Most humane way to put a fish down?

[@ombomb]

One of my lamp eyes is in trouble and seems to have gone blind (not sure how it happened, but I think it caught mistaken for a blood worm at feeding time) and if it doesn't improve, I want to put him out of his misery.

What is the best way to do it to casue the least pain / suffering?

 

[debiasir]

i have heard of clove oil being used to put a fish down. maybe do a search for euthanasia (sp) should give you some helpful info.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

When you say it has gone blind, does its eyes look cloudy or swollen at all? eye infections are reletavly easy to cure in general and unless it is extremely bad, you shouldn't put the fish down.

 

[freddyk]

cutting it's head off is as fast as you can make it.

 

[Whitey]

Put him into a saucepan of boiling hot fat.

Seriously i think its horrible to have to put a fish down i dont think i could do it.

 

[Undawada]

This is a topic that comes up every month or so. There has been much debate over this topic.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=62317&hl=
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=48036&hl=
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=40787&hl=
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=30360&hl=

The most commonly accepted method is the clove oil method.

The second is putting the fish in a freezer.
A variation of the freezer method is a quick bath in ice water to cause shock and then another method of euthanasia, such as decapitation.

The third is simple decapitation or blunt force trauma.

Some people find some methods inhumane, others are opposed to euthanasia completely.

This is not inteded to start a debate, but to provide information. The ranking I gave to the methods is not based on degree of humanity, but rather, the number of times I recall hearing a method used.

HTH

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hang on a moment, we don't even know if his fish needs to be put down- "blind fish" worrys me a bit he is doing this unesarsarily; if its pop eye thats very easy to get rid of with the right med, so is cloudy eye but if its cloudy eye then i would be concerned about his water quality as water quality issues are often a cause of this so his other fish may also be at risk.

 

[Erised]

Rather than discussions, a pinned topic on it can be found here:
Humane ways of putting your fish down.

Quoting from the topic:

Acceptable Methods of Euthanasia.
When considering euthanasia bear in mind that fish are capable of experiencing pain and stress and must therefore be destroyed humanely. There are a few acceptable methods and we will run through them one at a time.
1. Anaesthetic- Immersion in an anaesthetic solution such as Benzocaine or Tricaine Methane-Sulphonate is acceptable and may only be available via your veterinary practice. The effective dose will depend to some extent on the species of fish. An exposure to 300mg per litre of Tricaine Methanesulphonate is sufficient to cause the death to most aquarium fish. It is however advisable to leave the fish in the solution for at least an hour after death to prevent any possible recovery by the fish.
2. Decapitation- In many cases, especially with tropical fish this method is quick, clean and easy.
With the aid of a scalpel, or a sharp knife or even a pair of very sharp scissors this job can be carried out with ease. Lay the fish on a flat surface, prevent it from escaping and with one quick motion, slice its head from its body. The body may still wriggle; this is acceptable, as it is just a nerve reaction. The brain will feel no pain. To prevent HYPOXIA, you must destroy the brain as soon as the fish has been decapitated. Simply simply holding the head and penetrating the brain with a sharp instrument does this. This may sound barbaric, but it is humane.
Concussion- This is a method that is preferred by a lot of aquarist. What you do is wrap the fish’s body in a cloth, leaving the head exposed. Picking the body of the fish you then strike the head off the edge of something hard with a hefty blow. This renders the fish unconscious and then again you must either decapitate it or destroy it’s brain to avoid any chance of recovery. Anglers’ use a club, known as a priest to club big fish such as trout, to render it unconscious. I would not advise that you use such a device with tropical fish.
Dragonslair,

And most important

Unacceptable methods of Euthanasia
1. – Flushing a fish down the lavatory
2. – Removing them from the water until death occurs
3. – Plunging them in either boiling or freezing water
4. – Freezing them to death, this method causes pain and immense stress.
– Knocking them unconscious without destroying their brain.

 

[Whitey]

Knocking them unconscious without destroying their brain.

Imagine trying to punch a neon, that must be very hard.

 

[Undawada]

Hang on a moment, we don't even know if his fish needs to be put down-

Yes that is true. I assumed when I read the post that treatments had been exhausted and this is a last resort. He asked about euthanasia, not treatment.

If the fish can be saved, don't kill it. That's common sense.

I'd also like to add I've seen fish in such horrible condition that there seems to be no chance that they will live and they pull through. There is a member of my fish club that got a 1" bala shark from store that had no tail fin, ick and popeye, laying sideways on the gravel breathing rapidly. He medicated and nursed it back to health, now it is healthy as can be and about 10" long.

 

[Whitey]

There is a member of my fish club that got a 1" bala shark from store that had no tail fin, ick and popeye, laying sideways on the gravel breathing rapidly. He medicated and nursed it back to health, now it is healthy as can be and about 10" long.

We all know how rewarding it is to bring a fish back to full health, its true if there is even the slightest chance of healing then its worth it, esspecialy if he makes me to a healthy happy fish again, and at least if he does die you can have no regrets because you tried your best and didnt give up.

 

[@ombomb]

Yes that is true. I assumed when I read the post that treatments had been exhausted and this is a last resort. He asked about euthanasia, not treatment.

I'm not doing anything yet and will be going to the shop on my way home from work to try and find an appropriate treatment.

I asked the question as this got me thinking about it and as I have never had to do it before, I really wasn't sure.

It's a last resort, but if it turns out I do have to do it, I'd want to make sure that it didn't cause any unessecary suffing, that's all.

 

[Undawada]

That clears things up a bit. This was a general question about euthanasia, not specific to your condition neccessarily.

There is a lot of reading on this board and there isn't a lot of agreement to which method is best.

Personally, I prefer to medicate right to the bitter end, but I have had to euthanize two fishes in my life. Both times were as quick and painless as I could manage. I'm sure death isn't very pleasant for fish even using the best method.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Yes that is true. I assumed when I read the post that treatments had been exhausted and this is a last resort. He asked about euthanasia, not treatment.

I'm not doing anything yet and will be going to the shop on my way home from work to try and find an appropriate treatment.

I asked the question as this got me thinking about it and as I have never had to do it before, I really wasn't sure.

It's a last resort, but if it turns out I do have to do it, I'd want to make sure that it didn't cause any unessecary suffing, that's all.

Are you sure you know what you are treating? If you use the wrong med that could cause more harm than good.

 

[@ombomb]

No I don't and was hoping that the people in the shop would have more clue, but to be frank, they were a complete waste of space.

He's still swimming around the tank, near to the surface, completely blindly. It actually looks as though the lamps in it's eye have gone out . I did think that this was an injury at first but it really doesn't seem to be the case as other than there being no shine to it's eyes, it looks fine, and I haven't seen any of my other fish being agressive.

I did a routine partial water change last night and added some general tonic to the water and the water condition is good (0 Amonia / Nitrite).

Any ideas?