What's The Fastest Way To Put A Fish Out Of Misery?

[FlyinggFish]

I've had my beautiful Clark's Anemonefish for a little over two years ( I got her as a Valentine's Day present)
Her life is coming to an end...horribly.
She has been suffering for the past couple 2 weeks, starting with fast breathing and loss of appetite. Then it moved from that to staying at the bottom of the tank to staying at the top of the tank and finally side ways on the bottom.

I came home today to see her eyes bulging (although it may seem like that eye parasite, it's not, or I would treat it) and there is pink stuff coming out off her pee hole. This horrible. She looks like she is going to explode.
She was my first fish in this hobby and I can't stand to see her suffer anymore.

Is there a humane way to put her out of her misery and suffering?
And I will be burying her, in case that helps.

[Tate]

Sorry about your little bugger.

Put it in the freezer. That's the best way I've heard from around here.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I've heard that putting them in the freezer is the best way. Sorry about your fish. :(

[elecbzerk]

A guy in the local club had the same question and alot of suggestions were offered. The one he chose and said it was quick and humane was the freezer. Sorry for your loss, I know it's tough.

[FlyinggFish]

I kind of want to do it humanely. I was reading that freezing isn't exactly humane. I was reading about sedating her with clove oil, which will put her to sleep and then by adding enough clove oil will bring her to her death.
I'm so afraid that she is going to explode because there's pink around her pee hole and her eye just keep getting bigger.

GOSH. This is so hard.

[kb27973]

Although I have never had to use it so I can't comment on how effective it is I bought a product called AQUARIUM PRODUCTS MSDS– EUTHANASE. I got it just in case I found myself in your situation. I believe it contains clove oil. I googled 'clove oil to euthanize fish' and came up with a bunch of hits. Maybe you can mix up your own.

Hope this helps. I know it's not easy watching something die.

Edit - Sounds like you are already there with the clove oil. Your post wasn't there when I started.

Ken

[lucas73]

I also have heard about placing them in the freezer,sorry about your loss.

[FlyinggFish]

Does anybody know why there would be pink stuff around her pee hole?

[FlyinggFish]

No worries anymore.
She just passed away...I guess she waited until I got home from work.

RIP

[luther1200]

Sorry to hear it. I remember when my Flame angle died. I was feeding my fish and he didn't come out, which was very strange because he was alway the first 1 out. So I went nuts looking in the rock and saw him wedged in his little cave were he slept. I think (hope) he went in his sleep somehow. Thats a terrrible feeling, sorry again.

[FlyinggFish]

I just got done burying her.
I guess this is the end of my thread.

Thanks for the helpful advice.
I'm glad I didn't have to use any method.

And just so you can see how beautiful she was:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y134/butterflyslie/CleoCutie003.jpg

[JoeMac]

Fry pan....just kidding

[JoeMac]

Fry pan....just kidding

[produceb]

hammer

[birdz]

smash the fish, sounds gruesome but its absolutely instant

[JustinReef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15176662#post15176662 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JoeMac
Fry pan....just kidding

What a great time to be kidding around :rolleyes:

[happyclam]

I thought I'd add my 2 cents, even though this thread is done. Even though it would be traumatic for the person, I heard that passing a razor blade through the spinal column behind the head is instant & painless. In the freezer a fish either 1). suffocates to death (terrible death IMO) or 2). it's blood veins slowly freeze solid until it dies. I'm just a newbie though so this could be wrong, just my own opinion. I was just thinking that in real life I would hate to be stuck in a commercial freezer and slowly freeze to death. Hopefully that wasn't too morbid...















:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
maybe those will help lighten the mood.

[jenglish]

THere is a whole thread on this in responsible reefkeeping or at least used to be. Clove oil is humane. The freezer is probably more stressful for the fish though technically probably painless. If you have the stomach for it a quick blow to the skull or cutting the spine with scissors is very fast. It is however a bit gruesome for the hobbyest.


Sorry for you loss

[Macimage]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is very sad when a favorite fish passes. I bury them in my rose garden.

Joyce

[aoeBombcat]

Best and fast way is a smack to the head. Quick and Painless. Then in the freezer to finish the job.

I also heard that putting them in Vodka will take care of them too. But it depends on the size of the fish. Don't want to use it on a 1 foot fish... You will be using alot of Vodka.

[ReeferChick85]

Aww I was just thinking about you're fish and how it was doing since the last thread you made about it and then I read this just now :( I'm so sorry about your fish. She was beautiful. It sucks losing something that means so much to you. I get that way to. Take care flyingfish. :)

The abnoxious comments were lame.It's obvious by her thread that it was a big deal to her to find a humane way to let her fish die and the hammer method,frying pan jokes and whatever was said,was totally unnecessarry and very inconsiderate.

[Macimage]

Originally posted by ReeferChick85

The abnoxious comments were lame.It's obvious by her thread that it was a big deal to her to find a humane way to let her fish die and the hammer method,frying pan jokes and whatever was said,was totally unnecessarry and very inconsiderate.

+1

Do you have any idea what happened?

