Fish Euthansia

[Jazee B]

I have heard a theory and just wanted peoples opinions.

I recently had a red honey gourami that died, she was very pale and and barely swam the last couple of days of her life and i was worried that she was in discomfort/pain. my fella's friend at work who has several tanks said that when he has a poorly fish on it's last legs, well fins, he puts the fish in some tank water in the freezer and as the water cools the fishes heart rate slows and it dies whilst it drops off to sleep. Is this cruel? I would love to know what other people think I'd hate to think of my fishy friends being in any pain, what do others do when the have a dying fish?

Besides my female gourami passing away my tank, touch wood, seems to be going quite well. I bought a pair of blue rams a couple of weeks ago they seem to have fitted in quite well with my blood fin and pristilla tetras. looking forward to getting my plec in a couple of weeks when my tank has been up and running for 3 months. all the stress was worth it, I love my fish!!!

Becky

 

[Wrams]

I have heard a theory and just wanted peoples opinions.

I recently had a red honey gourami that died, she was very pale and and barely swam the last couple of days of her life and i was worried that she was in discomfort/pain. my fella's friend at work who has several tanks said that when he has a poorly fish on it's last legs, well fins, he puts the fish in some tank water in the freezer and as the water cools the fishes heart rate slows and it dies whilst it drops off to sleep. Is this cruel? I would love to know what other people think I'd hate to think of my fishy friends being in any pain, what do others do when the have a dying fish?

Besides my female gourami passing away my tank, touch wood, seems to be going quite well. I bought a pair of blue rams a couple of weeks ago they seem to have fitted in quite well with my blood fin and pristilla tetras. looking forward to getting my plec in a couple of weeks when my tank has been up and running for 3 months. all the stress was worth it, I love my fish!!!

Becky

That causes suffering to the fish. What you do is put water in the freezer and when you have a thin coating of ice then you break it and add the fish, that way he dies straight away, its heart and internal organs stop instantly. Please dont put the fish in the freezer it kills it slowly. Thats not the proper way to do it.

 

[gaz gun man]

yeah I was mis-informed about putting live fish in the freezer. I have humanely killed fish before my crushing them in the garden under a brick.

 

[Blade118]

I think that method applies to goldfish because they are cold blooded.
However brick method sounds quick and easy. One way people also kill fish is a quick sharp cut to the head kills it instantly!
One other way is to wrap it up in cloth and hit it on a hard service... But i never want to try it that way, just in cast i didt do it harder enough or didt kill it.

 

[Corleone]

What Blade says is the main problem with using force - if you're at all squeamish, you probably won't do it right in the first hit, and you'll only cause more suffering. There's something to be said about minimizing the trauma to yourself as well as the fish.

There's some debate over clove oil possibly acting as a topical anesthetic and not a general anesthetic, but the principle is similar as how dogs and cats are normally put down - too much anesthetic administered for too long, so they never wake up.

 

[Jazee B]

What Blade says is the main problem with using force - if you're at all squeamish, you probably won't do it right in the first hit, and you'll only cause more suffering. There's something to be said about minimizing the trauma to yourself as well as the fish.

There's some debate over clove oil possibly acting as a topical anesthetic and not a general anesthetic, but the principle is similar as how dogs and cats are normally put down - too much anesthetic administered for too long, so they never wake up.

There is no way i'd be able to use force and even if my fella did it for me i don't think i could look at him in the same way again!! with the clove oil would you just put a few drops in the water? is there any ratio?

 

[hellohefalump]

I use clove oil - you just put lots of drops in. To give you some perspective, I used to aneasthetise my south american puffer to trim his teeth with it. I used to use ONE drop clove oil, per pint of water to do that.

So when I want to kill a fish, I usually use maybe 5-10 drops.

When I used to work at the fish shop, we used to get a fish net and whack them against the concrete floor. If you do this, don't hold back. Use as much force as you can. I know it's hard, but you don't want to just injure it the first time and then have to do it again.

 

[locust267]

Gosh what a horrible thought

Anyhow, I've heard that you can use Vodka, is this true? Although a terrible waste of the good stuff lol.

 

[gaz gun man]

What Blade says is the main problem with using force - if you're at all squeamish, you probably won't do it right in the first hit, and you'll only cause more suffering. There's something to be said about minimizing the trauma to yourself as well as the fish.

There's some debate over clove oil possibly acting as a topical anesthetic and not a general anesthetic, but the principle is similar as how dogs and cats are normally put down - too much anesthetic administered for too long, so they never wake up.

There is no way i'd be able to use force and even if my fella did it for me i don't think i could look at him in the same way again!! with the clove oil would you just put a few drops in the water? is there any ratio?

better than leaving the fish suffering though. You need to be prepaired to do this sort of thing to call yourself a responsible fish keeper IMO

 

[Jazee B]

If i had to use force i would but i just wanted to know what methods people use, as i said in my first post i've only had my tank up and running for 2 months so i am still very new to this. thanks for everyones replies so far becky

 

[Zawiha]

as said above, freezing fish is inhummane as it prologs a slow and painful death.
i just smack em againt a breeze bloc, whilst they're in a carrier bag.

Then they begin there new life as turtle food.
The circle of life

 

[fish.com1]

The method i've heard most about is simply cutting with a very sharp knife just behind the head, as it reduces pain to the fish (over and done with quicker).

 

[julia298]

There is a discussion on this in the scientific section.
I use clove oil but every time I do it I always worry that it is not the kindest method, so Im always interested when this subject crops up.

 

[LauraFrog]

there's a debate about this in the scientific section if you're interested but it's mainly concerned with overdosing anaesthesia using veterinary drugs. Needless to say they're almost impossible to get. Clove oil is cheap and available over the counter. I have used it for anaesthesia and euthanasia and none of the fish I have used it on have shown distress or panicked while in the solution, so I can only conclude that clove oil is not painful to the fish. Obviously using something like barbiturates would be preferable but unless you're a doctor, dentist, vet or nurse your chances are pretty slim.

If I had to put a fish down and I had no clove oil the method I'd choose would depend on the fish's size. I often kill fry that are deformed or not growing by putting them on a hard surface and hitting them with a rock. If you have an accurate aim and you're not sqeamish it works very humanely but if you're not sure you can hit the fish right I wouldn't do it. For a larger fish use a sharp knife to cut down directly behind the head, in line with the gills. Personally I believe you should crush the head after you do this because there is some evidence that the severed heads of mammals continue to experience pain until brain death occurs several minutes after the head is severed.

Many people say freezing water is acceptable. I would agree for small fish but not anything over 5 or 6 cms. If the fish is so small that fatal tissue damage occurs within seconds, I can't see a problem with it, but larger fish may thrash around in considerable distress for several moments before they die.

All fish are coldblooded, not just goldfish. I'd argue that the 'fish in cup of tank water in freezer' method is crueller to goldfish because they are capable of remaining aware and conscious until a few degrees before they die. It is certainly a cruel method of killing any fish because the slow cooling and formation of ice crystals in the flesh are very painful. Remember that during this time the fish is in a small container, thrashing around in agony in the pitch black. No thanks. Hit me over the head any day.

It's also cruel to leave a fish out of water until it dies of hypoxia. It's basically reversible for humans. There are a lot of ways I would choose to die over being tied to a weight and thrown into a dam and left to drown.

 

[Jazee B]

There is a discussion on this in the scientific section.
I use clove oil but every time I do it I always worry that it is not the kindest method, so Im always interested when this subject crops up.

Thanks for the link i didn't think of looking in the scientific section!!