My fish is dying should i kill it

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Cookie Settings. Learn why people trust wikiHow. Download Article Explore this Article methods. Tips and Warnings. Related Articles. Article Summary. Method 1. Ask a veterinarian if possible. There are many species of aquarium fish, and for most of them the ideal drug dosages and other conditions are unknown.

A veterinarian is trained to notice signs of suffering and adjust the process if necessary, giving your fish a less painful death. Only methods reasonable to perform at home are included in this article. Look up your species. An ice bath or a particular drug may be humane for one fish species, and cause suffering in another. However, an online search for euthanasia information of your specific species can lead to a more concrete recommendation.

Most fish species have not been studied, but it's still worth a few minutes in case yours has. Keep the fish in a low-stimulation environment. Keep the fish in a quiet room. Block light with an opaque aquarium lid, or switch to red lighting, which will barely penetrate the water.

These measures will reduce the amount of light stimulation the fish gets, while leaving enough light for you to work. Withhold food for 24—48 hours before drug euthanasia.

Unless the fish is at death's door, wait until the fish has gone without food for this long. The fish will absorb the lethal drug more quickly on an empty stomach, and be less likely to regurgitate it. Continue on to one of the methods below. All the methods listed below are humane ways to euthanize a fish. Read the instructions carefully before you begin. Not all methods are appropriate for all species.

A euthanasia bath is not appropriate for fish you intend to eat. Method 2. Prepare a separate tank. Unless all the fish in a tank need to be euthanized, you'll need a second container. Transfer some of the water from the current tank to a new, clean container, preferably with a similar aeration and temperature control setup.

Euthanizing a large tank of fish is difficult, and requires measurements of oxygen and chemical concentration for best dosage calculations. Consider using MS Also sold as tricaine methanesulfonate, "Finquel," or "Tricaine-S" at pet stores, this is the most reliable option of the widely available drugs. You can find this at pet supply stores. Do not use alcohol.

Many people will tell you alcohol is a pain free way to euthanize your fish. This is incorrect. It causes burning in the gills and is very painful for the fish to endure. Using alcohol to euthanize the fish has been described as dipping a person in gasoline to euthanize them. Use clove oil cautiously. It's not easy to tell how concentrated a given bottle of clove oil is, or even what exactly it contains.

It may put your fish to sleep but fail to kill it. The fish will not be safe for eating, and the water may cause harm if dumped in the water supply. If you decide to use it, try this method: [9] X Research source Shake one drop in water until milky, then add to the tank. When the fish is asleep at the bottom, shake and add another 13 drops per liter of water 50 drops per gallon.

Transfer the fish. Once you've added the chosen drug, net the fish and quickly move it to the euthanasia bath. Handle as little as possible to avoid causing stress. Wait until the fish is dead.

Any euthanizing drug can send the fish to sleep if too little is used. Death often takes 30 minutes to arrive, and you may need to wait 2 hours to be sure. Usually following spasms 1 minute apart. No movement of eye when fish is rocked from side to side. Very slow heart rate. Vets use this method all the time for animals that they must euthanize.

Making the choice to euthanize a pet can be difficult, but it may be what is best for your fish. To help you make the decision, think about the quality of life your fish currently has. If your fish has been suffering from a severe illness and none of the treatment methods have been working, euthanasia might be the best choice. If you do decide to euthanize your fish, just be sure to follow one of the recommended methods above so you do not end up causing your fish more pain.

What to do with your Dearly Departed Pet? Now that you have a dead fish on your hands, you could choose to bury them in your backyard follow your local ordinances on the matter , wrap them up and throw them out with your regular trash, or contact your veterinarian and ask them to dispose of your fish for you. What Is A Refugium. Understanding The Nitrogen Cycle. Understanding the nitrogen cycle and its importance to a healthy tank.

Popular as prizes at carnivals and state fairs, goldfish are known for their orange-gold coloration, but they actually come in many colors and patterns. Discover five common myths about the beautiful betta freshwater fish. When you see signs of stress in your fish, you can then take steps to identify the source of that stress and then to resolve it before it becomes a major issue.

Changing The Water. Stacking Rocks in Your Aquarium. Learn how well stacked rocks can add personality and a natural look to your aquarium.

Acrylic Aquariums. Aquarium Screensavers. Different kinds of screensavers, top aquarium screensavers available today. All Glass Aquariums. Aquarium Stands. Discuss the role that aquarium stands have on the fish keeping hobby. Custom Aquariums. This article delves into the pros and cons of custom built aquariums - and more. Aquarium News and Trends 40 articles. General Aquarium Articles 19 articles. He moved away. Swam up and the spirled back down to the filter to return. I saw that he had gotten a red underside and fins.

