Humanely Euthanizing Fish?

[SweetErika]

What's the best way to kill fish that are dying as quickly and humanely as possible?

We added two Neon Tetras to our existing four a couple of weeks ago. They've been disappearing slowly (I think they died and got sucked into the filter, but who knows). With last night's death (I let nature take its course on that one, even though I probably shouldn't have because it was clear the fish was suffering ), we're now down to just 2 Neons, plus a Betta and a Pleco, who seem fine. The remaining Neons don't look bad, but we suspect it's Tetra disease, which means they'll likely get sick and die too.

These are my son's pets, and I feel bad fishing them out and killing them. However, after watching the death throes of the Neon last night, I realize it's probably kinder to speed up the process (also so our son doesn't see his fish floating in the tank). Hubby said to flush them down the toilet, and I threw the dead one in the garbage disposal last night, but I'm wondering what the best way to euthanize the remaining two fish is, if it comes to that.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

When I was a kid I had an Oscar who got some kind of fatal disease that could have spread to my other fish. My dad got a book from the library and we read that there was no cure for the disease and the fish would suffer and make the others sick. The book said to drop the sick fish into a container of rubbing alcohol which would kill the fish. I think he died fairly instantly but I was a kid. I have no idea how quick or humane it was or if this will work for other types of fish.

 

[albertaboy]

I don't know how big these fish are, but you can snap the neck of any animal quite easily and they are dead pretty much instantaneously.

 

[Primalex]

I don't know how big these fish are, but you can snap the neck of any animal quite easily and they are dead pretty much instantaneously.

Ha, I want to see you kill a sponge with this method.

 

[Blase]

Alcohol will work - it doesn't have to be rubbing alcohol, although I imagine the purer the better, all things considered. And it is quite quick. I once killed a fish that way after it was badly injured.

Even better, if the fish is at the point where it really can't move much, might be a quick decapitation with a very sharp knife. Not the easiest thing to do with something as small as a neon, I realize.

 

[Blase]

Sorry, duplicate post.

*****

 

[bambikiller]

Flush it down the toilet.
Done.
If it's a big fish cut it's head off and eat it.

Snap it's neck what are you kidding me.
It's not a bird, it's a fish.
Snapping it's neck is just about impossible.

A non suffering way to kill a small fish.
There isn't one that I can think of.
Maybe take it out and step on it.
Fast effecent messy and you think I'm a jerk for even suggesting it.

Here's a thought.
Take the fish out of the tank.
Scub it clean with soap, no bleach.
Rinse it out 10 times.
Clean everything that's been in it.
Rinse that 10 times too
And fuck those colored rocks, I hate them.
They do nothing but hold in waste and germs.
But the kid loves them, at least let them dry out and then put them back in after the fish seam to be doing better.
Put the fish back in and they may survive.

Do you have a heater in the tank?
Maybe the water is too god damn cold.

My kid has fish that we take care of.
Have you read anything about fish.
Do you know what the need.
Maybe you are giving them the wrong food.
Some fish food will kill other types of fish.
Tempiture is important.
Do you have a filter.
Study what your fish need to survive and give it to them.

Neons I think I know that fish a small cold water fish (Not too cold) you know how to us the internet and yet you hit a sex site for the answer and not the 200 sites that are out there about fish.
I don't know maybe I'm just silly but I'd think you would want to go to a fish site instead of here.

 

[bambikiller]

Correction:
When I said take it out and scub it down.
I ment take the fish out of the tank.
But it in a 1/2 to 1 Gallon container.
Scub the fish tank down NOT THE FISH.

 

[albertaboy]

For the record, when fishing for Walleye a two pound fish maintains it's freshness the best if you snap it's neck after catching it if you are going to be fishing for a while.

That's the reason I asked how big they are. Obviously they are tiny from the other comments, I would just flush them down the toilet.

 

[Scentofawoman]

No. Do not flush down toilet.

As a biologist I can tell you that will spread the disease into the greater ecosystem if truly is the disease you suspect it is.

Decapitate with a sharp knife and burn them if you can. I know they are small, but it takes one contaminated fish to be eaten by another fish to spread.

 

[SweetErika]

Yes, we know what the fish need. My husband has had freshwater tanks his whole life and his dad is a marine biologist. We had 4 Neons that were doing just fine until my husband decided to go buy two more. Within weeks of that, they started disappearing, starting with the two newest additions, so it's almost certainly Tetra disease or similar, rather than the condition of the tank.

And I ask here because I have a history of getting really good advice on all sorts of things here. Most of the people in this forum are smart and have a lot of different interests and experiences that I find helpful.

Anyway, the two remaining Neons are still looking pretty good, so hopefully I won't have to put them down. I don't like killing anything that's not bugging/threatening me. Even when we go fishing, I let the fish go unless they're going to starve to death because their tongue got pulled out or something. I did read that the alcohol method (but vodka, preferably) for killing aquarium fish is correct BUT it's cruel if you don't put them to sleep with a bit of clove oil first because the alcohol is highly irritating to their tissues. So, I guess I'll buy some clove oil to have on hand just in case they get sick or we have issues in the future (it also happens to be great for a bunch of other things).

 

[bambikiller]

OOH this site took me a whole 11 seconds to find.
It's all about how to humainly kill small fish.

http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/articles/81

Mr. Cash loved your concert too bad your dead
Found a site about how to snap a large fishes neck in 3.2 seconds.
Didn't think it could be done with a fish.
Killed a lot a birds that way never a fish.
I just always cut their heads off.

