# Humane way to euthanize your fish?



## Chrispy

My breeding pair of sevs had an all out brawl last night and the female is severely hurt. She is laying on the bottom barely breathing and one of her eyes is nearly destroyed. The male swims by occasionally and pecks at her and she doesn't even move.  Its obvious that she won't make it and its tearing me up to watch her suffer.

What is the best way to quickly end it?


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## BRANT13

idk about fish but when my sand boa doesnt ewat her pinky i just throw it in a sock and smack it against the wall relly hard...i think its pretty quick and painless i could be wrong tho....just the easiest way for me next to decapitation wich i would find hard to do


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## angel_saza

a quick, sharp blow to the head usually does it. I'd also go even further of severing the spinal cord (or chopping off the head) after you clonk it on the head to ensure it's death. Sometimes a blow to the head can just stun them.


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## bigcatsrus

I personally put the fish in a bag of water and put it in the freezer. Leave it for 10 mintues. This is the most kindest way my lfs told me.


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## Toby_H

I've heard a lot of theories on "kind" ways to kill a fish...

Freezing is a common one... but I know I'd HATE to freeze to death...

drugging with alcohol or clove oil is also common... I'd rather be drugged than frozen...

But nothing seems swifter than a severe blow to the head. Smash it's head with a hammer if you have it in ya...


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## DJRansome

I use the clove oil which is an anesthetic rather than a poison. A few drops in a bowl of water and in 5 minutes the fish is asleep. Then the freezer.

You can get clove oil at your health food store, for me it was in the aromatherapy section.


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## hollyfish2000

Really, the clove oil is by far the best. (I can't smash my fish . . . )

You can buy it as Euthanaze at even the big box stores. Put the fish in a small container, follow the directions. Basically the first drops puts them to sleep; the second round of drops kills them. I've done it several times and it's never been traumatic for me or the fish.

Of course, if you had a hospital tank, I'd remove the female immediately and try treating her with Melafix to see if she can recover ....


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## Chrispy

hollyfish2000 said:


> Of course, if you had a hospital tank, I'd remove the female immediately and try treating her with Melafix to see if she can recover ....


I didn't have a hospital tank and I seriously doubt that she would recover. I ended up freezing her. Its funny, I spend several years in the Marines and then a few as a Correctional Office. I have seen plenty of messed up stuff, but I can't smash my fish either.


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## dogofwar

Freezer is the best method, in my opinion.


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## dwarfpike

I've always used the freezer as well.


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## DJRansome

I think I saw an article recently that freezing as a method of euthanasia was discovered not to be as painless as earlier thought and has been made illegal.

Even if the clove oil only makes ME feel better, it's worth it, LOL.


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## Toby_H

DJRansome said:


> I think I saw an article recently that freezing as a method of euthanasia was discovered not to be as painless as earlier thought and has been made illegal.
> 
> Even if the clove oil only makes ME feel better, it's worth it, LOL.


I cannot say for sure... but I highly doubt they passed a law regarding Euthanizing fish... Fish aren't even recognized as a "animal" by most animal rights groups. Make Dogs fight and you go to prison... make fish fight and you become a you tube star...

But for the people who do care (all of us I would assume) I would suspect putting a fish in a freezer would be a rough way to go. If I had to freeze to death I would appreciate at least being a little drunk/drugged (not uppers though)...

My method... unless I suspect the fish can make her sick... they get fed to my Tegu... if they are a diseased fish, I put them in a garbage bag, put a board or brick on their head and step on it. It makes a horrible sound and feels icky... but it's over quickly and the only pain the fish goes through is not being able to breath for 45 seconds before the lights go out for good...

Killing something isnâ€™t supposed to be a peaceful experienceâ€¦ it should make you shiverâ€¦


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## xalow

I decapitated a neon tetra once and it was quick and easy. For people who can't handle that sort of thing I believe clove oil is the best method.

A severum though might be harder. I believe alcohol just burns their gills, clove oil is the best method I have heard of. I think freezing is really not the way to go, as it certainly isn't an instant process and I have yet to hear any credible evidence it is painless.


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## BRANT13

Toby_H said:


> Killing something isnâ€™t supposed to be a peaceful experienceâ€¦ it should make you shiverâ€¦


i like that


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## angel_saza

wouldn't freezing be a quicker death in slim bodied fish, eg angels or discus compared to solid bodied fish, eg large cichlids? i'm not suggesting it's less painful though. i've stopped freezing at work, they all get clonked if required.


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## DJRansome

There are guidelines put out by the American Vetrinary Medical Association on euthanizing cold blooded animals including fish. Anesthesia plus freezing is acceptable, freezing alone is not.