He went completly white around a year ago so i dont know how he went red. I went out as i had to and when i arrived home in the evening he was still alive to my suprise. At first i thought it may be from when i cleaned the tank a week ago. But a thats a long time ago and B the other fish wasnt effected at all. I have called around and waiting on replys from some companys that supply this type of fish. He now the red appears to have spread out over his body and now it covers i rekon half of it.

I would really like to find out what this is and why it happened. I am planning on getting some Betta fish soon so i dont want to make the same mistake again. He is around 2 inchs and a golden comet fish. I am putting him down as its terrible to see him suffer so badly. It usually takes hold in poor water conditions. Once you sort out that, I would get your water tested to make sure ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all at acceptable levels You should already have an API Master Test Kit on hand if you keep fish!

Thank you for your helpful advice. Had to put my 20yr old Silver Dollar down tonight. I think that must be the longest I have ever heard that a silver dollar has been kept in a home-based aquarium setup. You must have really taken care of her. I have a standard generic goldfish. Unfortunately, years ago he started developing a tumorous growth behind his head.

It grew to about a half-inch or so, and then stabilized for a long time. Suddenly over the past several months it has been growing fairly rapidly. It is now over an inch long and swollen, and has gradually enveloped his left eye.

He has remained quite vibrant throughout all this. Sadly, of late when I turn the filter pump off during feeding, after feeding aggressively until the flakes are gone, I have been finding him floating upside-down motionless, except for his beating gills.

When I turn the pump back on, he quickly rights himself and begins to swim again. I thought for sure he was finally on his way out — but he still becomes quite active at feedings. Not sure what to do. Firstly, congratulations for keeping a carnival goldfish for so long, they typically live for years in captivity, so you have obviously been a great carer.

It does sound like the tumor is getting large enough that it is impacting your fishes life. Unfortunately, euthanizing is a judgement call that only you can make, you know your fish better than anyone. If you feel your fish is suffering then there may be no other option.

Unfortunately, I am not qualified to diagnose fish. I would recommend posting a photo to an online forum for further advice. I based the method of putting my betta down on this clove oil article. This is not a humane way of putting down a fish. It was the worst experience to see and my poor fish suffered. This was excruciatingly painful to see. I did anyway, no thanks to this inhumane advise.

I am sorry to hear about your experience. Clove oil is considered humane by both vets and fishkeepers worldwide. If you followed the steps in the article above, your fish should have passed as peacefully as possible. No luck. Then tried separating him out for a bit then reintroducing, but same behaviour.

In the end it was either Darwinism let him chase the other fish to death ; Life in Prison in tank on own forever ; Or euthanasia. In the end, I went for the latter.

Did the foil-bash-stab method. Especially doing the bash and stab method — it takes a courage and a steady hand for that. I hope that it restored order to your tank. Fish are not toys. Know what you are doing before you buy anything alive. Seriously to even mention these methods makes me sick.

Just stick a Jew in a gas chamber….. Oh wait we evolved beyond measuring the worth of any life……or did we. Welcome to the database. Good luck with adopting a mammal. You appear to be a horrible person. I am disgusted that you would compare humanely killing a suffering fish to a war crime.

Perhaps if you read the article instead of jumping straight to the comments to attack others, you would understand that there is a difference between the two. Why telling us to go screw ourself when we are trying to do the right thing for our animal, you are sad sir. Really sad in your head. I recommend I psychiatrist. It could help you man. In the meantime, thanks everyone for your shared experience. It helped me a lot. I was told to place a fish in a cup of water and into the freezer and they just fall asleep.

My thoughts are pretty clear in the article. Ice crystals form over their gills, which would be painful and is considered inhumane. Best method for small fish I have found is the insinkerator method.

Just flip on the switch, turn on the water, and drop your sick little friend in. Instant shred. No pain! Thank you for the information about clove oil. I used it yesterday on our dying 8-yr-old goldfish. Any tips?

Can anyone else here with experience help Jaci out? Clean the tank with DAWN dish washing detergent, it takes grease out of your way! Use hot water also, just like cleaning your Tupperware! Use a stronger strongest dose to begin with. Spare the Clove oil spoil humane euthanasia.

