# Fish Euthanasia??



## Borntofish (Nov 30, 2007)

Hi All,
Is there any form of fish euthanasia commerically available?? I know for mammals it is a controlled substance and not available to the public. But I have had a few instances where a fish has been deathly ill and just suffering for a few days until it finally dies. If I know what the final outcome will be I would like to end their suffering but in a humane way. Any suggestions??
Born to fish


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

Best way is to put the fish in a container, with water, into the freezer. The dropping temps
slow the fish metabolism down (cold blooded) and eventually it just dies.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Depending on the size, if they are pretty small, boiling water is probably the fastest way to end their misery. Net them quick, and place them in the pot of boiling water as fast as possible. This will descale them, so make sure you use an old junky pot with a lid as they do.......jump out. I would say that this kills them within a few seconds, at most.

Other ways may be the garbage disposal, but I am not sure. I'm not really in the habit of sacrificing my fish, or having to that often. I would highly recommend that you try to find an antibiotic or appropriate medication for their problem! Talk to your LFS, explain the problem and symptoms, and they'll recommend a highly effective (and often cheap) medication to treat the fish.

Having made the poor decision in the past (way in the past), sacrificing any fish bigger than a neon tetra is surprisingly sad to witness. I understand where you are coming from, and maybe there are cases where this is the best decision for the fish, but usually this can be avoided. Treat them if they are ill, or trade them in if you are bored of them and want to get something else.


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## DonaldmBoyer (Aug 18, 2005)

Yeah....Mr. Ghori is probably right. It may be the most painless way for them to go......boiling water is probably the fastest.


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

clove oil is another.


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## trashion (Jan 6, 2008)

definitely clove oil over the others. i've read that freezing can be extremely painful for the fish, as shards of ice start forming in the gills as the fish slowly freezes.

you need vodka, too, to do it right. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

After reading that article - looks like the clove oil + vodka might be the best solution.
Learn something new everyday!

Plus - if it was a fav fish or something - the vodka could help you too.


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## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

Actually vodka, while it has pain killing atributes when ingested, is irritating and counter productive to causing as little pain as possible while killing the fish. Plain clove oil is sufficient.


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## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

Don't bag buddies, the tablets you put in fish bags for shipping contain clove oil? I heard 10 in 500ml is a lethal dose and a nice quiet way to go. Never tried it... I always just spend tons of money on meds.


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## Six (May 29, 2006)

DonaldmBoyer said:


> Depending on the size, if they are pretty small, boiling water is probably the fastest way to end their misery. Net them quick, and place them in the pot of boiling water as fast as possible. This will descale them, so make sure you use an old junky pot with a lid as they do.......jump out. I would say that this kills them within a few seconds, at most.
> 
> Other ways may be the garbage disposal, but I am not sure. .


WOW. Do not do this. I've seen the boil method fail disturbingly. The fish flung itself around the water dying very obiously in pain and suffering. Maybe a small fish would work, but definitely not a large one. As for the garbage disposal.... that's a horrible way to kill anything. Just sever the spinal cord instead.

As for freezing, exploding cells aren't painless....

The best way IMO is RDT; Rapid Deceleration Therapy. This entails killing the animal by quick and decice blunt trama which will kill it instantly. Sure, this isn't fun to do, but it's the best way to kill an animal, fish or not, when humane chemicals aren't available. Clove Oil i've never heard of and it seems to me to be another "easy" way to kill a fish that curtails a happy ending for the hobbyist. (meaning it looks peaceful, or is out of sight out of mind like the freeze method.) 
JMHO


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

Six said:


> WOW. Do not do this. I've seen the boil method fail disturbingly. The fish flung itself around the water dying very obiously in pain and suffering. Maybe a small fish would work, but definitely not a large one. As for the garbage disposal.... that's a horrible way to kill anything. Just sever the spinal cord instead.
> 
> As for freezing, exploding cells aren't painless....
> 
> ...