They are not yet recommending clove oil as an anesthetic, but only because it has not been tested. It IS however something we fishkeepers have access to. If you search on "freez" in this pdf you will see the appropriate section.

http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_welfa ... anasia.pdf


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## dogofwar

Freezing a cold blooded animal is very different than freezing a warm-blooded one.

If the fish is small enough to be eaten by something in my fishroom, I often go that route...


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## DJRansome

You mean feed the fish to a predator, not the freezing route, correct?


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## dogofwar

Yes - if the beat up fish isn't going to recover and is small enough for my 10-11" pair of Nandopsis haitiensis to eat...that's where they go.

Tell you the truth, I'm amazed at the ability of big fish to resurrect themselves. Nothing like a hospital tank with clean, warm water, some salt and melafix. I've had fish that were gasping on their side come back from the dead...


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## KaiserSousay

dogofwar said:


> Yes - if the beat up fish isn't going to recover and is small enough for my 10-11" pair of Nandopsis haitiensis to eat...that's where they go.
> 
> Tell you the truth, I'm amazed at the ability of big fish to resurrect themselves. Nothing like a hospital tank with clean, warm water, some salt and melafix. I've had fish that were gasping on their side come back from the dead...


+1 on the hospital tank, real life saver  to be sure!
"black nasties" get the too far gone..kinda like nature taking it`s course.


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## bigcatsrus

There seems to be a few ways of doing this. Personally I wouldn't want someone bashing me over the head with a hammer.

It's down to the person and what they feel they can do to the fish. If it's worth saving, great give it a chance.


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## Bachachi

In my search on this topic some years ago, I found the following method to work well.

I fill a container with clear soda such as ginger ale, and place the fish to be disposed of 
in the soda. The fish will expire from asphyxiation in a short period of time from the 
carbon dioxide.


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## Number6

*Bachachi*
Gingerale and other soda pop sure will kill them, but I believe it would be a horrible death. 
Ginger Ale has a pH of 4.4... it's acid and well outside the normal pH that life exists at. Add to that the sugars, the CO2 etc and I think this is not a wise choice IMHO.


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## xalow

I agree with *Number6* though I have to wonder if you knew the pH of ginger ale "pop" (tell tale sign of a midwesterner) off the top of your head from being such an experienced fishkeeper or had to look it up.

Given how many fish that have dried out and become crispy only to come back to life when put into water I would think that asphyxiation would take a while to actually kill them off.

Anesthetizing humans is something that requires a great deal of skill and is still fraught with difficulty so its easy to understand why this topic is so debated.


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## Oscar Madison

Drop into a pot of boiling water.......it happends real quick.


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## Number6

xalow said:


> though I have to wonder if you knew the pH of ginger ale "pop" (tell tale sign of a midwesterner) off the top of your head from being such an experienced fishkeeper or had to look it up.


I knew it was in the fours, but had to google the exact  What struck me as odd is that the hit I found was someone actually asking yahoo for the exact pH LOL

and yes, it felt old fashioned to type out the whole name "soda pop" as it's pop in Ontario, Canada yet it's always called soda here in Tampa! :wink:


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## Bachachi

Number6 said:


> *Bachachi*
> Gingerale and other soda pop sure will kill them, but I believe it would be a horrible death.
> Ginger Ale has a pH of 4.4... it's acid and well outside the normal pH that life exists at. Add to that the sugars, the CO2 etc and I think this is not a wise choice IMHO.


I may have gotten the type of soda wrong, but I looked up the information again. And I 
quote from a book written by three authors David Sands, Dr Paul V Loiselle, and Dr Wayne S Leibel.

" There are several humane methods of destroying a terminally ill fish. The simplest is a swift slam against a solid surface. If an aquarist cannot contemplate such a direct approach, you can dispose of a small fish by leaving it in a cup of soda water at room temperature until there is no trace of gill movement. The dissolve carbon dioxide that causes the soda to effervesce acts as an anaesthetic overdose and simply puts the fish permanently to sleep. A ten fold dose of a commercially available fish tranquillizing agent will have the same effect.


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## Number6

soda water is plain water with CO2. I could see that working, but just like freezing, I wonder if it's truly a painless death.


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## KaiserSousay

So, I guess the blindfold and squad of heavily armed black skirt tetras is out.


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## Chrispy

KaiserSousay said:


> So, I guess the blindfold and squad of heavily armed black skirt tetras is out.


Only if it gets a smoke first.


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## 24Tropheus

I found this article http://homepage.ntlworld.com/faustus/ni ... anasia.htm
interesting but wonder why it does not mention oil of cloves.

Oil of cloves then vodka seems a fitting end to a cherished large cichlids life to me.
I think I remember reading it as the way UK vets recommend other than extreme trauma.
But have not re found the link.
Would be odd if UK and US had different recommendations but not too unlikely I think.
Can you dose with oil of cloves high enough to cause death?
Does it cause pain?

