Euthanising fish

Silverfish

This might be something that may come in useful at some stage, but hopefully not.

Tonight I had to euthanise my large goldfish, Ronnie (Star of the Goldfish bowl experiment) as he had polycystic kidneys, a common defect in fancy goldfish. The kidneys develop large cysts, which put pressure on the swimbladder causing buoyancy issues, and eventual kidney failure. Ronnie was treated with a course of antibiotics, however he then developed full blown dropsy and pineconed. We made the decision to euthanise.

The best way to carry this out is to get clove oil, available from chemists, usually in the dental section. Clove oil is an anaesthetic for fish, and an overdose is fatal. You will need to put the fish in a smaller disposable, or easily washed, container.

The dosage is 25 drops per litre to euthanise.

As it is an oil, it does not mix with water very well, so put the drops into water in a disposable container, and shake well.
When it has turned white, add it slowly to the container with the fish.

It will take 30 mins to an hour to be sure, as it will render the fish unconscious first.

fred funk }{

I appreciate that you're trying to do it the best way but all I have ever done over the years is to give them a quick sharp blow to the head. They die instantly.

paddyandy

I had to kill a few g'fish over the years and i was amazed at how badly it affected me .Out of a tin no bother but your own pet is another matter . The last cat i had to have euthanased had me in tears and i could'nt bring the catbox home .My best cat too .I had brought along dark glasses just in case .It's the way they look up at you that hits hard . Glasses were very handy and a beautiful spanish lady vet .What did she think of me ? Me a Man crying over a cat . The oil is too slow the above advice better .

BigAl81

Hopefully never have to use it but bookmarked this site a while back.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

It recommends using clove oil and vodka. Few people in the comments say it worked for them.

Off to do a water change now so I wont need this!!

Go Team!

Silverfish

The blow to the head works as well, I suppose I was afraid that might just stun him and not actually kill him outright, especially since he was large. Plus, I don't think I'd have been able to do it. But all going well, it would be the quickest.

The clove oil was very quick, he was unconscious fairly quickly, and there was no struggle or activity, he just went to sleep.

Whatever works best for the fish really, it's a better alternative to flushing, freezing or just removing them from the water.

kylith

So sorry to hear this, Silverfish. Poor Ronnie, but it's better not to let him suffer.

fungun

Hmmm, good thoughts. I tried to euthanase a cory a number of years ago by chopping his head as i read in a book....knife slipped and fish went scooting along the floor, was really awful; ended up squashing him with my foot cos I panicked (which although it sounded gross, was probably as quick as anything)

Id like to see recommendations for different fish - i could head-whack any of my cichlids (but at the first significant sign of weakness they tend to be taken apart by tank mates anyway) but what about for smaller fish - cories, tetra etc. Any thoughts?

m4r10

Maybe one of my Paki loaches felt sick as I found him into the wavemaker today! Probably he went in last night while the wavemaker was off and couldn't get out in time. Lukely for me he was still in one piece (as I didn't had to fish out all the bits).

CyberJuice

few ideas for killin fish that need to be dead..

(1) put onto table and smash the head with a hammer or a rock

(2) bite the head off

(3) flush it down toilet

(4) let nature take its course and allow any predatory fish eat it if you have some in the tank

(5) Give it to your cat.cat will kill it with 1 bite

(6) hold it on a chopping board and try cut the head off in 1 clean cut

(7) get some device that will electricute the fish in the water


not so sure messing about with oils and trying to slowly poison fish even if its supposedly anaesthetic

star-pants

CyberJuice - Banned - post like that again and it's permanent.