So you are against freezing because the cells exploding from ice crystals forming isnt painless.
You are against boiling water because well it IS boiling water..
You are against the Garbage disposal because it chops the fish up which doesnt seem quick or painless
You dont know about Clove oil but are voting against it because it seems similar to freezing.
But you are FOR kicking the fish to death.

.......

I cant even begin to fathom that logic and I have a twisted sense of morals in most any instance.


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## DwarfLily (Dec 16, 2007)

Actually there was a study done with salmon which did research on clove oil on fish. The study deduced the clove oil in the right concentrations will put a fish to sleep. There still doing more research but it found that the fish can/will fall asleep then over time wake up. Ill have to go find the article.

I also agree with that boiling and freezing are on the crueler and more painful side of killing a fish. But it is still up for debate weather fish even have pain receptors in the first place. While blunt force trauma or severing the spinal cord may seem cruel I do think its probably better for the FISH but not the owner. There is a huge difference in pain when you(general) get smashed over the head and die in a instant than getting dumped in a boiling water and having you scale fall off. As well as have you gills and vain's explode in freezing water. If I had a choice for the two, conk me over the head. But if there was a "other" column I would chose clove oil and I recommend it. Put some drops in to get them to sleep(mix it very well) than continue to add drops and they will basically overdose in there sleep and die(painless)

Another method that I have heard works is putting Alka-Seltzer in a some water with the fish. I believe you put one in then put the fish in sometimes two(seltzer). I tried this method once and will not do it again.(simply personal preference...I didn't look at the fish long enough to know if it was suffering. I walked away because I'm not fond of death. I will say about 5 min. later the body still had periodic flinches which makes me believe its not instant)


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## ed seeley (Dec 1, 2006)

DwarfLily said:


> But it is still up for debate weather fish even have pain receptors in the first place.


I'm sorry but it is not up for debate whether fish have pain receptors. Fish can detect injury and relay this information to their brain. They have pain receptors.

What may be up for debate is whether fish interpret pain in the same way we do. But they do detect 'pain' and respond to it.

I'm not sure on the cruelty of the freezing method. I would have thought, based on my experience of heater malfunctions among other things, that tropical fish would have lost consciousness / died before the water actually froze and caused any cellular damage?
However, after feeling the pain of putting my hand in too hot water, there is no way I would dump a fish into hot water to kill it.
As to putting a live fish into a macerator; I can't imagine anything more horrid. How do you know they lose consciousness before the blades cut into their flesh at various points?

When I have killed fish to eat, either a good whack just behind the head (with a priest) to break the spine, or using a sharp knife to cut the head off has seemed to work quickly and without response. As the last poster said, maybe not the best for the owner, but possibly the best for the fish?
However I am reminded of the case where it is said that two victims of the guilleotine's heads were dropped into the same basket and one bit the other's nose so hard that they were unseparateable. This, of course, was AFTER their heads had been cut off...

At the end of the day most of these options are better than those fish get that are trawled up from the deep sea. They are squashed in nets, then pulled up in the water bursting swim bladders or forcing them up their throats, then hauled out of water, dumped on the deck to suffocate. If they survive all that, they are thrown back into the ocean as waste when gulls eat them or are shoved into deep freeze and frozen while suffocating...


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

So, if I mix a bunch of clove oil with water and drink it will it put me to sleep?


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## NoSvOrAx (Nov 11, 2006)

gibmaker said:


> So, if I mix a bunch of clove oil with water and drink it will it put me to sleep?


Assuming you don't *****?

Rapid Deceleration Therapy sounds like what happened to me when I fell off the rough. It didn't feel like any kind of therapy you would want... I think the name has to change. How about the Gallagher Sledge-O-Matic Therapy.  I'm just poking fun. This is actually how they kill mammal live stock. Bolt through the head. You gotta admit it does seem kinda harsh, I mean if they see it coming......


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## DwarfLily (Dec 16, 2007)

Ed, I read something about fish possibly not having pain receptors a few days ago. I will have to go reread but the way I interpreted it is that they don't but after your point of interpreting them the way humans do I see your point and that may have been the articles point. Thanks for the correction, I would not want to give out wrong information.


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