9/11/20

Euthanizing a terminally ill fish

There will come a time when your fish get sick, and there will be nothing that you do that helps them. The emergency section won’t be enough, and simple water parameters don’t explain the condition of your fish. They also will eventually succumb to old age if you have them long enough. Often though, they can last for weeks after becoming terminally ill, suffering in the bottom of your tank or floating around, unable to move unless forced to. At this point, it is often best to end the fish’s suffering rather than let it continue to live in agony. There are many possible methods of euthanasia for a fish; some are much better than others. I will cover a few common ones, and discuss the merits of each.

1. Flushing your fish. This is NEVER a good way to euthanize a fish. You should only flush a fish when it is already dead, if then. Flushing a fish does NOT kill it quickly. The fish will be shocked by the temperature and water chemistry difference, but probably not enough to kill it outright. Then it will be burned by the chlorine and other chemicals in the water. It will travel through a pipe, being bumped and scraped constantly, until it lands in a cesspool of human waste, where it will be further burned by chemicals, attacked by parasites, and eventually suffocated to death. Again, if you are looking to kill your fish quickly, this is NOT the way to do it. If you can’t stand actively killing your fish, it is better to let it die on its own in the tank.
2. Smashing the fish’s head. This is an effective way to kill a fish quickly, but is not necessarily that certain or efficient. Sure, if you can be 100% positive that you will completely crush the entire head of the fish with one sure, quick stroke, than it is an effective method of euthanasia. If you miss though, you just maimed the fish, and it will sit there with its body partially crushed waiting for you to finish the job. Also, the longer the fish has to sit out of water waiting for you to kill it, the longer it is slowly suffocating. This method is much better than flushing a live fish, but there are better methods.
3. Swinging the fish to smack its head on a hard surface. This is not recommended. There simply is too much chance that you won’t be able to kill the fish with a single quick blow. The fish could just be momentarily stunned, or just injured, or your grip could slip and it could go flying without having hit its head at all, etc. This is a method to avoid, though it MIGHT be effective to stun the fish long enough to decapitate it if your fish is flopping too much for a direct decapitation.
4. Decapitation. This involves simply holding the fish on a flat surface and cleanly slicing its head off just behind the gills. If you are squeamish about blood, this is not for you as most fish will bleed visibly if their head is cut off. If you can cut the fish’s head in a clean, smooth swift motion, making sure you decapitate it instantly, this method is a good one. If the fish is flopping, or your hand is not steady enough to cleanly and quickly decapitate it, you should use one of the later methods. If you do choose to decapitate the fish, do so by placing the knife tip-down just above the spine, the quickly rocking the blade back, so it slices through the fish quickly, starting with the spine.
5. Freeze the fish. This involves putting the fish in the freezer in a small amount of water, so it (theoretically) slips into a coma and dies peacefully. The problem with this is that the lowering of temperature gradually for tropical fish, and maybe even for goldfish, is as traumatic as being burned by chemicals. It is possible that the fish really does slip into a coma without suffering, but this cannot be proven until fish learn to talk.
6. Ice-bath shocking the fish to death. This involves preparing a container of ice water, as cold as possible, then dumping the fish into the ice water, instantly shocking it to death. This may be effective, I haven’t tried it but is sounds like it would work. However, the fish may have enough time to be hurt by it before it actually dies. Also, the bigger the fish the longer a sudden temperature change takes to effect it, so I would only use this on little fish.
7. Boiling water shocking the fish to death. Like the ice bath, this is dumping the fish suddenly into a pan of boiling water. I find it more likely that this is instant than the cold water, but it also may be more painful if it isn’t instant. The boiling water is likely high enough temperature to instantly kill a fish, at least a small one. Again, I wouldn’t use this on truly massive fish myself.
8. Dropping the fish into the blender. To me this method seems pointless as far as messing up a blender to kill a fish when there are much more efficient ways to do it, but some people like this method. There are a few things you need to remember if you do this. First, to be quick the blender must be on when you drop the fish in, or it will suffer as it drops onto the blades, then gets flung around until the blades accelerate enough to tear it up. Second, the fish needs to be dropped head first to destroy the central nervous system as quickly as possible. Again, this method seems a little pointless to me.
9. Alcohol poisoning. There are two schools of thought to this method. One says to put the fish in a mild alcohol solution, maybe 10% alcohol at most (1 part vodka to 4 parts water) and the fish will become intoxicated, pass out and die. The second is to put the fish in as pure alcohol as possible (95% grain alcohol for example, aka Everclear) and the alcohol will quickly shock and kill it. While either method will effectively kill your fish, the debate is over which is less painful. While the first method sounds good, slowly drifting off to an inebriated sleep the fish will never wake from, this may not be how it works in reality. The fish may be badly burned by the alcohol on its skin and gills before it passes out. This may be a very painful process. However, it may be less painful than pure alcohol, even though the pure alcohol kills more quickly. Either method would work, but there is no way to say which is better for the fish.
10. Fish anesthesia overdose. This involves overdosing a fish with a sedative in its water, which will painlessly put the fish into a coma, then kill it. This method is probably the least traumatic, though it certainly is the most expensive. If you want to spend a lot of money euthanizing your fish, this is the way to go, but I feel it is completely unnecessary.
11. Finally, if you have a fire pit, a very quick way to euthanize your fish would be to dump the fish into the hottest coals of the fire, where it will instantly be seared to death. Just make sure you cleanly put the fish in a very hot part of the fire, and also that you don’t dump any water with the fish on the fire, as that would simply cool the coals down and prolong the death of your fish.

No matter which method you choose, if you avoid flushing your fish while it is still alive, you are doing a terminally ill fish a favor by killing it as quickly and cleanly as possible. While no one wants to kill their fish, it is sometimes necessary, so keep the guidelines above in mind when considering the best option for euthanizing your fish.

