most humane way to kill a suffering fish?

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Jonathan G.

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Feb 8, 2005
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Location
Toledo, OH
just wondering if the time comes for my wrasse what should i do cause it may be the only way besides to have him wither away in my tank.
 
If you're absolutely sure that the fish wont survive, or it you know that it's suffering, only to die later, this is the easier, quickest, most humane way to euthenize a fish...

Take a zip lock bag and fill it 1/2 - 3/4 full or water. Place the fish in the bag, seal it, and put it in the freezer. The fish wont feel much, and should be dead in 10 min or so.

I had to do this to an 8" Dog Faced Puffer that I had. He was my favorite fish. One day, I came home from work, to find that he had knocked the cover off of a powerhead intake and had gotten sucked in. I turned the powerhead off, and pulled him off, only to find that it had sliced his side open, and intestines were hanging out.

I put him in the freezer, and within 10 - 12 min, he was dead.
 
i hear clove oil mixed with ice cold water then you freeze it... has anyone heard of this? i guess the clove oil knocks them out so when you freeze them they dont feel their veins bursting while they die. still to be disputed on whether fish feel pain but they sure do know fear
 
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Take a zip lock bag and fill it 1/2 - 3/4 full or water. Place the fish in the bag, seal it, and put it in the freezer. The fish wont feel much, and should be dead in 10 min or so.

Most humane method for the HUMAN, you mean. Out of sight/out of mind isn't the most humane for the FISH. The quickest, painless, and most human method to euthanize a fish is to cut it's head off with a quick dice of a knife or smash of a mallet...or an extremely hard throw into the pavement. No slowing down of the metabolism, no progressive freezing of the blood in the veins...the fish is dead before it even knows it. There is no pain as the nerves can't even send signals to the brain because the stem has been completely severed--there is no connection completed.

THAT is the most painless and humane way to dispose of a fish, if you want to keep the fish's best interests in mind.
 
Thank you for your response. I must say however that I disagree with it. Smashing a animal or slicing its head off, is not painless. We are discussing a creature that matches its tempreture to the surroundings. Its metabolic process slows as the temp. drops. There is a point where life ceases with very little to no pain before the animal freezes solid. I have read PETAs fish are friends campaign material and this is where I think you may be getting your information. If someone desires to smash fish or cut thier heads I can not stop them. I can however share that it is cruel and unnecesary to do so. Another way that works is to pour pure grain etheyl alchol in the water. It kills the fish quickly and is a pain blocker as well. I will continue to place fish that are sick or damaged and I am unable to save in the freezer. The brain of a animal has the ability to conserve and hold a large amount of Oxy. Experiments carried out on humans during the french revolution of beheaded prisoners showed that even after the severing of the spinal cord that the head and eyes would still respond to their name. Some even went as far as too burn them with hot irons and the faces would contort in pain, the eyes would open and look at the tormentor. This is for 2-3 minutes after the beheading. Please reconsider choping off the heads of fish or smashing them on the ground. I do not believe for one second that is a painless way to end somethings life. Steven J. Wright
 
Jonathan,
What are thinking of euthenizing?

Nick
 
Actually skylsdale's answer is considered the most humane,but I could never do it.I use clove oil in tank water-no freezing.Clove oil is used as anestesia for fish sugery,and in a larger dose it's result is euthanization.It is painless and effective.
 
Let it spend the weekend with my mother in law...no that wouldnt be humane, lol

fish dont feel pain.



Mike
 
bmtpfgh said:
Actually skylsdale's answer is considered the most humane,but I could never do it.I use clove oil in tank water-no freezing.Clove oil is used as anestesia for fish sugery,and in a larger dose it's result is euthanization.It is painless and effective.

Similar to putting a larger animal to sleep. So much is an anesthetic, a little more and they're gone.
 
will this work for inverts also? like i just bought a horseshoe crab not knowing that it gets rather large in size and dont know what to do with it. it is about the size of a half dollar and is quite amusing, i just dont know if i should get rid of it. i've grown quite fond of Frank the Tank.
 
Jonathan,

I'd suggest seeing if the LFS would accept it as a store credit towards another SW inhabitant. Frank might be the best fit for your tank, but others may have the perfect tank. And, there's always the Livestock for Sale forum here as well.

Dave
 
Clove oil sounds the most humane but the poor little fish would be terrified up until it dies! Wouldn't you if someone took you out of your home and put you in a plastic bag while you were still alive?
 
angelscrx,
if it was a plastic bag full of air and everything around me was water i wouldn't be too scared!
 
wrightme43 said:
Thank you for your response. I must say however that I disagree with it. Smashing a animal or slicing its head off, is not painless. We are discussing a creature that matches its tempreture to the surroundings. Its metabolic process slows as the temp. drops. There is a point where life ceases with very little to no pain before the animal freezes solid. I have read PETAs fish are friends campaign material and this is where I think you may be getting your information. If someone desires to smash fish or cut thier heads I can not stop them. I can however share that it is cruel and unnecesary to do so. Another way that works is to pour pure grain etheyl alchol in the water. It kills the fish quickly and is a pain blocker as well. I will continue to place fish that are sick or damaged and I am unable to save in the freezer. The brain of a animal has the ability to conserve and hold a large amount of Oxy. Experiments carried out on humans during the french revolution of beheaded prisoners showed that even after the severing of the spinal cord that the head and eyes would still respond to their name. Some even went as far as too burn them with hot irons and the faces would contort in pain, the eyes would open and look at the tormentor. This is for 2-3 minutes after the beheading. Please reconsider choping off the heads of fish or smashing them on the ground. I do not believe for one second that is a painless way to end somethings life. Steven J. Wright
I must agree with him here I mean almost everyone has heard of chickens running around with their heads cut off... I am going to have to agree the most humane way would be clove oil + freezing...
 
Of the methods listed Clove oil sounds the best.

BUT better yet was the way I had to dispose of my Betta as a child. (It had a huge tumor and was suffering)

My mom put a small pot of water on to boil. Once it was boiling I netted out the fish and dropped it in. Instant death. The I had the proper funeral and flushed it down the toilet.

Just my 2 cents worth.
 
hmm that could work as well it would be better acclimated though... for example if you slowly boil water a frog won't jump out... all ideas though... better to think towards making sure your fish can be saved :D

-Josh
 

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