Euthanasia of your fish

Everyone that has kept fish has had a fish that is dying in there tank. Other fish are swimming around and picking at it and it takes all the poor fish has to get away. It just looks terrible and painful, so if you can, you move it to a tank on it's own. You now have to decide whether or not to just let the fish suffer or to end it's life useing one of many way's of euthanasia. These methods include freezing, boiling, chopping, removing the fish from water, using a seltzer tablet, or flushing down the toilet. Euthanizing your fish these ways can be slow and painful.

A method that I use in my opinion is much more humane, I anesthetize the fish with clove oil. After the fish is asleep and can't feel any pain, I add alcohol that finishes the job. Clove oil, is available at most drug stores. Clove has been used to anesthetize fish for surgeries and tagging. Clove oil will put a fish to sleep and ensure it feels no pain. Fish will wake up from this if removed from the water that has clove oil.

I found out about this method a couple of years ago when a favorite fish was sick and dying, I did every treatment I could. In the end I knew there was no way I could help him and I just hated to see him suffer. After searching the internet and reading the different way to end his pain, i decided to use the clove oil method.

Here are the steps for fish up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) in length:

1. Add tank water to dark colored bowl, this will help keep the fish calm. Measure the amount bowl and write it down. Place the fish in the container. Place the fish in the bowl.

2. Fill a small, clean bottle with tank water. Put 1 drop of clove oil in the bottle, cap, and shake well. The clove oil should emulsify, turning the water milky white.

pour about 1/4 of this mixture into the fish's container. The fish will begin to fall asleep. leave the fish there for about 10 minutes.

After 10 min. the fish on the bottom of the bowl asleep. It will look dead, but if you watch closely, its gills will be breathing once every few seconds. If after 10 minutes the fish is swimming intermittently, add more of the mixture from the bottle to the bowl the fish is in. Wait again.

3. Once the fish is asleep on the bottom, add 20-25% alcohol. For example, if the fish is in 8 oz (240 ml) of water, add 2 oz (60 ml) of alcohol. Let the fish stay there for at least 20 minutes.

4. Check the fish carefully after 20 minutes for any gill movement. If there is no gill movement over a 60 second period, your fish has died.

For large fish: Place the fish in a bucket with tank water. The dose will be 10 drops of clove oil per gallon (3.78 liters).

After mixing the clove oil and water in a jar, add it to the bucket with the fish. when the fish is asleep, follow the previous instructions for adding 20-25% alcohol.

I'm sure this seems like a lot of work for a fish, but to me fish need to be treated like any other pet in our home. Not to many of us would take our beloved dog or cat when it is sick and dying and freeze, boil, chop it up, or flushing down the toilet. We would make sure it was euthanized in the most pain and stress free way possible.
If anything at least I hope you will think about this, the next time you have a fish that you have had for long time and need to end it's suffering.