Thanks for your thoughts, but I would advise against this. Fish come in all different shapes, sizes and, tolerances. They eat the pest snails, reproduce very slowly, and spend the rest of their time eating old fish food and algae. They both went gently and quickly to sleep.

Thanks for sharing the suggestion about Assassin snails, that is a great way to all those tiny snails that quickly breed up in tanks! I tried to use the clove oil method to put down my beloved betta. Hes clearly suffering tremendously and he seems to be past the point of no return. I dont know what to do. I need help. Have you read my guide on how to cure ich?

If your betta is too far gone, then euthanizing may be the only option. If you leave the betta in the bucket for longer to get used to it before slooooooowly adding the clove oil, you may see better results. This is so useful thank you. Old age I think hope? Off to the chemist for the clove oil. You must really look after your fish, 8 years is ripe old age for a white mountain minnow.

Any Ideas? I know you are young so might not understand what you are saying here, but this is a terrible mindset. Imagine if your parents wanted a new kid so they killed you? Thank you so much, we have had our fantail for nearly nine years.

It got very poorly over the past few months, and no medicines worked. Found your article on the clove oil and decided it was time to try it. It worked straight away and there was no suffering. Thank you again. After having her for 8 months, she began to develop fin rot. Nothing helped. Eventually, she stopped swimming around and would lay down on the gravel while still breathing. She stayed like this for three days before in hopes of a miracle before putting her down.

Thank you so much for providing me with a humane way of going about it. The only issue was that, about 30 seconds after adding the clove oil, she started spasming for 15 seconds before calming down again and eventually falling asleep.

Did I pour the oil mixed with water in too quickly? It can be traumatic, but this is still considered one of the most humane methods by fishkeepers and vets. Thank you so much for this post.

I was able to use the clove oil to put to sleep my little betta George. Our guess is either HITH or a tumour. We took all the stuff out of the tank tried treating with Pimafix and now trying aqua-cyline. But when do you give up? His water parameters are okay too. Most fish can go a week without eating, some more some less. You can only do what you think best given the information you have available.

You know your fish best. We had to put our fish down today and it was suggested that we do the flush down the toilet method. I decided to Google a humane method and thankfully found your wonderful help. We followed your directions and it worked exactly as you suggested and we felt like we had time to say goodbye. Thank you so much.

Ok so, I have a fish that likes to murder its tank-mates for fun. Any ideas on how to murder my fish before he murders another of the ones I spent so long naming? What breed is your fish? Some fish need to be kept in schools of a specific size while for others, to small a tank can set off territorial bullying.

I would advise you read up on fish compatibility and care — your murderer might just be misunderstood. As for euthanizing, I have outlined how to do that in the guide above.

Thanks for the guide using clove oil, my little buddy was blind and struggling. Your guid worked perfectly, sleep first then he died.

It was lucky your5 year old objected so loudly! Thank you so much for this. I have a beautiful cuckoo plec , about 7 inches long, who is 19 years old yes you read that right , named Gollum. He shares an aquarium with my Mbuna cichlids and has seen many come and go in his time, and been happy and healthy all that while. Today he is belly-up, floating, then suddenly having a spasm of movement, then sinking, repeat. The other fish are all fine — clearly his time has come.

After all this time he is like an old friend and to have a gentle way of easing him out of his distress means so much to me. I have sent my husband out to buy some clove oil. Thank you again — sad, but very grateful. That speaks wonders for your skills as a fish keeper. I can imagine how hard that would have been to say goodbye!

He must have felt like part of the family. Thank you for the advice! My poor goldfish, Sapphire, had been laying at the bottom for 2 to 3 days with fin rot and a bent body at times, so I wanted to take her out of her misery even though it was hard. I pretty much followed all of your steps except I forgot to initially mix with my hand after adding the clove mixture to the bowl where the fish was.

I also noticed my fish got a little excited and start moving bit when the mixture was initially added. With all that in mind, do you think she was still able to have a pain-free quiet death? I had her for 2 and a half years But on the going to sleep part? You did the right thing, it sounds like she was suffering immensely before. I hope you are holding up okay an I wish you all the best! I tried a number of treatments, none working.

Fearing that she might infect the whole tank I put her down with some clove oil, and it worked. So sad to see her go, but glad it was painless. Unfortunately, ich can be a difficult disease to come back from. It sounds like you did the right thing. At least she left you with some kids to remember her by! Thank you very much for the help and reading the comments section helped a ton too! Thanks so much for the kind words. I cannot believe that this is said by some crank to be painless!

