local anaesthetic, you always check to make sure you're not in a blood vessel. They are not used as general anaethetics. This includes cocaine, which is related.
I assume the concept for using this in fish is that, in a bath, it will get absorbed into the bloodstream via the gills. To my knowledge, and anyone out there can feel free to correct me, this would not cause anaesthesia, rather it would cause cardiac arrest, and would be rather unpleasant.
I would think a more appropriate euthanasia, would be something like phenobarbital, which would put an animal (I don't know about fish) to sleep. This is generally what is used to euthanize animals by injection I think.
LSmall
I am a human physician, so I don't really know much about fish medicine other than what I have learned by caring for my own fish.
I was reading the guide in the beginner's forum about euthanasia and the #1 recommendation is a benzocaine or other --caine bath.
Applying what I know about human medicine, here is my issue.
--caines are effective local anaethetics. You get these at the dentist or for stitches. However, --caines are also used systemically, not as anaethestics, but for cardiac antiarrhythmics. At high doses they are proarrhythmic and deadly. That's why when giving local anaesthetic, you always check to make sure you're not in a blood vessel. They are not used as general anaethetics. This includes cocaine, which is related.
I assume the concept for using this in fish is that, in a bath, it will get absorbed into the bloodstream via the gills. To my knowledge, and anyone out there can feel free to correct me, this would not cause anaesthesia, rather it would cause cardiac arrest, and would be rather unpleasant.
I would think a more appropriate euthanasia, would be something like phenobarbital, which would put an animal (I don't know about fish) to sleep. This is generally what is used to euthanize animals by injection I think.
LSmall
/www.avma.org/resources/euthanasia.pdf
