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Danikins · Regulars Joined: 19 May 2006 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canda

Hi everyone...

one of my female guppies is about to die, no doubt about it, she's in the death curl position already and barely moving...

is there any way I can euthanize her so she can stop suffering? I don't have any club soda (I read it works to numb them and then you can freeze them)... please help, I hate watching her suffer... Sad

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Marcos Avila

Danikins, I don't know if you're up to this option, but with small, soft fish like that you can just completely smash it between two hard surfaces in a single, sharp blow. It's messy, but the absolute quickest and painless method by far...

Otherwise, a softer method is to prepare a bowl or bag with a 10-20% alcohol mixture in tank water and put the fish in it. The fish goes numb almost immediately and stops breathing within a minute.
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richiestang_78 · Regulars Joined: 13 Oct 2003

don't use the soda method, like he mentiond the quickest and least painful is to crush it very fast. Alcohol works ,as well as droping it in water that is just about to freeze(should have ice crystals forming on surface) which shocks then kills the fish almost instantly.

Danikins · Regulars Joined: 19 May 2006 Location: Edmonton, AB, Canda

*gulps* I managed to suck it up and did the first option... it certainly worked.

Thanks for the options Marcos, and richiestang as well... I appreciate your help. Me being squirmy for a bit is very worth her not suffering anymore.

R.I.p. Inara. =(
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In the beginning, the Universe was created. This made a lot of people angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad move.

richiestang_78 · Regulars Joined: 13 Oct 2003

Well the preferred way to kill larger fish, Discus Cichlids etc from what I've read is a quick decapitation. I just say stay away from the soda or seltzer method as most things I read the gases put the fish though extreme pain before it dies. I've done the cold water, alcohol and crush method and the fish just drop dead as quickly as we can hope.

RubberDuck · Regulars Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Location: Oakdale California

I have never even thought of smashing a fish to kill it, what do you use?
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Bob · Moderators Joined: 16 Jun 2006 Location: UK

I would say a sharp filliting knife, is the best option, just take the head off, but be very careful these knifes are very sharp. If not the next best thing is a whack on the head with a thing called a priest (An angling tool), this is easy for larger fish as you can hold them.

For small fish, I just net them and put them in a jug, I then pour the water through a net, and quickly put them in a plastic bag, put it down on a hard surface and give it a tap (Don't go mad, or you splatter it) with something heavy enough to kill it in one go.

If you think this process through and have every thing needed, it can be over in a second or two.

For even quicker results, but it needs practice, just net the fish, take it between your fingers and snap it's neck.

Sorry if these ways sound bad, but they are the quickest ways and in my opinion quick is best for the fish.

Bob

ceci9293 · Benefactors Joined: 24 Aug 2006 Location: Austin, TX

Jun · Exemplars Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Location: Danbury, WI

I'm afraid I'm also going to have to euthanize one of my female bettas. ;_; I have two in a divided 10 gallon, being treated for fungal infections and fin rot -- they had a very serious territory fight, and neither came out looking good, and both ended up with fungus. One of them, the worse of the two, disappeared into her log for a few days, which I thought little of simply because it seemed like she was just taking refuge there to recover. Two days later she reemerged and her gills have become deathly swollen, her fin rot seems to have gotten worse instead of better, and appears to have the early stages of the pineconing dropsy symptom. On the other hand, her tank mate (while now in separate tanks) is actually recovering, so I don't know what to think. =\ I'm trying some last-minute treatments, but although I try to stay positive, I'm afraid this girl's on her "last limb," so to speak. If the dropsy becomes definite inspite of treatment, I will humanely euthanize her.

So, just to put my question out there, besides smashing them (I could never ever get the guts to. I know I couldn't do it.), what is the most effective way to put my girl out of her suffering? Is dropping her into a bowl of freezing water the most generally accepted way? Has anyone ever dropped a dying fish into a (My god, I know this will sound horrible) garbage disposal? I'm not old enough to purchase alchohol, and I don't think my parents would do that, either, because the second method Marcos suggested would be the one I would choose if it were available.
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DF Bobo · Exemplars Joined: 23 Jan 2006 Location: Canada

I understand how hard it is, I just euthanized one of my dwarf gouramis, who hadn't eaten or anything and had just become very sickly lying on the bottom. it had been like that a long time, and today I finally sucked it up and decapitated him. I wrapped him up in a paper towel so I wouldn't have to look at him when I did it. I think that that is the best, but also the most difficult method, and I thought that covering him in the paper towel helped me through it a bit. anyways, hope that helps.
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