How To Euthanize... :(

[flips]

my poor molly is floating around the tank... she wuz perfectly fine the other day, yesterday i noticed her tail looked like it was a thick 'post' almost, and the end wuz tattered. the blue is also gone from her eyes and they look quite black. i really don't know how or if i can save her, so what is the best way to euthanize her?

 

[WILDER]

Clove oil and vodka.

 

[Bloo]

First of all: Get a small plastic container with a lid you can seal.

The get some clove oil (most pharmacies sell it for a few ££'s a small bottle)

Then fill plastic container 3/4 with tank water and add a few drop of clove oil. Seal container and shake vigorously until the water turns a milky colour.

Then add fish. The fish will usually (depending on how weak it is) die within a few minutes.

Sometimes it requires a few more drops of clove oil (just stirred in if the fish is already in the container) - if within 5 minutes it doesn't appear dead (no gill movement).

Seal container and freeze overnight. Dispose of fish (frozen in ice cube) in bin (or burial if preferred) the next day.

I never use vodka.


Good luck - it's never easy

 

[FBF]

i wouldnt advise any of the aforementioned "prolonged deaths." id make it as quick and painless as possible. dont leave a fish in clove oil or vodka to get stressed out as it slowly dies. catch the fish and bash it on a wall. would you rather be drowned or just shot in the head?

certainly dont freeze your fish this will make its cells swell up. can you imagine the pain?

 

[Bloo]

Each to their own method. But:

Bashing a molly on the wall is not an easy task and certainly not advisable. Just imagine how many times you would have to bash it for it to die - that's just mean and cruel and unthinkable. Like a person slowly being battered to death....

Battering a pet (as many people see their fish) to death is also not something just anyone can get themselves to even try.

Clove oil on the other hand is far more like putting and animal peacefully to sleep.

 

[timmystood]

I agree with bloozoo2... use Clove Oil. I needed to kill a CAE the other day and had to use vodka because I had no clove oil... It was the worst thing i've ever had to do... USE CLOVE OIL

 

[NinjaSmurf]

Um, I have to go with FBF with the quick and painless, but not with the bashing against the wall. I've used a hammer on a guppy before, basically I wrapped it up in toilet paper (making sure I knew exactly where the head is at in the bundle) and then hit it directly on the head with a solid amount of force with the hammer. Admittedly this is not for everyone, even I had an issue with it, but I didn't have any way else to do it, and I couldn't bear to watch him float around occasionally gasping for air. In the end I felt it was better that I put him down as quickly as possible instead of letting him suffer.

 

[timmystood]

I couldn't do that... I favour the clove oil everytime

 

[FBF]

here is an intresting thread from another forum that i use.

http/www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/foru...ewtopic_558.php

 

[tttnjfttt]

Here is my experience with euthanizing fish. I used to put the fish in a bowl, add extra dechlorinator, then put in ice cubes. What I noticed was that the fish would seem to struggle and fight it. I then tried vodka once when desperate. The fish thrashed around and death took a long time. I finally began using clove oil. I put the fish in there, and without struggling stops moving within about a minute. I leave the fish in the mix for about an hour, just to ensure that he won't come back to life. IMO, clove oil is the best.

 

[Lenna]

I've never seen clove oil around here. I use the freezer method. Just put the water in the freezer before hand. I usually thaw it out just before I use it. The sick fish dies within seconds. There's no way ice crystals can form in the cells within the time the fish dies.

 

[Bloo]

Have you tried asking at a chemist. Almost all of them sell clove oil and is still better than freezing

 

[Shelly_Otterkin]

Clove oil is by far the best. Breeders use it in vary small amount to keep fish clam for transportion. It works just like sleeping gas does for us. They just go under.

 

[PeterM]

Theres a wide range of opinions when it comes to euthinasia and, unfortunately, it tends to generate a lot of friction between opinion givers too

Like Bloo said - to each their own.

All the methods end suffering and its a question of what youre comfortable with more than anything. I personally use clove oil. Tpyically people recommend around three or four drops in a small glass of water for fish like guppies, neon tetras etc. I however overdose completely. Clove oil is used as an anesthetic and is often used as an aid to trim the tooth of puffer fish (particularly South American Puffers). Basically, it knocks them out before killing them. Leaving them in clove oil will, a few minutes after the fish is unconcious, cause their gills to relax and stop moving, then (while asleep) they will die.

This is just my preference, and I will also vouch for the humaneness (word?) of forcibly removing / destroying the head and brain of the fish. Make sure the brain is properly dead though. For small fish Ive seen recommendations of removing the head with a sharp knife and then poking the brain cavity with a pin to make sure.

 

[BigIan]

catch the fish in the net and wack the net off the side of the tank..

within 10 seconds of being in the net its dead.

I understand how some people may have an issue with this method but its the quickets least painfull and easyest method