Euthanizing Anabantoidei - Betta Fish

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Roan Art

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I started this thread so we wouldn't hijack the sick betta thread. The following is from that thread:

FisheyLisa said:
I'm hijacking the post a little:
garlic: can is be fed straight up or should it be in oil? Could I just cut a hunk off a clove and pop it in the tank?

clove oil: Is a general anesthetic, so it would slow down the outside and through oral consumption the inside right? Bettas still do use their gills too. Wouldn't it work? I thought the same about hte breathing at first, but then I thought some more and it seems like you could still use it.

I am looking at it from a technical standpoint, not humane.
Lisa,
I'm going to start a new thread about this as I don't think this is a good place. I mean, he's not gone yet and maybe we shouldn't hijack his help thread.

Roan
 

Roan Art

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Betta Fish and Clove Oil

Okay, here's a copy of a post that was made to the Yahoo! Rainbow Fish Mailing List:


Code:
> There is a much easier way to euthanize fish in a very easy way (and I
> also don't support the author's view that fish can feel pain in the
> human sense as they lack receptors for that, they indeed can feel a kind
> of chemical pain by nocireceptors): clove oil. A few drops will calm
> them down to unconsciousness; a few more will let them sleep forever.

I tried clove oil once on a female Betta, which had a torn-out eye due
to a fight with another female. I put it in a small container with
about 1 liter of water and then added 4 drops of clove oil. After 10
minutes still nothing happened, except that the fish starting coming
up to the surface for some air. But when it touched the oil drops they
seemed to hurt it because it would jolt right to the bottom and then
it would twitch a few times. It looked horrible. But there was no way
turning back, so I added a few more drops and tried to mix them with
the water. 
The fish jumped from left to right and top to bottom for a few minutes
before finally settling down on the bottom. Then after about 5 more
minutes it finally stopped breathing. So in all, it took over 20
minutes, and I felt horrible seeing the fish acting like that. 

I don't know what I did wrong then and there, but since then, I used
the freezer if needed.
I can see that happening. The freezer may sound cruel, but not nearly as horrible as this would be.

Roan
 

FisheyLisa

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ew.

fortunately I have never had to euthanize, and hope I never do. Thanks for the clove oil post from yahoo. I appreciate your research.
 

OrionGirl

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The clove oil shoul dbe dissolved, so that it mixes with the water, instead of just floating on the surface.

The freezer method works as well.
 

patoloco

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I had to euthanize a Green Spotted Puffer that fell into the drip plate of my wet-dry filter . I kept him in an isolation tank for 2 days and saw no response.
I had to choose the strong-hit method, although horrible, I believe it's the quickest method for killing a small fish.

I feel guilty for letting him fall from the tank. :sad:
 

Roan Art

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OrionGirl said:
The clove oil shoul dbe dissolved, so that it mixes with the water, instead of just floating on the surface.
Right, but I think the point here was that the betta would just breath air from the surface. Regardless if it swam through the oil or not, it wouldn't really work because it uses surface air.

You could "squeeze" all of the air out of the bag so that there was no surface air, but that would be the same as suffocation :(

The freezer method works as well.
Yes, but, hrm. Has anyone tried something air-related like ether? Or some other type of gas that would knock them out for a while? If the surface 02 was replaced with a gas that worked instantaneously?

Roan
 

patoloco

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It should be studied since I don't know what kind of effect can ether have in a fish. It can make a humen sleep, but, will it do the same to a fish? Maybe it can burn or itch or whatever.

I know for sure this thread is going to have a lot of posts in the near future.
EUTHANAZING A SICK FISH WILL ALWAYS CREATE CONTROVERSY
 

Raskolnikov

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If you want to kill a fish in the fastest, least stressful way, then pulverize the head with a single blow. It's extremely easy on smaller fish.
 

Roan Art

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Raskolnikov said:
If you want to kill a fish in the fastest, least stressful way, then pulverize the head with a single blow. It's extremely easy on smaller fish.
Assuming you don't miss and only catch one part of the head or something, yah.

It's rather hard on the owner and I don't know too many with the guts to do it.

It wasn't too long ago that the accepted method of euthanizing snakes and lizards (not sure about other reptiles) was via decapitation. Until someone discovered that snakes and lizards bodies do not shut down the way mammal bodies do. Their brains continue to function for over an hour afterwards, and that includes the pain receptors :(

Dunno how I'd deal with any of my snakes if I should have to euthanize one.

Roan
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PumaWard

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I have put an anabantid down with clove oil (I believe it was a chocolate gourami, but may have been a honey). Three drop mixed well in a cup of water and there was no thrashing or anything. In seconds it was passing on, and very quickly...


I personally don't find 4 drops in a liter of water to be a a high enough concentration.
 
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