What is the most humane was to euthenize a sick fish?

Question

I've heard of a few ways but they seem so mean...like the freezer...yikes! Thanks for whatever you can offer me.

Answer 1

As with all other animals, there are situations when the fish, for a variety of reasons, either fails to respond to treatment or has a condition that is untreatable. It is my belief that fish are capable of suffering  and therefore the most humane act in such a situation is to euthanase the fish.

Euthanasia should be a last resort and not simply a way to save on treatment. Any form of euthanasia should cause death with the minimum of discomfort or suffering to the animal.

There are many methods, but my preferred method is to overdose the fish with clove oil, a very safe and ecologically sound fish sedative used as an anaesthetic to sedate fish for procedures such at tumour removal or wound care. Clove oil (active ingredient, eugenol) can be obtained through pond suppliers or health food stores.

The clove oil must be dissolved in alcohol to allow it to dissolve into the water. I use vodka. Using too much vodka will increase the discomfort to the fish, so measure carefully. If you feel you must increase the dosage, increase the clove oil only. Leave the fish in the solution for at least a couple of hours. Clove oil is a very safe sedative and fish have been known to revive after an hour in the solution.

Have a gallon of tank water in a bucket and put the fish in it. In another container, mix 2-3 ml clove oil with 8 mls vodka. Pour the clove oil mixture in and mix a little. The fish will be unconscious within minutes. I've never had any struggle or distress.
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EDIT: Freezing as a humane way of euthanasia is still used by quite a lot of fish keepers, but in my opinion it is a cruel ending to a life!

Koi and goldfish bodies are controlled by water temperature. They go semi-dormant, into a sort of sleep during winter when water temperatures drop. If the water freezes solid the fish will die. Not all fish go into this dormant period and it wouldn’t be right to euthanize a tropical fish this way

We have acted in the time that we have cared for the fish to protect it from rapid temperature fluctuations and yet are now doing the very thing that we have tried to avoid. Temperature changes produced by putting a fish in the freezer will produce stress until death, or the dormancy stage is accomplished (if the fish is stressed there is no guarantee that it will enter the dormancy stage - a human that falls asleep on a freezing hillside will wake up before freezing death and only loses consciousness as the body's homeostatic system constricts bloodflow to the extremities (including the brain) to keep the core warm, there is no reason why the same shouldn't happen in fish).

Answer 2

This is a very good question the best way, is to put the fish in in some water and add Clove Oil in and when it goes milky thats enough then wait 10 mins and the fish should be sleeping then grab new water and put vodka in it and wait for 20 mins and if the gills arnt moving the the fish is dead. A fish cant hold is breath longer than a 60sec

Answer 3

Eeek no freezer.

The most humane way I know of is by putting a ethyl alcohol (the kind you drink) into the container with the fish. They filter it through their gills, it makes them drunk, and they eventually just stop breathing. I've had to do this with a sick betta who had what I think was fish tuberculosis (basically he wasted way until his eyes were sunken into his head, he had no color, he was skinny as a rail, but he couldn't die.) No treatment worked, and I couldn't watch him suffer anymore. I put a few shots of vodka into his tank, and about 30 minutes later, he was gone.
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Edit: To anyone thinking of flushing a live fish down the toilet... you do realize that flushing does not kill the fish, right? They just swirl around the bowl and down the hole, then they end up in the septic tank or going into the sewer, where they can swim around for hours, if not DAYS before they end up dying a horrible death in a pool of crap. Not a very nice way to end any life.

Answer 4

I am fairly confident you're going to get lots of different input leading you in several directions. I haven't had the chance to actually have to do it myself, but from all other times this question has come up, and I cannot find anything to contradict it, the most acceptable method is using Clove oil, and from all input I've read, it's basically an anestetic to a fish, and would end up passing relatively painlessly.

Answer 5

The most humane is to use a compound called MSS-222, which is a fish anesthetic, but to overdose the dish. Chances are you don't have easy access to this, but you can use clove oil, which also has an anesthetic effect: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm This is available in health food stores, but there's a product made for use with fish now, although I haven't seen it in stores in my area yet: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=15556&N=2004+113016

You can use the clove oil by itself and overdose them, or just use enough to put them to sleep, then you can us the alcohol or freezing method so they aren't aware of what's happening.

Some other methods approved by veterinarians: http://www.petplace.com/fish/euthanasia-in-fish/page1.aspx

Answer 6

The freezer is actually very humane because they are cold blooded and will not feel a thing.
Also you can give it a sort of anaesthetic.

Answer 7

sounds cruel but a spike inserted directly to the brain, located on the forehead, is very quick and painless

Answer 8

dont know if its the most humane way, but it is the cheapest...
use the old reliable... The toilet...