Fish euthanization

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
G

Guest

Guest
What is the best, most humane way to euthanize a fish that is suffering and will obviously die anyway? I had a male betta who had the living crap beaten out of him by a female. I mean, fins gone, scales missing, everything. That was three weeks ago and he finally died today. I don't think I ever saw him eat that entire three weeks. I don't know how he made it this far. He spent most of his time lying on the gravel bed.
 
i hear that putting them in a zip lock bag filled with water and then putting that in the freezer is the best way to do it.

apparently they just kinda go to sleep and then their bodies shut down.
 
I put a few ice cubes in a container of water , put it in the freezer for 40 minutes , then take it out & put the fish in it . That way you have icewater & the fish almost intantly goes into shock . Putting a fish in a bag of cold water & then putting it in the freezer is not as humane .
 
There are lots of threads hashing out this topic on the web, and here at AA. The concensus is that clove oil combined with the freezing method is the most humane.

I can personally say that the freezing method is not always such a gentle passage to the beyond, because I checked, and wish I had learned about clove oil earlier.

The clove oil, a few drops in a zip-loc bag, needs to be shaken and made into a suspension in the water, and the fish is added, when it will almost immediately fall asleep. Then the freezing is not traumatic.
 
Clove oil is sold in the toothpast isle, used for toothache pain. It's made by Red Cross, 85% Eugenol. Also works well as a tranq for quick procedures on fish. I use it at 1 drop/cup for trimming puffer's teeth.
 
In my 55 Gallon, I have a sextet of Clown Loaches.
5 of them are plump and happy and the sixth while seemingly happy is thin as a rake with dark black blotches on his sides. He eats. He swims vigorously. But he's just wasting away. I am in a quandary. Ought I to euthanize him or let nature take its course. I had intended to leave things to nature, but it's taking a very long time. Jeff
 
I'd agree...the alcohol method is not all that good. The fish was thrashing around and breathing fast.

Strange....that's now I get when I have alcohol. ;)

The clove/freezing method sounds better. Or the much harder to the owner whack/head cutting
 
Alas, the tank I would have set up for quarantine, I have set up as a SW FOWLR experiment. Would it be advisable to treat the whole FW tank? I had decided upon giving over the quarantine tank to SW as I felt that I did not want to make any new additions. Jeff
 
Get yourself a cheap 10gal tank, a 50w heater, and a cheap sponge filter (you may already have an air pump). That's all you need for quarrantine. The small investment will really be worth it over time. I hate to treat an entire tank when only one fish needs it.

After treatment, rinse out the sponge and zap it in the microwave for 15 seconds, then run it in your big tank behind something and it will get seeded and ready for whenever you might need it again.
 
I have treated the whole tank (their food is soaked in the med), it won't hurt healthy fish.
 
Back
Top Bottom