Saying that I have usually used the throw hard into a bucket way but am thinking of changing after reading this.


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## Toby_H

For small enough fish the garbage disposal works great and has a built in clean up method...

For larger fish.... if you put the fish in a trash bag then place a board/brick on it's head and hop on it there isn't any violence to see... and it's also in it's disposal container...

In my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions) you guys are making a very well thought out mountain of a rather simple lil mole hill... 

Having said that... I've only had to kill a fish in such ways a couple of times in many years of keeping fish. To buy a product to have on hand to kill fish seems... kind of warped...

I mean putting a dog down is a reality some dog owners have to face, but for a dog owner to keep his preferred dog killing method on hand seems pretty darn creepy.


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## Chrispy

Disposal! My wife would kill me if I put one of my fish in her kitchen sink.


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## Number6

Toby_H said:


> In my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions) you guys are making a very well thought out mountain of a rather simple lil mole hill...


here's irony for you... I agree with the above, but disagree with the quote below:



Toby_H said:


> I mean putting a dog down is a reality some dog owners have to face, but for a dog owner to keep his preferred dog killing method on hand seems pretty darn creepy.


I just use the fish plus floor trick to put my fish down... it's just a fish even when it was an aged Discus. When I owned multiple dogs, I had the office and home phone number of my vet. When my dog was hit by a car and was in pain/dying, that home phone number came in very handy... he came over, I held the dog and she passed away. Having my prefered method on hand was the smartest thing I ever did for me, and my dog.


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## DJRansome

I have a lot of guilt about euthanizing a living creature...especially when it's healthy like when you cull a hybrid. The clove oil is more for me than them...reduces my guilt a tiny little bit.


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## Toby_H

Number6 said:


> Toby_H said:
> 
> 
> 
> I mean putting a dog down is a reality some dog owners have to face, but for a dog owner to keep his preferred dog killing method on hand seems pretty darn creepy.
> 
> 
> 
> I just use the fish plus floor trick to put my fish down... it's just a fish even when it was an aged Discus. When I owned multiple dogs, I had the office and home phone number of my vet. When my dog was hit by a car and was in pain/dying, that home phone number came in very handy... he came over, I held the dog and she passed away. Having my prefered method on hand was the smartest thing I ever did for me, and my dog.
Click to expand...

You definitely caught me on that one...


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## Jillanne

My opinion for what it is worth is the faster the better. I use the net, scoop out the fish and wack against the floor. For the amount of time it takes to wack any other way they are slowly sufficating. I have done the clove oil and it will kill if you give enough, I found that out when using it to put a fish out to trim their teeth. I hadn't meant for it to kill.

My dad always said if I couldn't kill something to stop it's suffering, I should never keep it. But somehow I just couldn't do that for most things.


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## Addesyn

I would recommend the clove oil method -->http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm

I would not use the freezer method as it takes quite a while to freeze water and I would rather die in my sleep than slowly freeze to death.


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## 24Tropheus

I think that is exactly what we do not know about freezing. Has the cichlid gently gone to sleep with the dropping temperature and died well before it starts to freeze or does it suffer as it freezes? There may be a difference between tropical cichlids and cold water fish here. So it may be fine for warm water cichlid euthanasia but not OK for cold water fish (so not recommended for all fish in the guidelines etc which are written for all fish).
But has anyone checked or measured it in different types of fish? I would guess not.


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## DJRansome

It says in that link I posted to the AVMA that it is suspected that ice crystals form on skin and in flesh which could be painful to the cold blooded animal.


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## bigcatsrus

I freeze my fish and it takes about 5 or slightly longer (depending on the size of the fish) mintues for them to go. The water is very cold and the fish isn't moving in any way (always check gill movement).

Its like when you go to the vet to have one of your furred pets put to sleep for some medical reason and that animal just goes to sleep. I would suspect it being something like this.


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## Gervahlt

Well, for what it's worth, I went with a method that is supposed to be instant to tropical fish: cool water to the point it has an ice skim on it, then net the fish and submerge. The shock is supposed to kill immediately. Well, it certainly wasn't instant with a 4" severum. It took about 3 minutes for him to expire, and it wasn't peaceful.

I will be using clove oil in the future.