It burns your tongue if you use it on a sore tooth, and accidentally get some on your tongue, yes it deadens, but horrific ally. Take your dying fish to a decent vet who uses the clear anaesthetic. That does not BURN. It anaesthetises it, and within a minute your beloved fish has lost conscious ness, then their big hearts and brains go peacefully to sleep. I would appreciate it if you did not refer to me as a crank, especially when such an uneducated statement follows.

I purchased him to keep me company at work, then brought him home a year ago when the office was being painted. About 6 months ago he developed a tumor on his side but was still eating and playful. Thankfully I found your article. I had to drive around town to find the clove oil. GNC was the only place to carry it, but all they had left was the sample. When I explained why I so desperately wanted some, he gave me the sample bottle!

Though it was difficult, Handsome is now in fish heaven. Thank you so much for giving me the way to humanely let him go. It sounds like Handsome had a geat life thanks to you. Please help. Is there any substitute? You might have to do the more gruesome stun and stab or have someone else do it for you. My Betta Patrick has the same exact problem as Handsom.

After just losing my baby Luna I wish I was coming to you with better news but I need your advice. Do you remember my other female Sassy I told you about? A few weeks ago she jumped out of the tank and took a huge fall about feet, I let you know that all seemed well, her fins wore torn but have grown back. Anyways off and on she has been showing signs of what I was convinced has to be swim bladder.

I have done everything from fasting to jungle cure with kanaplex and after her getting better then worse and better and worse I found something called fin and body cure by api. I see it treats many external and internalal bacteria diseases and it talks about something called hemorrhagic septicemia which is an infection that caused red blood patches in the gills and localized swelling which makes sense since she suffered a major fall!

I did the full 4 treatments for that exactly as the directions described and she seemed to get better. Then she went back to not being able to swim, very swollen, and laying on her side- I poured the powder in her tank and within minutes she wAs better.

However today right now she is hiding under her internal filter laying her her side. I have tried everything because euthanizing her is the last thing I wanna do.

I have fasted and treated? I thought that if it was something going on inside from the fall I would have noticed right away but maybe something slowly crept up? The fall might have caused sever injury that was not immediately noticeable but is apparent in the weeks after.

If this is the case then unfortunately, based on what you have said, it sounds like another round of medication is going to put off the inevitable. While I would love for it to be the cure, I am not convinced you would see different results. The last thing I want is for you to lose another fish, but in this case it might be the only solution. With that said, if you want to try for another round of medication, just in case, then go for it.

I mean, you have the medication on hand. You know sassy best, the call is yours to make. My pore beta Snow has a tumor on his left side, it started as just a bump really small behind his swimmer finn with a slight color difference then his normal white.. And I know he loved being out of his prison cup they keep them in till they get adopted or die so this makes me so sad. My betta had been clinging to life for a couple weeks but just kept getting worse until he basically spent all his time floating near lifeless int he tank.

I could not stand to see him suffering anymore. He was three years old and caught something I could not identify and did not respond to any of the medications I tried to treat him with. I feel better knowing that he lived a long life as the king of his 20g aquarium and it was over quickly and humanely thanks to you. Thanks for your informative article.

I have a 15cm goldfish with dropsy. I have 15 other goldfish so want to do this before any others get sick — is a mixed methodology like this still humane? In fact, for a fish that large, my concern would be it bouncing around as you try to stun it. Sedating it first would be the most humane thing to do in this case. I would like to thank you for this article! My Homer, a 12 almost 13 year old gold fish, ended up getting ill. His tank mate, Pete, passed this summer and since Homer was never the same.

Thank you for writing this article. You must have been a wonderful owner! Wishing you the best. I agree. Your article was well written and compassionate. So I, too, thank you for this article. I did want to say that the promo for chopped added a humorous rub.

It just lightened the mood. Thank you for your kind words, Suzanne. You got an advertisement for chopped? Oh dear, that is some dark humor right there. You will have to use your own best judgement. Ian — thank you for this. I had to sadly put our Ruby to sleep as she was unhappy, floating, unable to eat successfully and so this was the kindest thing to do.

She went to sleep as per the first steps then we put her to sleep. Thanks again. What language are did you want it translated to? Google Translate does an exceptional job for many languages when it comes to translating content from english.

The thing is that I got 2 little one was big goldfish named Luni and Anuket and due to lack of knowledge, Anuket died soon after we got them. You were certainly right that this is not the ideal way to get rid of a fish. It sounds like you are in a better position to care for your fish now. Here is a guide on how to do that:. On the fish compatibility, Neon Tetra prefer warm water while goldfish prefer it colder. They are not a good mix for each other. Will the clove oil method work with larger fish if you multiply the dose?

