Things die, and it is always unpleasant. If you need to euthanize a fish do so by the fastest means available to you. That may mean smacking it on the fishroom floor, a chemical if you have it, freezing it, whatever.
The point is, that if it is suffering, end it. No matter how you do it, it has to be better than allowing it to die slowly. I would not stress too much over finding the perfect tool of death. It will always suck.

That is a good way of putting it Matt.

I'm going to use a clove oil solution as a euthanizing agent for the first time this weekend (I lost my little bottle of MS-222 during our move to a new building...). I bought some clove oil for $6 at a local organic foods, etc. store and I dissolved it into ethanol at a ratio of 1:9. There's supposed to be about 100 mg of eugenol in 1 ml of clove oil, so I put 2 ml of the clove oil/ethanol solution into 400 ml of tapwater yielding a concentration of about 500 mg/liter. Literature I've found considers a concentration of ~150 mg/liter to be a powerful anesthetic so I'm hoping that my solution will be fast acting. We hope to find stippled studfish, Fundulus bifax, in some streams in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, and keep several as vouchers and DNA sources.

I recently wrote up a summary of some of the current research literature to help support a dyed fish ordinance here in OKC. There's a fairly recent issue of the journal Diseases Of Aquatic Organisms dedicated entirely to fish welfare and whether they experience fear and pain.
http://thegab.org/fo...opic.php?t=9479

We also have an article on euthanasia up
http://thegab.org/Ar...Euthanasia.html

in my opinion, Finquel (MS-222) is by far the most humane way to kill a fish.
Why? you transfer it into the solution and it gets stoned and goes to sleep and eventually dies. No struggling, minimal stress.

Clove oil does produce some initial irritation. If you think it doesn't, rub some in your eye and see how you like it. LOL
but it's pretty quick if dosed correctly. by far a distant second choice.

For all you bag smackers. I think it would be pretty stressful to be out of the water and not be able to breath for the time it would take to get them in the bag and get outside to smack them. and the potential is there for it not to work the first time around. same with a blow to the head. I hope you do get splattered.

re severing the spinal column, I've killed many a fish that way back in my fishing days. If you do it right it is quick. but again, there's the stress that's happening being out of the water and being handled prior to being killed.

I'm not convinced that freezing is humane.

I firmly believe that if we're going to keep fish, it is our responsibility to help them die peacefully if at all possible. Finquel is readily available online these days in the US and isn't expensive, I highly recommend it.

Betty

I read up on Finquel, In my mind i could not net a fish and smack it, any faster than i could net one and place it in a tub with a suitable amount of Finquel to take care of the job. My concern is with the speed that the whole act takes place regardless of method.

Things die, and it is always unpleasant. If you need to euthanize a fish do so by the fastest means available to you. That may mean smacking it on the fishroom floor, a chemical if you have it, freezing it, whatever.
The point is, that if it is suffering, end it. No matter how you do it, it has to be better than allowing it to die slowly. I would not stress too much over finding the perfect tool of death. It will always suck.

I seriously doubt that what i am trying to reiterate could be better said.

Speed in the act will reduce that stress and suffering of the fish period.

I tried my clove oil concoction for euthanizing collected fish yesterday, and it worked well. We collected small numbers of stippled studfish at two sites, and putting the fish into ~400 ml of my clove oil solution quickly put them under without obvious signs of distress. So I recommend the use of 500 mg/liter solutions of eugenol dissolved in water.

I tried my clove oil concoction for euthanizing collected fish yesterday, and it worked well. We collected small numbers of stippled studfish at two sites, and putting the fish into ~400 ml of my clove oil solution quickly put them under without obvious signs of distress. So I recommend the use of 500 mg/liter solutions of eugenol dissolved in water.

This is great! I'm very glad to see someone doing research on this topic. Yes, I know some people would freak about the idea of netting a fish and killing it, but, it is needed in order for us to gain valuable information. We now have even more evidince to go by, and fundulus, I'm very glad to see someone doing this!

This is great! I'm very glad to see someone doing research on this topic. Yes, I know some people would freak about the idea of netting a fish and killing it, but, it is needed in order for us to gain valuable information. We now have even more evidince to go by, and fundulus, I'm very glad to see someone doing this!

