[Zefrik]

I had a giant danio that had jumped up and hit the glass lid so hard that he broke his back. I did not have any kind of way to kill him quickly. I decided the quickest and easiest, as well as not to gross, way to kill it was to run him over with a car. Looking back on it kind of makes me laugh, but was it really the best way to do it? I know of the clove oil method but I didn't have any and it was night time. What have you had to do to put a fish out of its misery?

 

[newplant]

freezer

 

[Zefrik]

freezer

I have heard that is painful for the fish.

 

[TWA]

Freezer is supposed to be painful as the fish is alive the entire time until its cold enough to fall asleep, kind of torturous.

Ive only had to do it once, banged it against a hard surface in the net. Hard enough to instantly kill it.

 

[MochaLatte]

Get ice in a container and some of the aquarium water and let it sit for a few min to get nice and cold then put the fish in it. I find that is the quickest way.

 

[jreich]

Freezer is supposed to be painful as the fish is alive the entire time until its cold enough to fall asleep, kind of torturous.

Ive only had to do it once, banged it against a hard surface in the net. Hard enough to instantly kill it.

i agree with you on both aspects, its imo only ethical to use the freezer on fish that live in cold water because most of them have a hibernation mode they go into.

 

[Warlock]

garbage disposal.. flip the switch

 

[TWA]

The reason people use the freezer is they don't feel as bad cause they don't actually kill it. They let it die out of sight.

 

[lipadj46]

the most humane way is to put the fish to sleep using clove oil or pimafix and then do the deed

 

[unissuh]

Cold shock works fine if you don't have clove oil - mix ice with water, wait until it's ice cold and drop in the fish. Can freeze it solid afterwards if you want to make sure it's dead but the cold shock will almost certainly knock it off.

Also, while I prefer the above method, I really haven't seen any hard evidence that freezing a fish (i.e. putting the fish in warm water then putting it into the freezer) causes excruciating pain. If anything, there is evidence to suggest the opposite, and I'm inclined to think that it is just another widespread myth spread by the internet. I vaguely recall this idea sprung from an erroneous comment made in a veterinary article somewhere that was more opinion than based on any evidence - will have to do some digging for it.

 

[chiefroastbeef]

I decided the quickest and easiest, as well as not to gross, way to kill it was to run him over with a car.

Sorry to hear about your fish, that made me laugh... :hihi:

Since I can't find clove oil here in Hong Kong, I just 99% alcohol, and put the fish in a cup of it. It bellies up in less than 6 seconds. Luckily I haven't had to put a fish down in almost a year now.

The garbage disposal grinder sounds like a great idea, since it is instant. As long as you have no emotional attachment to the fish, that maybe a quick and easy way to put a fish down. I don't have have grinder either here in HK..

 

[Zefrik]

I know, looking back on it now I really can't help but laugh.:hihi:

 

[thechibi]

I'd probably do clove oil, vodka or freezing. Might as well either give him the trip or drink of his life or let him have a nice lap.

 

[Bunfoo]

I have heard for small fish that a strong flick to the head is supposed to kill them. If one of mine is dying with no hope for recovery I'd probably take it outside and smash it's head with a brick or something of similar weight. Done in a few seconds.

As for the freezing, it's supposed to cause pain because ice crystals form in the muscles or bloodstream especially in the extremities (hands, feet, etc) which is when they stop moving because it becomes painful to move, then usually die some minutes or hours later depending on how large the animals are - this is how it is explained for warm-blooded animals like rats& mice, not sure if it would affect fish the same way.

Honestly though I think the most humane way to go is to kill it in a way that it dies instantly if you can handle it. Freezing it seems like a lot of stress for the fish, even if it turns out not to be painful.

 

[unissuh]

As for the freezing, it's supposed to cause pain because ice crystals form in the muscles or bloodstream especially in the extremities (hands, feet, etc) which is when they stop moving because it becomes painful to move, then usually die some minutes or hours later depending on how large the animals are - this is how it is explained for warm-blooded animals like rats& mice, not sure if it would affect fish the same way.

Cold also acts as an analgesic though - most animals lose feeling when chilled. For that matter, AFAIK most (or all?) fish lack the nerves that detect cold, so whether they actually suffer from being chilled is also quite debatable.

As for ice crystals, that was just a theory (and an unproven one) that they can form in tissue before the animal dies. I think this is highly unlikely as a fish will be unconscious from temperature shock long before it gets cold enough for ice crystals to form. Don't forget salt solutions (like bodily fluids) need to get colder than water to freeze over. Tropicals especially would die at temperatures above freezing.

If interested - this scientific paper looks at zebrafish being euthanised by hypothermia. One of the observations are that zebrafish die at temperatures above when ice crystals form & those fish killed by hypothermia have zero evidence of ice crystal formation in tissue.

 

[thechibi]

Well. Then vodka it is! A shot for me and a shot for the fish!

 

[Bunfoo]

That is quite interesting! Like I said I had no idea if it was the same for fish (or if it's as described for mammals)- just repeating one explanation I have heard.