Flushing / Binning Dead Fish

[ddm18]

Hey,

OK, so I know that the received wisdom on this subject is that you should definitely not flush dead fish down the toilet (I'm talking here about properly dead fish, that we've made absolutely certain are dead), because of foreign (for want of a better word) bacteria/viruses/etc getting in to the local water supply and thus environment, that is not prepared to deal with them, which could then really mess up an ecosystem. Right so far?

Presumably, then the alternative is to throw the dead fish in the bin? (Perhaps I'm missing a third alternative here???)

If I throw my dead fish in the bin, it goes into a bin bag, which is ripped open by rats/mice/cats/seagulls and eaten (or maybe I have a wheelie bin, and the dead fish gets all the way to the landfill site, where it is eaten by rats/mice/cats/seagulls, but the effect is the same). Obviously my point is that this way, the same bacteria/virii/etc have found their way into the same ecosystem that is still not prepared to deal with them. Yes? No?

Now let's consider the alternative - flushing the dead fish down the toilet - it joins all the other unfriendly bacteria that gets washed down the sewers (OK, so this is unfriendly bacteria that the ecosystem is used to - maybe that's the difference?). The sewage then goes through some kind of treatment plant where the nasty stuff is killed off (I don't know how - presumably either heat or chemicals, or both), and the now (theoretically) clean water is returned to the arms of mother nature. I assume that the treatment plant will be designed to kill all bacteria, etc (because, as I understand it, heat/chemicals designed to kill stuff will kill everything), so surely this way the chances of the 'foreign' stuff getting into the local ecosystem are actually far smaller than by throwing the dead fish in the bin?

I'm not one to fly in the face of public opinion, so I'll probably carry on throwing dead fish in the bin (that sounds like dead fish are a common occurrence for me - they're not!), but this is something I've been wondering for a while - any eco-specialists out there who can offer suggestions (or at least tell me what the correct term for an eco-specialist is)?

EDIT: This is based on the way that the rubbish/water services work in Britain, I assume that they're pretty similar everywhere though...

 

[canarsie11]

I just flush them

 

[Mr Miagi]

I spose flushing your fish down the toilet would depend whether your sewage system ran into a septic tank, common effluent or strait into a river or pond etc.

I have been known to bury my fish in the garden, when the time comes of course! They dont smell and my cat has neva dug any up. My last poor harlequin, about 4 yrs old, died a month ago. He/she went in with the roses. RIP little budy.......

 

[Dorkhedeos]

i flush mine too. if the sewage company cant handle it, they shouldnt be in business

 

[Yenko]

Looks like we'll have to start firing dead fish into low orbit.

 

[Phantom Thief]

Looks like we'll have to start firing dead fish into low orbit.

That would be excellent, perhaps a visiting alien might pick one up as a souvenir.

Back to the topic, it is uncommon, but i have heard of people who have cremated their fish. That would be the best way, but rather... unusual if you ask me.

P.T.

 

[Ben]

i just flush 'em

DD

 

[NinjaSmurf]

My mom has decided that should any of my fish die we are going to keep them in a jar full of water till they rot, then use them to feed the house plants. Of course, it was followed by a lot of stinky houseplant jokes, but what the hell, our toilet clogs enough anyways, the last time I had a guppy die the sucker wouldn't go down till after the third try...

 

[fishdudein]

I have just "accepted" the theory that it isn't good to flush dead fish (and absolutely WRONG to flush live ones). Whenever I do water changes, the old fish water goes out to my garden, and I have been disposing of any dead fish in the same manner. Had a beautiful garden last summer!

 

[SnowyzMom]

Yenko- I love it. What a mental image I got...all these little fishes floating by serenely in space on their backs with their fins crossed over thier chests and holding little crosses sticking up. I love it!

mr miagi--exactly what I'm thinking! Fish make superb fertilizer...one pays a good chunk of change for "fish meal" fertilizer...why not just recycle the fish? Heck I've already got a couple of cats and a budgie planted in the yard(but NOT under the roses! ) so why not the fish? Mind you, not sure where I'd stick them til spring. I'd need dynamite to get into that soil to bury them right now(-40F). When our budgie passed on, after 12 1/2 great years , I wrapped him in a plastic bag and stuck him in the back of the freezer section of our fridge til spring thaw. Every time I reached into the fridge for the frozen peas I got the budgie popsicle! Right freaked the kids out. But he now rests peacefully under the trees. Heck I hope when I go that I grow great roses too!

 

[Mr Miagi]

Ahahaha.....i got a great laugh fro your last post Snowyzmom.
If u can keep a dead budgie in your freezer, i can put a dead fish in the rose garden, dont ya think.

 

[ThxForNothing]

Hahaha. Oh my what an amusing thread.
Aliens, fish being shot into space... Budgie popsicles.


I flush my fish when they die. My old goldfish though, I did burry. He lived like 5 years and he was my buddy. lol..

 

[Angry_Platy]

Back to the topic, it is uncommon, but i have heard of people who have cremated their fish. That would be the best way, but rather... unusual if you ask me.

P.T.

I cremate my fish....does that make me weird?

Prior to cremation day I keep the corpses in the freezer wrapped in paper towel and placed in a plastic bag. Ocasionally the BF asks me to "do something with those damn fish".

I don't do a cremation for every fish that dies.....I wait till I have a few (which lately has been happening a lot....long story but problem solved).

 

[hellohefalump]

I cremated my 17 and half yr old goldfish when he died because he was a special special fishy... First I soaked him in vodka (I was so shocked he'd died I didn't know what to do and thought I'd pickle him till I'd decided). Then I put him in amongst the coals in the barbecue. I have his ashes on my mantelpiece in a pretty bottle. The rest of my fish all get burials in the garden though.

 

[rich]

I bury mine in the garden, I find toilet roll cut down makes a handy coffin. Luckily (touch wood) it's something I haven't had to do too often, and they deserve a decent send off.