23 comments:

fshkeeper75 said...

All of those ways are so brutal. The best way is to go to your local health store or Whole Foods and get a small container of clove oil. Mix clove oil with some tank water in a seal-able plastic bag, seal it and shake it and then add the fish to the bag. The fish will fall asleep and then when asleep it will die as the clove oil stops its respiration, like euthanization. Why you would crush, cut, blend, burn or flush a live fish is beyond me.

Celieboo said...

Gross and all very cruel.

Unknown said...

Im so upset reading this. This is horrible. Anyone who should own a pet should want to do the decent thing. Not boil freeze poison blender physical brutality. We have 8 large tanks with different fish. They are not even my hobby but i couldnt do these things.

Andrea Kae said...

This is the worst advice I've ever seen. I hope NOBODY takes this article seriously. Truly awful.

Unknown said...

What the hell... Blend your fish to death? Boil them? PUT THEM ON BURNING COALS?! Are you kidding me? Go get some clove oil and put them to sleep... My god, this article is horrifying. If someone actually blended up their fish to "humanely euthanize it" and told me about it I would likely throw up on them. This is horrible advice, the only thing I do agree on is flushing a live fish is terrible.

My name doesn't matter said...

Wow. Just, wow. Please do your fish a favor and let them die naturally if this is how you euthanize them. I. Am. Speechless. If you can't afford clove oil, then you can't afford to have fish in the first place.

Anonymous said...

WTF!! Something is seriously wrong with you and the people who think these methods are humane!!I really hope someone deletes this idiotic post before some inexperienced fish keeper takes this god awful advice!! Just get some clove oil like suggested above and put the fish to sleep in a non-painful way. How would you like to be smashed in the head, cut up, burned, chopped, ect...

Giuliana Solla said...

to the people saying u should let your fish die naturally... it's more humane to euthanize a terminally ill fish than to let it sit on the bottom of the tank suffering for days untill it eventually dies...

Sean said...

Gertrude the Kissing Gourami was euthanized today by clove oil. She went peacefully, and I highly recommend this method. I also placed her in a baggie with very little water in it and put her in the freezer to ensure her death.

I feel silly feeling sad over the death of a fish. I have gone on deep sea charters (though not since getting an aquarium) and probably not been as humane to those fish. I have been licked by a cow, yet still eat hamburger. I have an aquarium, yet still eat salmon and tilapia. Does it matter if it is a pet or if it is food?

You will be missed, Gertrude. RIP, Chica.

Rose Jackson said...

I just used the alcohol poisoning method with 3/4 a cup of vodka and 1/4 of water. The fish was dead in seconds. I would have to say that while some of these seem cruel, these are your options, and clove oil is very expensive so might as well just use what you have. I believe that the alcohol poisoning is the best option.

Rose Jackson said...

Stephanie Partin, fish that get eaten by people, are smashed in the head, cut up, burned and chopped. And to all of you saying that you hope that an inexperienced fish keeper doesn't take this seriously, i have to say that I am a very experienced fish caretaker and these are our best solutions. Iv'e had fish since I was 5 years old and I sure as hell not going to spend a crap ton of money to put down a sick old betta. If you guys want to do that, then get off this page, get off your butt, and take your sick fish to the vet so that they don't have to suffer anymore.

Unknown said...

Well some of these work, sadly I had to boil a fish :( because she was dying and in norway we don't have other things. Trust me not fun to do normaly some reason my guppies are always found dead but this one was still somewhat semi dead / alive but she was suffering :( hated doing it but D=

Unknown said...

Rose Jackson and Mike, if you think clove oil is expensive then I can only wonder how you were able to keep fish to begin with, I bought a small jar of clove oil the other day for 5 bucks and didn't have to resort to using barbaric methods to dispatch my fish. If you can afford fish supplies then you sure as hell can afford clove oil.

Unknown said...

Or you could bite it's it's off lol

Unknown said...

At late evening it is not a good idea to prolong suffering til next day. Huh?

Anonymous said...

Even its only a fish. Fish don't deserve to flash in the toilet. Fish is still a pet and for me losing a pet is very hard and darkest day of my life. And I experienced also the pet euthanasia for my childhood pet and It sucks! I don't want to feel the pain anymore. By the way, thank you for sharing this.

Unknown said...

These are all so fucked up. If you actually care about your fish I hope no one would ever consider doing any of these things to a live animal. Who wrote this shit? I mean seriously, throwing it into hot coals? Buy clove oil and don't be an asshole to animals who rely on you to live.

Unknown said...

I feel the same way. My Fishy needs a humane form of euthanasia. I have had him for 10 years. He’s my bud and always came to the glass to greet me. I plan on using clove oil. I’m just not sure how much oil to how much water. 10 minutes with no gill movement is considered death for a fish.

Unknown said...

Do you know how much Clove Oul is needed to water? My fishy has been in a bad way for weeks. I have tried everything and nothing has helped. I can’t stand to see him suffer anymore.

Blanket said...

Hi. There are articles online of how much clove oil to use. About 400 mg of clove oil per liter is enough to kill a fish. Add it slowly and stir the water while you add it. Once the fish is asleep, add more to make sure you have a lethal dose, and let them sit in the water until you are sure they have passed. .

Unknown said...

Would clove oil not burn the gills and skin of the fish as much as diluted vodka or rum? Seriously, I am ignorant here though I know clove oil is used for toothaches. I am assuming it deaden the nerve endings

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Unknown said...

Wow you are one messed up "experienced" aka troubled, psychotic, fish person. Burn in hell you wack job.
As to the person who wrote this discusting article, you can do the same