It’s a sad thing when a beloved fish friend comes to the end of its lifespan, when it won’t eat or swim, or when it has succumbed to serious injury or disease. It can be difficult to take the responsibility for ending the life of another being but many aquarists feel it’s worse to allow a creature you know to be in pain to suffer, when its ailments cannot be cured.
Older methods include flushing, fast freezing, fast boiling, decapitation, and so on, but are now considered inhumane. Modern fish-keeping methods have suggested a more humane method which is simple, clean, and even inexpensive.
Clove oil (also known as eugenol) is sold in most drugstores as a toothache remedy, and has the remarkable quality of putting fish to sleep. Using clove oil to anaesthetize your ailing fish first will make almost any method of euthanasia more humane, but the quickest and cleanest way is to add a clear grain alcohol like vodka to the water inhaled by the sleeping fish.
For small fish, under three inches long:
1) Fill a measuring cup with tank water, noting the volume, and pour it into a separate container (opaque sides will minimize fish stress). Place the fish in the container.
2) Fill a small jar ¾ full with water from your tank, add one drop of clove oil, put the lid on, and shake thoroughly until the water turns a cloudy white.
3) Pour about a quarter of the white liquid into your container, and allow it to sit for about ten minutes. The fish will begin listing and then sink to the bottom, but the gills will still move every few seconds. If the fish is still moving after ten minutes, shake up the jar again and add another quarter of its contents to the container.
4) When the fish has stopped moving completely except for the gills, add vodka or a similar clear grain alcohol to the water. You’ll need to use about a quarter of the original container’s volume in vodka: if you put 12 ounces of water in the container, you’ll need 3 ounces of vodka (25% of 12 oz) to make the process quick and effective.
5) Check the fish after twenty minutes; if there is no gill movement after sixty seconds, the process is complete; if you do see any movement, add another dose of clove oil, and then another dose of vodka.
For larger fish you’ll need proportionally more clove oil: about 10 drops per gallon of water in the container; and you may need to wait longer before it takes effect. Once the fish is asleep, use the same 25% dose of alcohol to ease them on their way.
An aquarist hopes that they will never have to perform this duty. I think it’s better to know that there’s a humane way, and never need the information, than to need the information and do something cruel to your fish because you didn’t know.
Iszuddin Ismail
http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/fish-care-putting-fish-out-of-misery-50816.html
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Should I put my fish out of his misery?
About 8 years ago we won 3 fish at the carnival. I don’t know what they were but they were those tiny inch long ones they have. Anyway, two died two weeks later and the third kept on living. Well now he’s around 8 years old and is having some trouble. He eats like he used to, but his spine is bent weird like he had a hunched back and he doesn’t move from an area unless food is offered, he usually just stays at the bottom under a shell or on the top. I can tell he’s reaching his days and I’m running out of fish food. Is it worth going to the pet store and buying more to take care of him or just to freeze him (vet recommends this)?
i think i should put him out of his misery
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Wow, I never heard of an 8 year old fish!
I think if it seems like he is suffering, then maybe you should do what the Vet suggests… if he is still eating fine maybe buy a small container of food one more time and see how he does. If he still hasn’t died then I’d say you win the world record for longest living Carnival Fish
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its probably a goldfish, they give those as prizes in carnivals without knowing that they can reach 15" in length, if it isnt is old age, goldfish lives up to 45 years
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Fish food is cheap, let the guy live out his natural life. You must of done something right for him to last this long, don’t give up now. Just keep the water flowing nice and as always keep the tank clean.
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but cheap fish food and get him another friend
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How large a tank is he in? Goldfish can live over twenty years, but for a carnival gold, yours wins the medal! He probably is suffering from compressed organs, as they can get stunted outward to the size of the tank, but their internal organs still grow as they were meant to.
You’ve had him this long, buy him one last can of food, it’s not that much and take care of him in his last days. i think he’s owed that at least. as long as he eats, let him live.
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Canival fish are typically goldfish which can live to be 20+ yrs old. Your fish may have a swim bladder problem which is common in goldfish. As long as he doesn’t appear to be suffering I would continue to feed him. Also if your vet recommended the freezing method of euthanizing the fish is would highly recommend finding another vet as that method is very cruel. There are only a couple of humane methods of home euthanizing a fish. The first may are to squemish for and it involved quickly cutting off or crushing the head. The second involves anesthetizing the fish with clove oil then using vodka or gin to euthanize it. You can find directions for that method here http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-most-humane-way-to-euthanize-a-fish.htm
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