Thanks for the encouragement! I am now emboldened to try a series of euthanasia experiments. Glancing quickly around my garage, I see the following things I intend to test:

burnt motor oil
liquid laundry detergent
rubbing alchohol
suave shampoo
gasoline (50:1 2-cycle mix, should be interesting to try different mixes)
white latex paint (could be many variations on this one too)

There is a lot more stuff laying about. I can't wait to get started! I'll keep y'all updated.

Thanks for the encouragement! I am now emboldened to try a series of euthanasia experiments. Glancing quickly around my garage, I see the following things I intend to test:

burnt motor oil
liquid laundry detergent
rubbing alchohol
suave shampoo
gasoline (50:1 2-cycle mix, should be interesting to try different mixes)
white latex paint (could be many variations on this one too)

There is a lot more stuff laying about. I can't wait to get started! I'll keep y'all updated.

No anti-freeze?

Thanks for the encouragement! I am now emboldened to try a series of euthanasia experiments. Glancing quickly around my garage, I see the following things I intend to test:

burnt motor oil
liquid laundry detergent
rubbing alchohol
suave shampoo
gasoline (50:1 2-cycle mix, should be interesting to try different mixes)
white latex paint (could be many variations on this one too)

There is a lot more stuff laying about. I can't wait to get started! I'll keep y'all updated.

HeHe have fun with that! Can't wait to hear details!!!!! lol

Thanks for the encouragement! I am now emboldened to try a series of euthanasia experiments. Glancing quickly around my garage, I see the following things I intend to test:

burnt motor oil
liquid laundry detergent
rubbing alchohol
suave shampoo
gasoline (50:1 2-cycle mix, should be interesting to try different mixes)
white latex paint (could be many variations on this one too)

There is a lot more stuff laying about. I can't wait to get started! I'll keep y'all updated.

Just remember to wear a proper breathing apparatus. we wouldn't want your results biased because you were giddy and goofy from the fumes. Of course you might enjoy it

No anti-freeze?

Oh hell, I missed that one!

Anyone feel like pinning this topic? I was composing a reply to the guy with the little trout, and looked up this thread to see what folks feel the best way to euthanize is. That trout topic has been locked now, because it's clearly a prohibited fish. Seems that when such threads get locked they should always end with a moderator posting links to both the NANFA code of ethics (no release back to the wild) and methods of how to euthanize if the original poster feels that's the best option.

How does one kill a fish?

being lazy about water changes, avoiding proper cycling, overdoing the algicide, having it's hungry neighbor outgrow it. I am not sure how humaine these are, but I have done all of these accidentally.

As for how to intentionally kill a fish see the replies above.

Here is a variation on the freezing method which is much quicker: drop the animal into an icewater bath. Death is very fast, at least with small individuals. I don't know how well this would work on a big fish with more "insulation" between environment and vitals. Works with crustaceans too. I do not know if it is more or less humane than other methods, but it is fast, easy, does not damage the specimen, and the materials are readily available and inexpensive.

Instead of killing the fish, why not see if anyone else will take him or her or sell them on aquabid.com?

Instead of killing the fish, why not see if anyone else will take him or her or sell them on aquabid.com?

This is for cases where there is no other option, usually because the animal is sick and suffering.

I tried that too. Unfortunately I don't have 100's of dollars to subscribe to these journals. The tidbits I did pick up were not illuminating as to the physiological mechanism of the anesthetic effect.

By analysing the chemical structure of eugenol (and it's more effective isomer) and constructing a 3-dimensional virtual model therefrom, I have noticed that it is a good mate for certain neurotransmitters. I hypothesize the eugenol binds readily with these compounds, acetylcholine in particular, thus altering their properties sufficiently to prevent them from transmitting neural impulses.

Or you could just whack them against the house

Or you could just whack them against the house

That's far too simple and effective - I need something I can really wrap my mind around! I am working on a way to synthesize MS-222 from certain common kitchen seasonings.

That's far too simple and effective - I need something I can really wrap my mind around! I am working on a way to synthesize MS-222 from certain common kitchen seasonings.

Sorta like clove oil?

Again, too simple - you can just go out and buy the stuff. I was thinking about Morton's Nature Seasoning. That makes the thing more interesting.

Again, too simple - you can just go out and buy the stuff. I was thinking about Morton's Nature Seasoning. That makes the thing more interesting.

You could just get novocaine from a dentist and crystallize it. You have a rotovap, right?