Clove Oil Euthanasia

[brett_fishman]

i had to euthanize 2 fish..one danio and one neon...their bodies were mangled..like the spine was bent alot...dont know from what..but i had to put them out of their misery...i didnt know about the clove oil, so i just gave them a quick CHOP with a steak knife...it wasnt pleasant, but it got the job done..

-brett.

[chefkeith]

I've used whole cloves, instead of clove oil, more than a few times. It's slower, but it works.

[angelfish83]

I think so too. I'm pretty sure most recipes involve mixing 8/3 parts vodka/clove oil to about 1 gal of water because mixing the clove oil and vodka first some how complexes it into something that whacks the fish better and more painlessly... Kind of like NH3 is super toxic but you squeeze an extra hydrogen ion in there and you have relatively safesque ammonium (NH4)..

[TammyLiz]

Don't know if this comment will bother anyone but thought I'd share it anyways.

I have seen enough flopping decapitated fish to know it would be tough to watch if it were a pet (as a kid watching Dad clean them up for dinner). A way to avoid the flopping of your beloved pet is to completely crush the head if the fish is small enough. I couldn't do it myself but my husband has done it for me once with a 2 1/2 inch gourami. I netted the fish, placed it on a piece of clear plastic, he folded the plastic over and whacked it in the head with a hammer. It was so fast I'm sure the fish barely knew anything was happening. It was out of the tank for about two seconds. Tough for the person doing it but easy on the fish. In his words, "It definitely didn't feel anything."

That said, I think I'll check into the clove oil at the pharmacy. I hadn't thought to ask about it. I have heard a lot about it on forums and it sounds like something I might be able to do myself. Not knowing how it feels for the fish makes me hesitate, though.

[shazam26]

I would probably have to go with the clove oil
I can't imagine chopping the animals head off. Watching an animal suffer is unbearable. For me it is, even when it is simply unwell, not fatally ill.
I find it very selfish when an animal is guaranteed to suffer a horrible death, and people will do nothing about it when they're aware of their choices.

[helen nightingale]

i have read that vodka can cause great pain in fish. somewhere i have a paper on how a fish section at a big university euthanases fish, i will try and dig it out. i know someone has done research and proved that fish do feel pain, but i cant remember the exact details. something else to look into when we get back on the internet at home

there is a drug that is available from some vets - Emma gave me the name when my vet drew a blank.

Shazam you have a good responsible attitude

[Emma Turner]

there is a drug that is available from some vets - Emma gave me the name when my vet drew a blank.

MS222

[LUVaLOACH]

Bottom line....I know we all have the best intentions at heart. I had to freeze one of my dojo's the other night and it was hard for me to do but this fish was almost dead. For those of you with fish that are still "kickin" I would not be able to freeze. When I took my dojo back to the store yesterday they told me that if I couldn't find clove oil to use baking soda but hey...as I said before,they have told me so much b/s at the stores who knows what to believe.

Whatever route you take it's hard. I think different situations call for different actions. My heart goes out to anyone in this situation.

Kris

[piggy4]

This is a bad subject, no doubt about it , i'll not say how i do it , but it is quick thats for sure, i cant say im religous, i'm not , but just imagine if when you die , the hirachy consisted of fish , with good memorys ,oh S**t.

[shazam26]

