euthanize a fish

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AquaBarb

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I know its an inevitable part of keeping fish that i will have to do this at some point, but whats the most Humanely way to euthanize a fish?

Cheers
 
Net the fish out and place it on a couple of paper towels folded over on a hard surface (table, bench, whatever). Give it a hard smack, or a couple. I use my hand, some prefer sticks. It is instant, no suffering, nothing. There is no other method as quick or humane, except cutting off the head but that is too much even for me. This method was rated "1" in an article on the topic in either Amazonass or Practical Fishkeeping a couple years back.

Those who advocate freezing, clove oil, and similar may find it less distasteful, but the poor fish is cognizant of what is going on. I don't treat any animal that way, not even a fly, it is whacked and instantly killed.
 
Net the fish out and place it on a couple of paper towels folded over on a hard surface (table, bench, whatever). Give it a hard smack, or a couple. I use my hand, some prefer sticks. It is instant, no suffering, nothing. There is no other method as quick or humane, except cutting off the head but that is too much even for me. This method was rated "1" in an article on the topic in either Amazonass or Practical Fishkeeping a couple years back.

Those who advocate freezing, clove oil, and similar may find it less distasteful, but the poor fish is cognizant of what is going on. I don't treat any animal that way, not even a fly, it is whacked and instantly killed.
Thanks Bryon

Cant say im looking forward to that but sadly i will have to at some point along the way. If thats the most humane way thats the way i will do it.

Certainly couldnt put any fish anywhere near the freezer, it would be me getting a whack with a stick off the wife else!! :)
 
Cant say im looking forward to that but sadly i will have to at some point along the way. If thats the most humane way thats the way i will do it.
I can't disagree but I also can't bring myself to do it. So its a clove oil / vodka mix for me.
 
Clove oil/vodka for me too. My fish just go to sleep.
 
I have never used Clove Oil before. I always do what @Byron said. Just lay it on a hard surface, and give it a hard whack with a short metal or wooden dowel, right between the eyes. It is painless, quick, and much faster than using clove oil. Personally I like a quick death for my fish, better than a prolonged death. (Aka Clive oil. I’m not saying that it isn’t painful, I’m just saying that it takes longer for the fish to die.)

I have euthanized a lot of fish in my days, and this is the method I have found to be the best. :)
 
Just for the record, clove Oil is a sedative to fish. They just drift out and die of hypoxia. Hitting them on the head is painful, even if only a second. My vet friend only approves the Clove oil method.
 
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My sibling had a goldfish with dropsy, so I managed to net it out (it was large, probably 5-6 in without the tail, and it was really bloated), put it in a couple of plastic bags, and smacked it against the garage. I don't know if that is basically what Byron's method is, to me it sounds like it.
 
I don't treat any animal that way, not even a fly, it is whacked and instantly killed.
If you lived where I do, you would catch flies and torture them. During November/ December, I can't go outside during the day. They swarm all over you and crawl in places they shouldn't go. They literally drive you nuts so if you catch one and it's alive, you drop it on the ant nests around here. The ants drive me nuts too.

Some of the locals say "The flies are friendly today". Others like myself, can be heard cussing and swearing as we try to walk down the road waving our arms about like a crazy man trying to fly or swat the pink elephants buzzing around our heads. This town drives me nuts :crazy::crazy::crazy::hyper::hyper::crazy::hyper:


My sibling had a goldfish with dropsy, so I managed to net it out (it was large, probably 5-6 in without the tail, and it was really bloated), put it in a couple of plastic bags, and smacked it against the garage. I don't know if that is basically what Byron's method is, to me it sounds like it.
You don't want to whack any fish that has dropsy. They tend to explode and it gets messy :(
 
If I were you guys I'd just leave them in a water body. tranquilizing them or whacking them is inhumane. seriously guys why are we even talking about this
 
If I were you guys I'd just leave them in a water body. tranquilizing them or whacking them is inhumane.
Would you leave a human to die slowly and painfully if they had a couple of days left to live, or would you euthanise them with an overdose of morphine?

I watched my family and friends dying from terminal illnesses and I was glad the doctors turned the morphine up so they died quickly. I can tell you all the gory gross details about how they struggled to breath and their skin turned blue then grey. How we watched parts of their body getting eaten away by flesh eating drug resistant bacteria, and so on. However, I will have to do it in a private conversation because quite frankly, it freaks me out.

Fish do feel pain and do suffer, so leaving fish to die slowly and painfully in an aquarium or bucket of water is just not nice. If it is in an aquarium with other fish, chances are it will be eaten alive while it is dying, which simply makes this worse. If an animal is suffering and dying, it should be dispatched as quickly as possible so it doesn't have to suffer.
 
I am an RN and have witnessed many patients begging their doctors to take them out of their misery. By law, we couldn’t do that for our patients but I certainly can for my pets. For the record, I do not support human euthanasia.
 
Euthanasia laws around the world need a review. You can put an animal down if it breaks a leg, but people can be on death's door with legs missing and no guts and the doctors still won't put them out of their misery. It's stupid.
 
Looks like opinions differ on this subject greatly.

Im hoping its a long time before i have to go through it.

Thanks for all your replys :)
 

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