Methods of euthanasia

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I just got a new Cichlid book from amazon the other day by Interpet called 'Bumper guide to cichlids' and I must say it is a fantastic book that covers everything you could ever think of. Now Im setting up a Cichlid tank I decided to get a more specialised book instead of refering to my general freshwater books as obviuosly they have their own set requirements. And I really recomend this book to anyone.
One thing I noticed that I found rather interesting was on the subject of putting down a fish. It mentioned the obvious of a swift bash against a hard surface. Now I have had to do this once when I had a sick mollie and no treatment was making it better and it was putting the rest of my tank at risk and it was very upsetting and hard for me to do and I would hate to do it again. The other option that this book mentioned was to place the fish in a cup of room temperature soda water untill there was no sign of gill movement as the corbonated water basically put the fish to sleep in a humane way!
I just thought I would share this and wondered if anyone had ever tried this technique?
 
My current technique is the use of clove oil. The material is generally available in the toothache remedies aisle of drug stores, or through the pharamacist, or from some heath food/natural food stores. It is an anaesthetic for fish, and is used for short anaesthesia in doing clipping on overgrown teeth in puffers. For anaesthtic use use, 1-3 drops per liter are used, mixed wel, and then the fish added. When the fish loses consciousness, it is lifted out, the teeth clipped, and returned to its own tank or an untreated R&R tank - where it quickly recovers consciousness. If left in the clove oil treated water the fish will die, so this is easily and painlessly used for euthanasia.

See:

http://puffer.proboards2.com/index.cgi?board=hospital&action=display&num=1085932782

for a very long thread on this technique, but all the important info is in Pufferpunk's original post at the top of the thread.
 
Clove oil works great....



But, on the otherhand, clove oil is pretty espensive to use just for that purpose.

I use the freezer method. Ziplock bag + water + freezer. People compain that this is inhumane sometimes, but these are the people who obviously have no idea about the science behind it.

As the water cools down, the fishes immune system slows down. Eventualy, it reaches a point where the body shuts down completely. This would be inhumane if the process took a long time, but generally it takes less than an hour. It is painless and quick. And not super expensive.


I of course rarely have to use it because I'm one of those "super hero fishkeeper" types who thinks he can cure any fish ailment :rolleyes:
 
I have never used the clove oil/vodka method, seems like too much hassle for the fish and the keeper. I also dont use the freezing method because i DONT believe it is painless. i have, on accedent filled a tank with cold water (darm water heater broke and no one told me) all the fish immediately went into violent seizures.

this is the method i use, and i guarentee it is the quickest and most painless death for the fish.

First take a paper towel and soak it in tank water. Next net the fish into the towel and wrap it around the fish. place the towel and fish on a hard surface and with a large headed hammer strike the fish in the head with enough force to smash it completely. the purpose of the paper towel is that the fish can still breath for the short period of time it take to kill them but also so that you can see through the towel to make your blow or cut at the right spot. Also the towel (if wrapped well) will stop the flesh from spraying.

Now i grant you, this method is not for the faint of heart, but in my opinion it is best for the fish.

ryan
 
I also dont use the freezing method because i DONT believe it is painless. i have, on accedent filled a tank with cold water (darm water heater broke and no one told me) all the fish immediately went into violent seizures.
Click to expand...

I've filled my Tanganyikan tank with cold water on more than one occasion and haven't experienced and seizures before.

I too use the freezer method. I do believe it is as close to painless as you can get..by far a better way to die than to let a disease take its toll. It's dark in the freezer, so the fish feel safe while they are still alive, and their entire body shuts down... IME, they are usually done in 15 minutes, as I use small volumes of water (enough for the fish to be able to move comfortably).

I used to use the "flick on top of the head" method, except I was very bad at it and didn't kill them with the first couple tries.
 
PumaWard said:
I too use the freezer method. I do believe it is as close to painless as you can get..by far a better way to die than to let a disease take its toll. It's dark in the freezer, so the fish feel safe while they are still alive, and their entire body shuts down... IME, they are usually done in 15 minutes, as I use small volumes of water (enough for the fish to be able to move comfortably).
Click to expand...

Sorry, but the vets do not agree with you. This is from a paper on enthuasia done in 2000 by the American Vetinary Medical Association:

Cooling—It has been suggested that, when using physical methods of enuthanasia in ectothermic species, cooling to 4 C will decrease metabolism and facilitate handling, but there is no evidence that whole body cooling reduces pain or is clinically efficacious.206 Local cooling in frogs does reduce nociception, and this may be partly opioid mediated. 207 Immobilization of reptiles by cooling is considered inappropriate and inhumane even if combined with other physical or chemical methods of euthanasia. Snakes and turtles, immobilized by cooling, have been killed by subsequent freezing. This method is not recommended.13 Formation of ice crystals on the skin and in tissues of an animal may cause pain or distress. Quick freezing of deeply anesthetized
animals is acceptable.208

Since fish are and "ectothermic species," I do not find freezing humane. The entire article is here: http://www.avma.org/resources/euthanasia.pdf. It is very long so you may wish to just search on "fish" or "ectothermic." See Appendix 1 ion page 28 for acceptable methods and agents.

I did an edit to add the sppendix reference.
 
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When I have had to put fish down I generally drop them into a glass of ice water, which kills them in about ten seconds. However this may not work very well for larger fish.
 
IME, the freezer method, while easy and out of sight for the aquarist, is not so easy for the fish.

The last time I used this method I opened the freezer to get some ice cubes, and the fish in question was struggling quite hard and in obvious stress (A tiger barb). Luckily I have not needed to euth a fish in a very long time.

The seltzer method basically asphyxiates the fish. Not pretty nor very quick either (up to 5 minutes). They die not from lack of oxygen, but an excess of CO2.

Clove oil, Euthenol (R) (from the vet), or a razor sharp Wustoff right behind the gills are IMO, the way to go. The knife method is probably not the best since residue and blood may carry pathogens. Use a newspaper and disinfect the knife with chlorine afterwards.
 
what ever happened to good old chop the head off? where i used to work, someone brought in some huge catfish to donate, and my boss took it out back and just tossed it in the dumpster still alive
 
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