[BangkokMatt]

+2 - however, the hammer method is humane (if you get it right). It does need a strong stomach to do it though.

OP - sorry for your loss.

[tmz]

+3 not funny. Sorry for the loss.

[ReeferChick85]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15178072#post15178072 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Macimage
+1

Do you have any idea what happened?

Well here's her original thread she posted a few days back about her fish condition. It just happened suddenly. So sad :(

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1649770

[uhuru]

Not the fastest way, but the only USDA approved substance for anesthesia/euthanasia of fish is MS-222 (Tricaine Methanesulfonate - an isomer of benzocaine). This method is considered humane and safe by the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Eugenol (clove oil) 40-120 mg/L also works.

Decapitation also works.

[Imzadi]

I have a garden and freezer full of little friends that have passed...


I have used the freezer before on goldfish that just didn't know when to give up... I found it better to make sure the water was VERY cold first, so that it didn't take hours... I can't imagine the 'bash' method... or hammer. :-(

Just couldn't.

Sorry for the loss... it's not just a fish... they are friends.

[ludnix]

I would do clove oil, I seems much more human than freezing to death. You can often get clove oil at natural food stores, it's used for tooth aches.

[aquariumclown]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15176021#post15176021 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FlyinggFish
No worries anymore.
She just passed away...I guess she waited until I got home from work.

RIP

I know how you feel. I lost my mama white stripe maroon a short while ago. She was 16+ years old. Survived by her soulmate who's also about the same age.

[Stevenx2]

I think people tend to freezing, because it's pop them in there and forget. There have been a couple of discussions that freezing also isn't the most humane way to kill them. The fastest, most effective and easiest way is to cut their heads off. Needs a strong will, but death is instant. Cut from the top down 90° angle.

[tankjunky]

When I had to kill my six line because she was so sick I buried her wher I wanted, alive, covered her up. grabed the most biggest pole I could find in our back yard and hit it as hard as I could as much as I could. I felt so horible for doing that, I hated doing it, but I felt it was the best thing I could do to put her out of her misery

[ReeferChick85]

I don't ever think that I could do smashing or cutting off their heads or anything like that. I agree it's instant death but not remotely close to being humane IMO. I don't think I'd freeze the fish either. I think the only humane way is what uhuru mentioned above. To each their own i guess.

Imzadi,I agree that they are not "just fish".They are our pets. It's sad that some people don't really put too much value on fishes but they're living breathing animals just like our dogs and cats we consider as pets or whatever pets people keep.

[jenglish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15182778#post15182778 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReeferChick85
I don't ever think that I could do smashing or cutting off their heads or anything like that. I agree it's instant death but not remotely close to being humane IMO. I don't think I'd freeze the fish either. I think the only humane way is what uhuru mentioned above. To each their own i guess.

Imzadi,I agree that they are not "just fish".They are our pets. It's sad that some people don't really put too much value on fishes but they're living breathing animals just like our dogs and cats we consider as pets or whatever pets people keep.

uhuru mentions decapitation as well. just because something isn't pleasant for us doesn't mean its inhumane for the fish. It certainly takes a strong stomach though.

[TheDogFather]

I'm sorry for your loss. She was beautiful. I recommend Clove oil for sedation then alka-seltzer of asphyxiation. This is similar to the method used for human euthanasia use by the swiss right to die foundation it's basically barbiturates and a plastic bag...

[Acolin]

The fastest way to put a fish out of its misery?

Tell a good joke. :)

BTW, the guillotine was abandoned as a form of capital punishment because Madame Tussauds proved that the head still lives for a time after it is severed from the body. Which explains the look of shock on the victims’ faces. Freezing is supposedly painless to a cold-blooded animal.

[jenglish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15186819#post15186819 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Acolin


BTW, the guillotine was abandoned as a form of capital punishment because Madame Tussauds proved that the head still lives for a time after it is severed from the body. Which explains the look of shock on the victims’ faces. Freezing is supposedly painless to a cold-blooded animal.

That depends on what one defines as "alive" cellular death can take quite some time. In humans the amount of time one lives after decapitation is approx. 13 seconds. The sudden loss of blood pressure from complete decapitation should result in immediate loss of consciousness or from the shock of the blow itself. Freezing is thought to be painless but can still be stressful. MS-222 is probably still the best option and clove oil the next (or at least use of clove oil before applying alka seltzer or one of the more brutal methods.)

[ser_renely]

Sorry to hear.

I just had a firefish pass away, it is always sad.

[FlyinggFish]

Here's an update:

So I buried her. The next day I went outside to see if she had been distrubed...
Sure enough, the two and a half foot whole I covered was dug up and the five pound rock I put on top of the grave was removed.
Damn racoons. My dad finally told me the reason why he make a little wooden coffin with screws:
the fish I buried (if any of you can recall my famous Slippery Dick) was seen being carried away in a racoons mouth.

So my dad took the box out and put sealant around the box to be extra sure they wouldn't get in there. And we bury her body again, this time putting a big rock on top, covering it up some more and then finally putting a cinder block on the top .

This morning the racoons still tried to get to her by burying around the sides of the cinder block. How ridiculous? And a little humorous.