I would ADORE it, if that was the case.
A lot of rude, cruel people would get their come-uppings.
And not to brag, but I'd be going straight to fishy heaven.
I think an individuals character can be spoken multitudes of, by the way that they treat animals. Empathy is an enormous part of a personality that I appreciate. It's so easy to care about a person and get on the level with a person- a fish is a harder job. A lot of them are on the cheaper side of the pet realm, the most easily accessed pet, lots of untruths about how to care for them, and they're there in the water- you're not supposed to pet them, or handle them, like your other pets.
A lot of people just don't know how to get on the level with animals like that. They go fishing, they're used to treating them badly.
I remember when I was about 7 years old, I used to go fishing with my father. He told me that the fish didn't mind the hooks and it didn't hurt, and of course I believed him. We caught this one trout and I remember his mouth was bleeding when we tried to take the hook out. I started bawling loudly on the dock, and yelling at my dad. LOL I knew what it was like to bleed, being a pretty clumsy kid, and I also knew it was no walk in the park. I could relate to the poor thing because it bled the same way I did. My dad tried to calm me down and when he tried to take the hook out, the fish was thrashing, so I knew it hurt. It went into shock and started floating in the bucket. I screamed at him to fix it or I'd be angry at him. So he took the fish out, put it back in the lake, and started to gently move it back & forth until it came to. It swam off and I was very mad at dad for the rest of the day. I didn't go fishing after that, and I told my mom on dad. I've always loved fish ever since then. I always went to look at them in the pet store while everyone else piled on top of each other to watch the hamster in it's wheel. Not that I dislike rodents, I love them too. I've just always adored and cared about fish.
Did anybody else ever get tricked into fishing with their parents, only to have it end in disaster?

[Icewall42]

I'm not at all ashamed to say I've been sport fishing a lot and have loved it. When I was young, I hated taking out hooks that didn't immediately come out easily, so I had my dad do it. I hated causing fish pain. But I'm originally Alaskan, born and raised, so I very well understand that both hunting and fishing are violent sports, but they are perfectly natural as well. Plus I love eating fresh caught seafood, so that's a bit of a weakness.

I'm not at all ashamed because I also care very much for my pet fish, my loaches. Might seem a contradiction to be (or used to be) such an avid fisherman, but I can enjoy the fruits of the sea and care for the welfare of fish at the same time. I don't needlessly torture them. I'm careful with what I catch and never do anything that's cruel or unnecessary. I've seen some bad things, but have never committed them myself.

I'll say again--sport-fishing can be quite violent, but it's not horribly cruel. It's just a way of life.

And yes I really hate people that think tropical fish are throw-away pets and that they don't deserve the same care that a dog or cat requires. It makes me mad when people don't care and maltreat tropical fish, or treat them as a cheapy pet for a clueless 5 year old.

[TammyLiz]

I used to go fishing with my dad a lot. I agree with Icewall42's view of it being a natural thing, and fresh fish is a treat! It never bothered me unless we caught something that was too small to cook and it died after being released anyway from something like swallowing the hook. I hated seeing my dad try to get the hook out of a fish's stomach with a pair of pliers. Other than that, it was good time spent together, and good food. I always did wish I could take the pretty ones home and get a tank for them so I could look at them all the time, though!

[Icewall42]

Ditto for me, Tammy, I always wished I could keep the baby salmon I accidentally caught on my herring jig as pets. But those need a chiller and those are way expensive

[helen nightingale]

you all all made some really good points here

what i dont get is why people buy any sort of pet for a 5 year old, unless they like the animal too and are prepared to doo all the work. we have just bought a hamster, and i cannot imagine any small child having the patience to tame it and leave it in peace and not scream when it bites their fingers. a small child shouldnt learn responsibility by keeping cheap throwaway pets. i bet that Graeme's kids and Mark's kids and Shari's kids (any others who i dont know even have kids) have learnt a lot from their parents fish tanks though.

i dont know how long tetras normally live for, but rasboras can live plenty longer than a hamster or mouse (and i have heard some dogs can only live 5-6 years for certain breeds), so why dont people care about this? they would if their kitten died so young it hadnt got to maturity yet

what a wonderfull of idea of a fish sitting at the pearly gates and saying no, put that one in a gas chamber - that what he did to his fish and didnt care

[Icewall42]

And then a lot of fish aren't throwaway, even, like loaches. They can get plenty expensive. And salt water fish are quite a bit more spendy than most freshwater fish. But yeah, I can see a parent buying a five year old something like a goldfish, since people can get away with very little care for goldfish. I think I remember seeing a mother and her young kid or two buying feeder goldfish from us as "throwaway" pets... rather sad.