Euthanizing a betta
- Thread starter Liz
- Start date
When I had to euthanize one of my fish, I cut her head off with a very sharp knife. It was very quick for her but very traumatic for me!! Since then I have done a lot of research so I will be well prepared in the future and from several sources have decided that clove oil and smashing the fish are the best ways. Just my two cents... sorry about your betta 
I certainly hope I never have to euthanise, as there is no way i'd be able to "smash" anything. I can hardly think about it without feeling sick.
But.. for future reference.. what is clove oil and how does it work? I assume its toxic to fish.. how long does it take?
But.. for future reference.. what is clove oil and how does it work? I assume its toxic to fish.. how long does it take?
It's covered in the article linked above, but basically it is an anesthetic used for dental pains, available at the drug store, it can be used to anesthesize fish, and in higher quantities euthanise them.
Davet
Swimfins
This is as good as it gets.
Kasakato said:
I euthanized by the freezer method, and did not notice any flipping or flopping. If the fish is in fact ill, or near death, there is not enough strength to thrash. This is the point at which I'd euthanize...only if I felt the end was inevitable and close. I think most people lwill give a strong fish a chance until it is noticeably weakened or nearing death.
Personally I just take the fish out of the tank, put it in a bowl with a place where it can hide, put some bubbles in there, and let it go. If death is inevitable, then why should I speed the process along in an unnatural way? I had a shark get so ich-ridden that it died, and it just went in a little cave and "slept" never to wake up. Freezing does not seem humane to me. In fact, I had to save my betta from too cold of water (I accidentally changed his water with water that was 40º EEK) and I noticed severe flopping and disconfort at 40, so it couldnt be much different 8 degrees less.
Well I guess, when the fish is in quite a bit of pain (say, having its side gashed open), I would just want to have it out of that pain as soon as possible. I hadn't heard about the flopping thing, I've heard from pro-freezing people that they just go to sleep. So I guess it's hard to say/ I amy not have put her in the freezer if I had known about the flopping thing. But I checked on her just a few minutes later and she was dead, she might have just died anyways.
It's never wise to get into the moral side of this discussion. Too many different points of view. Euthanization is a personal decesion, and is sometimes needed on a fish that isn't yet weakened. No one but the person in the situation can really make the decision and then one still never really knows if they did the right thing, they can only hope they did. Make it easy, pick up a bottle of clove oil at the drig store, and put on the back shelf and hope it goes to waste.
Responsibility is why, a fish in your aquarium is already in an unnatural environment, things like ich are not even an issue in the wild, because greater water volumes and the ability to move around keep them from being a problem. when we put fish in a small closed environment, we take responsibility for making them comfortable and keeping them healthy. when a fish gets so sick or hurt that recovery is not an option, that fish should be put out of it's misery not left to die slowly in pain.
Dave
Responsibility is why, a fish in your aquarium is already in an unnatural environment, things like ich are not even an issue in the wild, because greater water volumes and the ability to move around keep them from being a problem. when we put fish in a small closed environment, we take responsibility for making them comfortable and keeping them healthy. when a fish gets so sick or hurt that recovery is not an option, that fish should be put out of it's misery not left to die slowly in pain.
Dave
But if the fish is in pain, and there is no chance of it living again, then its best to speed up the process and kill it.