Its nice that there are some very humane and simple methods e. Me and my other half breed reptiles and its a shame there are no similarly simple and humane methods to dispatch them.

What do you think about that? Interesting idea. The clove oil method is very reliable, you can read through the hundreds of comments here from people who have used it with success. I echo those sentiments in the times I have unfortunately had to do the deed.

I just used this method for a tetra with swim bladder. He lived for about 3 years, it was sad to let him go. He went pretty quickly. Her name is Trudy.

Trudy has had recurring swim bladder issues n usually the frozen peas thing has worked, peel the skin off, dice the peas up small. However, Trudy is no longer eating them n has been floating for over a week. I hate to see her suffer. Willie has started trying to snack on Trudy n I shoo him away, but I cant stand seeing her like this. Thanks for the humane method suggestion. I dont want her to go thru anything else…shes a pretty fish n I will miss her swimming up into my hand.

It sounds like you have done all you can. You seem knowledgeable given your past experiences treating the issue, so I trust your judgement here that you are doing the right thing. Willie came from walmart. He was tiny then.. Hence the name. Hes a cool dude,too. I tell him what a pretty boy he is…he knows his name. Thanks for your help n God bless. That is adorable. It sounds like you certainly have a unique pleco there.

Mine are much more stubborn and prefer to hide when I come near. Wishing you all the best with Trudy. My thoughts are with you. Trudy went peacefully n actually pretty quickly. Thank u so much for your help.

I truly appreciate it. Willie seems to like them. Have a blessed day. He was in A tank with a pair of Red Devils I know. Still they tolerated the parrot for the most part. Over last week or so the fish developed heavy stress signs and started to have fun disintegration. He was very sluggish and was getting beat up. Tonight I knew if I let this go on he would be dead by morning.

He hardly fought the net at all. I did the stun and stab and buried him with the rest of my passed pets in their area of the back garden. Thanks for the tip. About the stun part. Sad to see it go though. I think you are the very first reader here to use the stun and stab method. Hey Ian. I was a bit misleading in my post about cleaning the tank. I had 5 gallons from the tank to keep some of the established balance in there.

So far, the water is testing great n everything is leveled off nicely. Everybody is doing great. Thanks so much for all ur help.

God bless. Oh, perfect. Sounds like you know exactly what you are doing. Quick question. My 2 angel fish , Gabriel n Ruth are the striped variety.. They go from dark stripes to very faded stripes. No aggression issues going on.. They are very friendly n come up to the glass anytime I pass by. Got the standard tropical fish food n also the dried blood worms.

They like the tank nibblers,too. Is it normal for them to go dark to light like this? Read a few articles online, but no real info. Figured u might know. Any info greatly appreciated. They can fade at different times of the day or even if a dominant angel fish is nearby. I guess they might be fussing at their reflections in each end of the tank…lol.. I turn the white light off at night, generally around 9 pm n turn on moonlight. They get moonlight til bout 6am.

But I have noticed the darkening is mostly at each end of the tank. Poor Trudy…I miss seeing her beautiful colors n long, silky fins, but the tank isnt sad anymore. Everyone is happy n healthy…Willie has gotten really active since Gabriel n Ruth moved in,too.

Tall fins n all. His coloring is most always deep n rich in color. Hes a happy boy. Thanks Ian. Ur da best! Are u, by any chance, on Instagram? Would love to compare aquarium pics! Have a great evening n thanks again. That all sounds really positive. I know it will never be a substitute for Trudy, but I am glad to hear you are enjoying your tank — it sounds really lively!

Hello Ian My red eye tetra has been laying at the bottom of the tank for two weeks now but still living, breathing and trying so very hard to get up. The tank water is fine, no ammonia, Nitrates or Nitrate, ph good also. I got the magnifying glass to examine him, no white spots, no cloudy eyes, no inflamed gills, no missing fins…. Any ideas please. No nitrate is often a sign that something is wrong. In a properly cycled tank it should typically be forever increasing.

Even so, It may just be this fishes time to go. Tetra are often bred in pretty bad conditions and to have one with a defect that shortens its life is hardly unusual. If you cannot find a cause otherwise, it is possible that this is the case. Only you can make the judgement call as to whether or not euthanasia is right in this situation. I tried everything it tried so hard to just get up.