Clove Oil

[Akasha72]

Hi everyone.
I've been reading for months about clove oil being the best way to 'despatch' any poorly fish so today, whilst out shopping for bargains, I saw a bottle for a pound . I thought I'll be having some of that then and next time I've got a dying fish I can deal with it. But I've come home and realised for all the talk about using this stuff that I've read no-one has actually said what you do with it!!


So, lets presume I've got a dying fish (which thankfully I havn't right now .. they are all healthy and happy) and I want to end it quickly for the poor thing. I've netted it out and it's in the 'death jug' ... I have clove oil in hand but what do I do with it? Do I put a few drops in the jug with water and fish? Is the smell of it enough to kill the fish ... confused.com

 

[fluttermoth]

The lethal dose is 25 drops per litre of water, but I'd use 30 or 35, just to make sure. You don't want the fish coming round again; in smaller doses clove oil works as an anaesthetic.

You take some of the water from the container, add the amount of drops you need (you wouldn't need more than a litre for small fish, but obviously you would for larger ones) and shake really hard. As it's an oil, you really need to work hard to mix them. Eventually you'll have a whiteish emulsion, then you dribble that into the container with the fish in.

The fish will be asleep within a minute or two, but leave it in there for half an hour to make sure it's gone. I know some people add vodka, or put the container in the freezer; you shouldn't really need to do that, but you can, as long as you're sure the fish is unconscious first.

I personally think every fishkeeper should keep a bottle of clove oil somewhere; you never know when the worst might happen and you need it

 

[Tizer]

Carving knife is far more humane.

 

[fluttermoth]

Well, if the fish is big enough, and you feel confident in doing it, fair enough. I know if I had to do it that way, I'd be shaking so badly I'd very likely make a mess of the whole thing. Clove oil is humane; it's one of the few methods accepted by vets and animal welfare experts as being painless; unlike boiling/freezing.

 

[snazy]

Who am I to know when a fish will die for sure. For what I know one can have a bad skin rush that I may wrongly consider deadly and the one I give a chance could have a brain tumour metaphorically speaking. So not clove oil for my fish, they need to fight to death to survive
But I do understand that maybe sometimes it is more humane I guess

 

[Tizer]

I'll be the first to admit, any fish the size of my little finger or smaller, gets a flick around the head and dumped in the bin. Only ever had to take a knife to two fish in the past. Its not nice, but does the job.

 

[micko]

Slightly off topic question but you mentioned it can be used as an anaesthetic Fluttermoth.
Does this mean it can be used in posting fish? If so, what doses per litre?

Thanks.

 

[fluttermoth]

I don't know if it would be safe to use in posting fish. I'm not sure how long the fish could stay in it before they start to suffer complications or side effects. I do know the dosage for anaesthesia is between 40 and 60 mg/l though.

 

[Akasha72]

Carving knife is far more humane.

It is I agree but I havn't the stomach to do that.

I just wanted to be sure that I knew what I was doing if (gods forgive) I ever end up with a fish with dropsy again. Now I know to add the recommended dose of clove oil and do it peacefully.

In the past I've left them in a jug (now known as the death jug) with just a couple of inches of tank water, cover them with a cloth and walk away. The platy with dropsy went that way and it was fairly quick. But the guppy more recently took hours to die and it felt horrible. At least now I have the clove oil I can speed things up.

thanks fluttermoth

 

[soybean]

I put them in a fish bag in tank water and use a small water bottle of tank water, add the clove oil, shake it up and pour it in the bag slowly over a few minutes. Fish goes belly up, falls asleep, I add the rest, gills stop moving, tie it up and pop it in the bin.

The smell of clove oil never rinses off anything properly so I use the same bottle and the bags rather than have a stinky jug or tub.

 

[Akasha72]

thanks soybean, that's a good idea. I was going to ask if I'd need to keep things seperate after use

 

[FishFanatic04]

I would rather try and save all my fish, but there is a point where you know it's just too far gone. My tetras yesterday..some had lost their back fins completely before I gave up. They weren't going to recover. I didn't have clove oil. A whack on the head did it. But next time I'll be buying some oil, then I can save myself all the tears.

 

[Akasha72]

exactly. If my fish are ill I'll do what I can to help them but sometimes the best thing is to put them to sleep. Like every animal - there comes a point when it has to end.

Clove oil seems to be the best way for me

 

[FishFanatic04]

Me too!