euthanization gone bad

M

mozart

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Mar 29, 2007
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Delawhere?
I only share this experience to prevent it from happening to anyone else. After a few weeks of being antisocial and eventually not eating a few days with clamped fins, I quarantined my male gourami on Monday. In the bright lighting of the QT he appeared to have ich. He initially seemed to be better in the new tank and I was hopeful. I cranked up the temps gradually to 86 F. The ich may have spread and overall he seemed worse. I added salt as recommended. Last night he looked bad so I put in antibiotic. Also last pm he seemed to be unable to make it to the top of the 20G QT at all so I put him in a breeder's trap closer to the top (him being a labrynth fish) so he didn't have to work so hard. Tonight he just looked horrible, lying on his side. I lowered the temp a few degrees. After a couple hours I thought I'd take him out of the trap to make sure, and he fell to the bottom on his side unable to move. Then I said to myself "come on, get real... he's not gonna live...he's suffering...put him down!" I pulled out the vodka (no clove oil in stock). Mixed a very stiff one in a bowl with the tank water. Told my 7 yr-old we were going to end his suffering--she insisted on netting him herself. We put him in the solution expecting instant death..but no! He starts flopping around in the bowl, clearly in pain. I net him back into the tank. He continues to have these spasms and is obviously suffering. My daughter, who understands the need to END SUFFERING, is sobbing, I'm VERY upset, we pray for the whole minute it takes for him to die. I only used the vodka 'cause others on this site have used it successfully, and my fish was lying on his side with glazed eyes gasping for his breath. Just laying him on the counter would have been better than this! Next time I'll just watch him die 'cause I can't smash a head. What a sad evening!
P.S.- My main tank and fish look great with 86F and salt so far.
 
Oh dear! I'm so very very sorry! But you know what - that's sadly part of the learning curve with fish. Ask me how I know. It isn't pretty when you have to do certain things for the first time. But I guarantee, you'll be a better fish keeper for this experience. So something good has come of it. We've ALL been there!

Just FYI - I haven't had to use it - but some weeks ago my favorite male white cloud got way to exuberant when spawning and flung himself to the carpet. My mistake for not having the cover on! Well - I put him back in - and the days afterward I wished I'd have left him on the carpet. It was agony to watch. The day I discovered the method I was going to use to euthanize him, he passed. (Thank the stars!)

But here is a site that describes supposedly a safe way to do it with Alka Seltzer or with Baking Soda - it is used by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committe at University of Washington
http://depts.washington.edu/iacuc/policies/fish_euthanasia.html

Try to cheer up. You did the best you could with the tools available.
 
Smallfry, thank you for that very professional piece of info (moderators please note). It is obviously for clinical research, but helpful none the less.
 
To euthanize a fish painlessly, take it out of the tank, place in a bag of water, and place it in the freezer... Since fish are cold blooded, it doesn't hurt them, and as the temperature quickly drops down, so do the fishes vitals... No pain, no fear.
 
It's interesting how those articles say that "freezing" a fish is not a form of euthanization. Sorry about your loss.
 
Yeah it is, but I don't think I could put my fish in the freezer, I think I would try the sleeping method first. Until I knew it didn't hurt them at all freezing (which I will never know, and I don't get how other's would either) I wouldn't have the heart to do it, but I could do the sleeping method, as I don't see how it could cause any pain. Euthanizing a fish is a huge controversy in every forum.
 
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