First Ever Large-Fish Euth

ShinySideUp

Fish Herder
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
1,003
Reaction score
84
Location
GB
I had the unpleasant task of euthanizing a large goldfish today. It weighed about half a kilogram so couldn't realistically be sent on it's way by my usual method for small fish (plastic bag and a brick) without risk of a painful and prolonged death. It had dropsy and it did not have long to live on it's own so I thought it best to put it down now.
 
I used clove oil and Absinthe.
 
Fish in two litres of water then three drops of clove oil until the fish became still then I added twenty more drops of oil (I mixed it with water first so it would spread around) and after a few minutes I added about 30ml of Absinthe (alcohol content 75%) and left the fish for about two hours even though it seemed to be dead in less than five minutes. I used Absinthe because of it's high alcohol content and I didn't have any vodka which is apparently the usual toxin.
 
I don't think the fish was aware or suffered at all -- tell me I'm right?
 
I use clove oil and they don't appear to suffer. It's very quick. I've not heard of using absinthe though
 
I usually save the alcohol for myself. You might have underdosed the clove oil; it's supposed to be 20 drops per litre, but it sounds like the fish passed peaceful anyway.

The clove oil method is endorsed by vets as being humane, so it's very unlikely your goldie suffered.

Sorry for your loss
sad.png
 
fluttermoth said:
You might have underdosed the clove oil; it's supposed to be 20 drops per litre,

 
 
That's roughly what I use - around 20 drops into a half litre pop bottle, add tap water and shake well then add it to the vessel containing the fish with another half litre. It tends to put the fish to sleep in seconds. I normally leave the fish in the mixture for around an hour to make sure it's not coming back from it before flushing the lot down the loo (I don't have an outside drain to pour the liquid down) 
 
The alcohol does the real damage as clove oil can apparently allow the fish to seem dead when, if removed from the water and placed in fresh, it may well recover. Having had a fish survive unscathed when it jumped out of the pond and remained in the air for nearly forty minutes before being found and returned to the pond with no ill-effects at all (still alive and that was six months ago) I tend to try to make sure it's dead.
 
can you post instructions of what to do with the alcohol Mr Shiny please. I had read also that clove oil can do that and that was why I leave the fish in the clove oil mix for as long as an hour to make sure it doesn't come back. I'm now doubting whether this is the right thing
 
I can only reiterate what I read in an article elsewhere online (can't remember where). It said to do all the things with clove oil and after a suitable amount of time to allow the fish to fall into a very deep sleep (perhaps even death itself -- who knows) then add 30ml of vodka per litre of water.
 
All I can say is that my fish did not seem to suffer at all. When I first added the few drops of clove oil to a bottle of water, shook it until it went cloudy white, then added to the fish water, the fish seemed to get very still, very quickly. I then added another 20 to 30 drops to water, shook it, then poured it into the fish water. I then waited ten minutes (no reason why, just seemed a reasonable amount of time) and then added the above amount of alcohol. I left the fish for a couple of hours while I went out. When I came back, the fish had not moved from it's previous position and was obviously dead.
 
It was not a pleasant thing to do but when I first removed the fish from the pond and had a close look at it I could see that euthanasia was definitely the best option. Apart from the sticking-out scales, the eyes were bloodshot and there were traces of blood showing over parts of the body too.
 
I am keeping a close eye on the rest of the fish in the pond but so far, so good.
 
it's not nice having to euthanize them but sometimes you just know in your gut that it's the best thing to do. I've had a few in my 'death jug' (I keep it seperate under the sink away from anything else fish related) over the years and it's been done with a heavy heart every single time.
 
I can't bear the thought of cutting off the head or dropping a brick on them - it's just too violent for me. Clove oil is a peaceful death as far as I can tell and it just seems to be the kindest way
 
Where does one obtain clove oil?  I agree with Akasha about not being to eager to bang a fish's head with a brick.
 
I'm pretty squeamish, so yeah, I agree with Akasha about the brick...
And, FishCat, you can obtain clove oil by some of these "essential oils" places; although it may be expensive, a lot of the time it is actually true clove oil. I believe that Young Living's probably has the most actual clove oil.
 
I get my clove oil in a cheap pharmacy that I know of. It cost me around £1.50 - not sure what that is in American money but over here that's very cheap
 
That is a little more than a dollar. That would be WAY cheaper than essential oils.
 
You must make sure it's real clove bud oil. Humans can use it to ease toothache, so it's fairly easily available, both in pharmacies/chemists or online.
 
Believe me, it does work for toothache. Only problem with using it for this is that it numbs you- lol...

Just occurred to me, that's why it puts fish to sleep! The same thing that numbs us kills fish.
 

Most reactions

trending

Members online

Back
Top