It hasn’t happened to me yet, but it occurred to me if we get a sick fish and decide the best thing to do would be to put it out of its misery, what is the most humane method? I have heard of people putting their fish in the freezer, is this the accepted method, or is there a faster/better one?

IMO freezing is cruel. A lot of fish can survive lower temperatures and can even be conscious when they freeze - imagine what it'd feel like to have every cell in your body exploding simultaneously. My preferred method is to put them in a weak alcohol solution, which anesthetises them, then severing their spinal chord just below the head. Quick and painless.

I just throw mine at the shed floor, that way it's like opps i dropped it with force lol :lol:

Or drop it accidentally in a tank full of hungry Jags or Oscars. :roll:

Give it to the cat

IMO freezing is cruel. A lot of fish can survive lower temperatures and can even be conscious when they freeze - imagine what it'd feel like to have every cell in your body exploding simultaneously. My preferred method is to put them in a weak alcohol solution, which anesthetises them, then severing their spinal chord just below the head. Quick and painless.

Only cold water fish might survive until they freeze. Tropicals don't. I've kept an eye on some of mine when I've put them in the freezer. They're dead hours before the water freezes. I consider it the easiest and most humane way to do it. Their metabolism simply slows down as the water gets colder until it stops. It'd be like falling asleep.

Ira, I would have thought that the process would be much the same for goldfish, except it would take a bit longer???? I'm not sure that they would experience the exploding cells bit before they succumbed.

Well goldfish do survive ponds being frozen over in winter. I know they're not actually in the ice then, but the temperature would be durn close to zero.

clove oil is very widely reccomended, im not sure if it kills the fish but it definatly puts them to sleep. alot of people put the fish in a container of water with clove oil, wait till it goes to sleep then either sever the spinal cord or put it in the freezer. its totally painless that way. apparently health shops sell clove oil and a google should be able to get you something on dosages

I just throw mine at the shed floor, that way it's like opps i dropped it with force lol

that's one way of doing it i guess.

with me small fish become feeders and i treat the large ones till the last minute which sometimes pays off.

here is an small chapter out of a book i got called "starting right with goldfish" by Robert Gannon published in 1973 [DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING!!]

Chapter 9

How To Kill Your Fish Quick

- Feed them so much u can see food lying on the bottom of the tank, moldering. In the same way, allow dead fish to stay in the tank until they disintegrate. And never syphon off excrement, of course. You can tell when things are going well if the sand becomes gray of black, if the water is cloudy and if the aquarium smells.

-if the above fails, put a few fresh-water mussels into the tank bottom. They'll die shortly and quickly pollute the aquarium

-Allow guest to flick cigarette ashes into the tank for for quick poisoning. Also, use metallic piping which will rust and corrode. Another good way to poison fish is to let a "marble" type aquarium rust around the top so brownish streaks run down to the water edges. If you have a rust -proof stainless steel tank, adjust your air releaser to splash up against the rustable light reflector.

-During the heat of summer, chill the fish by pouring ice water into the tank.

the above i thought is funny since its out of a real book but obviously all are WRONG DO NOT DO THE ABOVE what i also found funny is "releaser" and "rustable" aren't even real words

so is that book saying to do that or is it their 'what not to do' list. i have seen some funny and amazing stuff come out of some books...

from what i gather its been serious mind u it was published in 1973 by the USA :roll:

Well I guess every one has different ways of doing things :roll: but can't say I will be rushing out to buy that book!!!!

I can't kill them personally, I feel like a murderer I have to get someone else to flush them

I never flush fish before the gills stop moving.

My picks would be the vodka method or the freezer method. Preferably the former because I have a big enough issue with Tuna in there.

In the past, I've never once intentially helped kill a fish, just let nature take its course. Obviously if there is a chance of recovery (irrelevant of the fish type, size etc) I'll do whatever I can, even if $18 of Furan2 is needed to save a $2 fish, which is stupid really, but yano the whole 'pet' thing.

I personally thought it was icky,

but i know someone that used the insinkerator once

Fishboi,

I realize about half the world hates US. But I didn't expect to see it in a Fish Forum. I'm not familiar with the book quoted, but I'm confident that quote was from the "What not to do" section.

Ash T,

insinkerator

Would that be the same thing as a garbage disposal? Eeewwwww!

Spidersweb,

I agree, I NEVER flush anything still alive! And as you could see from my posts "Bloated Black Neon" I will try anything within reason to save my "little buddies". But sometimes you can just tell when there's coming back. When that happens, I prefer the freezer method also.

venustus...only half the world hate the US???? Personally its more the monkey running the US and I guess by default, the 5% of the population who voted for him :-?

A sharp knife has always been my preferred method when I've had to euthanise. Not the easiest thing to do, but quick and (I hope) painless.

Venustus, I can't see anywhere saying anyone hates the US.

And I agree. Seeing the chapter was called "How to Kill your fish quickly", I'm sure it was just a fun way of telling people what not to do.

Cheers

Jude

I am all for putting them in a plastic bag and whacking them on concrete. Hard to do to small fish though.

Jude,

I was just joking with Fishboi

from what i gather its been serious mind u it was published in 1973 by the USA

Cheers

Caryl,

My neon would have popped like a water balloon! :roll:

I realize about half the world hates US.

well i am not part of that half, i have families there

Do not use the freezer method at all

The vast majority of fish are still alive when they start to freeze

I had a meeting with a leading Vet here in Australia and this was brought up

For small fish a sharp pair of scissors and cut across the head just behind the eyes instantly kills them

for larger fish the whack them onto somethig hard to generally the easiest but using clove oil is by far the easiest to do

small bucket and a small amount of clove oil will over anesthetise the fish to the point where it will die

then dispose of into the freezer and into a proper grabage system

Never ever flush or usie a insinkerator

I know of people working in sewrage plants where they have found live fish in the pipes on the way into the plant

And with the insinkerator this would kill the bacteria and diseases that fish might be carrying

The main reason(inc Aust and NZ) for not being able to impor diff fish is that fact they are worried about outbreak of either the fish or the diseases that they might be carrying getting into local waterways

Think of thie next time you go to flush a fish

Brad

Decapitaion or insinkerator - something quick and painless thanks.