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## steelers fan

bashing a fish off a floor seems disturbing to me...doesnt it convulse. i would think fish feel pain just like any other creature...how would i feel if i was slammed into the floor as a means of ending it all...thats about an 8 or 9 on the suck scale i would think. being sedated for lack of a better term(clove oil) before any deed was done seems a better path


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## lilyicu

I have placed mine in the freezer but I have also put them in my breeder box that floats at the top of the water. That way I don't have to remove them from the tank - they are still in the warm water they were familiar with and the other fish can't come by and eat on them while they are alive. Then when they are gone I just throw them away and put my breeder box in the dishwasher


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## KaiserSousay

lilyicu said:


> I have placed mine in the freezer but I have also put them in my breeder box that floats at the top of the water. That way I don't have to remove them from the tank - they are still in the warm water they were familiar with and the other fish can't come by and eat on them while they are alive. Then when they are gone I just throw them away and put my breeder box in the dishwasher


Now isn`t that the most reasonable, common sense, pro animal rights, etc. method...
A+ on brain function.


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## DJRansome

What about allowing more time for a sick fish to infect the tank though?


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## noddy

Agreed, if you did that with a bloated tropheus you could expect a few more to follow suit.


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## KaiserSousay

DJRansome said:


> What about allowing more time for a sick fish to infect the tank though?


One would hope for reasonable actions..an obviously infected fish would just have to go..If that was the intent of the OP, then I will go back to the shoal of heavily armed tetra death squad, or, as Rush L. has espoused..let the socialist death panels handle it.


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## MCKP

I have put one fish in the freezer and hated it..... the rest I have left in the tank.... I set up a hospital tank for the sickest ones, and when they would pass on, I would remove them. My last little clown loach I put in the breeder net and put him by the overflow of the filter to try and get him more air, I gave him some cover and really hoped he would hang on but he didn't and I moved him soon after he passed.

I would say what I have learned from my fish experience is ALWAYS have a hospital tank ready.


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## hbeth82

I'd heard of a different 'freezing' method - put a container of water in the freezer for a while, until ice crystals have formed solid around the edges, then drop the fish in. This way, you avoid the pain of ice crystals forming in the bloodstream because the temp shock knocks the fish out. But I think this is only recommended with tropical fish. For cold-climate fish, I think the drop & boil method would be better.


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## padlock 08

i just take it outside and smash it's head, the fish deffinatly doesn't feel anyting so for me it's the best method


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## steelers fan

how do you know the fish doesnt feel anything... i think a fish would feel a bash in the head just like any other animal. if you were holding the fish when you smash it, it would either try to get away because it hurt like **** or it would quiver(convulse) because of the brain swelling due to the trauma. either way its probrably more humane to try something to sedate it before bludgening it. i am not a tree hugger or anything i just try to think how it would feel if i had the misfortune of being beat to death.


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## hbeth82

I'm with Steelers Fan, bashing doesn't seem like a peaceful way to go - better than being left out on the counter for an hour or just being popped into the freezer but still lousy. My concern would be that if they are sick but still have a bit of life left in them, they'd likely flop about quite a bit and with my luck, I'd just smash his tail. I'd go with the clove oil, boiling water, or the ice method.


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## steelers fan

i'd say anything with clove oil and lots of it


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## BIG BWALZ

I did the smash thing, I had a fish who was injured beyond recovery and I had tried to help him get better repeatedly, long story. What I can say is about smashing, I suffered a severe head trauma that almost killed me a year ago and I don't remember a thing from about 5 minutes before till 5 days later. I was lucky to have survived, but from what I remember I felt no pain, but I was told I was quite a lunatic in the hospital. I think if the fish head smashing is executed correctly it is probably the most humane way to go, fish don't like being in a little cup of oil, alcohol or cold water or frozen either. The way I pulled the plug on 1 of my yellow labs was to net him, put him in a sandwich bag and smash his head with a hammer, about 3-5 seconds after being netted he went to malawi heaven? I thought a lot about it for a while because I could see the need for euthanization possibly coming, and I hope I made the right choice I don't know. I think of it as maybe a giant smashing a person with say maybe, a telephone pole with an automobile sized hammer head on the end of it, it would be a quick way to go wouldn't it?


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## 24Tropheus

Same thing here. If I need to euthanize quickly it is one of the bash methods. If I have time to plan it is the Oil of cloves plus vodka method from now on for me.
I have used cold water (put in darkened container and popped in a freezer/ice box) in the past but do not think I will again.
Not sure there is one best method.


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## DJRansome

Wow, BIG BWALZ, that's a rough way to gather evidence, but it's very convincing.


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## BIG BWALZ

Ya DJ Ransome, I wish I hadn't "researched" head bashing the way I did. I'm doing pretty good now though, brains are amazing things apparently. It's a good thing I did my water change the day before I went to the hospital for 5 days haha, and that I had a well maintained tank/system that took great care of itself. I also have a really good friend who has 3 big cichlid tanks (he actually got me started) that did my water changes for a couple months for me and told my roommates how to feed/check on fish in the meanwhile because I couldn't do it. I watched them, never lost a fish or had one get sick from it and was super happy about it!


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