How to humanely euthanize a fish?

mmm, clove oil sounds the best to me. And if it's a molly you could just chop it's head off.
 
I prefer the clove oil. Freezing is slow and painful, as the water cells in the fish's body slowly crystallize and expand. Slamming the head--tried it once, not again. Cutting the head, nope. I liken the clove oil to shooting a horse in the head--immediate, painlesss, and strangely enoughk not as brutal as the head whack (personal). (A bit of trank helps with the horse. . . . mine had cancer metastasized throughout her digestive system, from mouth to . . . )
 
Remove life support. Works for humans.

Okay, call me cruel, but the fish is dying. You take it out of the water and it's dead in no time. It's not really going to 'suffer' as fish have a relatively simple nervous system. Even if this was a person you could compare it to what happens to a person in a low oxygen environment. They become sleepy, unconscious and then they die.

Clove oil if you have it, sure. But you might as well do it now rather than make it wait while you get clove oil.

tim
 
I don't have any clove oil on hand but do have vodka. Would Vodka have a very quick effect as to not make my molly suffer?

I'm really dreading having to do this as I have never had a sick fish but just the ones that die suddenly and appear at the top of the water.
 
amosf said:
Remove life support. Works for humans.

Okay, call me cruel, but the fish is dying. You take it out of the water and it's dead in no time. It's not really going to 'suffer' as fish have a relatively simple nervous system. Even if this was a person you could compare it to what happens to a person in a low oxygen environment. They become sleepy, unconscious and then they die.

Clove oil if you have it, sure. But you might as well do it now rather than make it wait while you get clove oil.

tim


after having a long debate with my folks, i just did the take it out of water method, a few hours ago for one of my juvenile platies that had not been eating for days now and was resting in only one place(it had a curved spine and flatten belly but no lesions so unsure what it was).i had considered the bashing head in routine but that was vehemntly opposed by some members.
it went quickly...

goodluck with whatever method you choose.it wont be easy.
 
If there is no chance at all and they are small enough, I bury them at sea (Nemo Style).

A short moment of silence and flush.
 
Flushing a fish down the toilet is the worse thing (for the fish) to do. They have to suffer in fowl water while they die. I think vodka would also be a painful way to go. How would you like to inhale alcohol into your lungs?

I think the clove oil seems the best or you could try putting it in the freezer if you can not get any clove oil.
 
NEVER freeze, it constricts the blood vessels causing great pain before death. A chop just behind the head is the best way to do it. DONT FREEZE!!!
 
amosf said:
Remove life support. Works for humans.

Okay, call me cruel, but the fish is dying. You take it out of the water and it's dead in no time. It's not really going to 'suffer' as fish have a relatively simple nervous system. Even if this was a person you could compare it to what happens to a person in a low oxygen environment. They become sleepy, unconscious and then they die.

Clove oil if you have it, sure. But you might as well do it now rather than make it wait while you get clove oil.

tim

That's not really true... I had a fish jump out on me once, and came back a half hour later to find it on the carpet. It lived for years. How do you know they become sleepy and unconcious... rather than feeling like they're unable to breathe, like drowning? So I don't know, I guess I'm tempted to 'call you cruel' because you say the fish has a simple nervous system; but I'm not sure, never having been a fish, whether you can say what it's like to be one?

I suppose it's better than flushing, but I don't think even a dying fish would die upon immediate removal of water.
 
Freezer method works but thier is opposition to it these days. Clove oil is probably the most humane way to do this. Flushing is the worst thing to do to a fish even if it is dying. It burns all the way down and then if it does happen to survive that it will suffocate from all of the sewage. Terrible way to go I am sure.

Marinemom
 
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