 

[SweetErika]

No. Do not flush down toilet.

As a biologist I can tell you that will spread the disease into the greater ecosystem if truly is the disease you suspect it is.

Decapitate with a sharp knife and burn them if you can. I know they are small, but it takes one contaminated fish to be eaten by another fish to spread.

They're like an inch long, so I'd likely only hurt myself with that method.

You make a good point about not spreading disease into the ecosystem. I didn't consider that when I put the dead fish down the drain last night. Burning isn't really a good choice, but I could certainly at least seal any diseased fish in a small bag or something, then throw them away (I'll try to use a used ziploc so I'm not adding plastic to the landfill for this purpose alone ).

 

[bambikiller]

If you haver a septic system and are not hooked up to the cuty sewer line flush it. It's not going any where that will harm other fish.
You could always get a nice box a bury it.
That way the cat can dig it up and have a nice snack too.

 

[FoxtrotUnder]

Ha, I want to see you kill a sponge with this method.

LOLOLOLOLOL! Just the mind visuals alone!! Ahk!! Hahahaha!!



As for killing the fish... flushing down the toilet would just mean YOU wouldnt watch them suffer.... there is still water... and well... where do fish live?

I do second the tank cleaning. If other fish died or had disease in it then cleaning it out could really help keep these two unaffected. Be sure to watch them for signs of illness and then do what you need to do.

 

[PhilGarlic]

feed

Feed them to a cat....

Normal way to kill fish that you catch to eat is to hit them on the head with a 'priest' might be hard if they are only 1" long. Does it hurt? only if you hit your thumb....

 

[Que]

Hope this was dealt with with minimal angst....

pardon if it offends, but a line from "Something in the way" by Nirvana reached out and tickled my funny bone:

It's Ok to eat fish...cause they haven't any feelings...

 

[SweetErika]

Hope this was dealt with with minimal angst....

pardon if it offends, but a line from "Something in the way" by Nirvana reached out and tickled my funny bone:

It's Ok to eat fish...cause they haven't any feelings...

I bought some clove oil yesterday to have on hand for a variety of things, including anesthetizing our fish.

However, the remaining two Neons are still looking and acting good so far. I think they were probably the biggest and "alphas" of the group, so perhaps they're hardier. I'm going to change out half of the tank water and clean the filter system tonight in hopes of keeping everything in order.

Then I'll just leave them alone unless they fall ill before we get new small fish. We'll probably go with Zebra Danios next time, and dispose of the current Neons plus do a thorough tank clean prior to adding those, or anything else, just in case the disease has hung around. We'll be gone a lot this summer, so we won't be getting new fish until we're back from all of our travels. If the Neons survive until then, great; if they don't, they still had longer lives than if I had put them down this week!

 

[Felix_Jones]

Haven't you heard the song?

It's okay to eat fish, 'cause they don't have any feelings.

 

[pimpslap]

Put it in the freezer.

 

[warrior queen]

Put it in the freezer.

As a mariner, I second this.
Pop the fish into a sealed plastic bag an put it in the freezer.
This basically puts the fish to sleep painlessly.
We used to super-chill our fresh caught tuna, because they didn't thrash around and damage themselves. They just hung in the ice-slurry quietly until they died.

 

[Mr_Neb]

No. Do not flush down toilet.

As a biologist I can tell you that will spread the disease into the greater ecosystem if truly is the disease you suspect it is.

Decapitate with a sharp knife and burn them if you can. I know they are small, but it takes one contaminated fish to be eaten by another fish to spread.

With all due respect, flushing a fish down the toilet will do nothing to the "ecosystem" diseased or not. Just consider the normal things that go down the toilet. Only the most impoverished areas of the world don't have modern sanitation so it is unlikely that there are any fish downstream of most toilets that would come in contact with such waste. I did get a chuckle out of the post though.

As to the best way to painlessly off a fish, here are my suggestions, all guaranteed that the fish will never know what hit him/her.

Firing squad. (Maybe just one between the eyes will be good enough.)
Hanging, if you can tie a tiny noose.
Throw it from a speeding car. Fish have poor eyesight in air so he won't see it coming.
Better yet, run it over with a speeding car. Very quick.
Hammer strike. Sneak up from behind though. Those eyes on either side cover a wide field of view.

 

[cfuhrer]

Honestly, I first thought of this clip.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=650ZOiI-nvM&v=650ZOiI-nvM&gl=US

Freezing,
Decapitating,
Flushing would all be my first stops.

Not sure I like the idea of the alcohol, though I can se how it would be effective.

 

[RICKM1]

Have had salt water tanks for yrs. freezer is the best way.

 

[SweetErika]

Have had salt water tanks for yrs. freezer is the best way.

How hard is it to set up and care for a saltwater tank vs. a freshwater one? Is a small (say, 10 gallon, but maybe up to 20) saltwater tank doable?

I really like saltwater fish, but we've never looked into going that route (probably because freshwater is just what my husband knows and we've always had 10-20 gallon tanks). I'd be interested to hear what your experiences and issues have been with a saltwater tank.

The other thing we're considering is adding a frog or two or a small turtle to our tank for our son's amusement. I know we'd have to drain some of the water out and add a log or something for the new guy to climb up on, but I wonder how feasible that is given our small tank.