humane way to kill fish

[Keri]

Clove oil
Add a couple of drops to the bag w/ water and fish, puts them to sleep (it will be sleeping within minutes of dosing the clove oil) Then however you kill it it won't feel.

edit: here, i found a link with good directions:
(from wisegeeks)
There comes a time in every aquarist's life when a fish that can no longer recover from disease or injury must be euthanized. This is no easy task but it can be done humanely and peacefully without stress to fish or aquarist.

The best method is a two-step process. First, anesthetize the fish with clove oil so that it is sleeping and unable to feel pain; then introduce a clear grain alcohol like vodka to ensure the fish will not wake up.

This method is commonly misrepresented as mixing clove oil and vodka together. That is incorrect. Clove oil must be introduced first, allowing the fish to fall asleep before introducing vodka. Vodka will be stressful for a fish that is not anesthetized.

Clove oil (eugenol) is available at any drug store and is sold as a toothache remedy. It has been used for years as a fish anesthetic for surgeries and tagging procedures. Clove oil will put a fish to sleep and ensure it feels no pain. However the fish can wake up from this sleep if removed from the clove bath. The last step of adding the vodka will ensure the fish expires.

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

1. Add tank water to a measuring cup or mixing bowl. Measure the amount of tank water you add to the cup or bowl and make a note of it. Place the fish in the container. If the fish is in a clear cup place a dark towel around the cup to calm the fish.

2. Fill a small, clean jar or bottle with tank water, leaving some room at the top. This might be a baby food jar or pill bottle. Put 1 drop of clove oil in the jar or bottle, cap and shake vigorously. The clove oil must emulsify, turning the water milky white.

Gently pour about 1/4 of this emulsified mixture into the fish's container. The fish will begin listing as it starts to fall asleep. Let the fish be for about 10 minutes. The fish should be resting on the bottom by then. 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 still rising off the bottom swimming intermittently, retrieve the jar or bottle of emulsified clove oil, re-shake, and add the same dose to the fish's container. Wait again.

3. Once the fish is asleep on the bottom, add 20-25% white grain alcohol. For example, if the fish is in 8oz (240ml) of water, add 2oz (60ml) of vodka. 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, the fish has expired.

For large fish: Place the fish in a bucket or plastic tub with tank water. Again, measure how much tank water is used. The dose for the mixture in the jar will be 10 drops of clove oil per gallon (3.78 liters). For example, if the fish is placed in 3 gallons (11 liters) of tank water, fill your jar with tank water and add 10 x 3 = 30 drops of clove oil. After shaking the jar vigorously, slowly add the entire mixture to the bucket or tub that contains the fish. Gently mix it in. Once the fish is asleep, follow the previous instructions for adding 20-25% vodka.

To eliminate vodka from the procedure and overdose with clove oil alone: Put the fish to sleep first as stated above, waiting 10 minutes for the fish to settle on the bottom. A lethal overdose of clove oil is 50 drops per gallon (3.78 liters), or 5x stronger than the initial dose that anesthetizes the fish. Using the same example, if the fish is in 3 gallons (11 liters) of tank water, the jar's lethal mixture will include 50 x 3 = 150 drops of clove oil. Administer it the same way, by first emulsifying (shaking) the jar before adding the mixture to the fish's container.

Once you've added the entire mixture to the fish's container, wait a few hours. Finally, make sure there is absolutely no gill movement by watching the gills closely for at least 60 straight seconds. If you see any gill movement, add more emulsified clove oil.

Using clove oil alone is not recommended because even though a fish looks dead it can recover once it has been removed from the bath. Clove oil is a preferred anesthetic precisely because it is hard to overdose a fish with clove oil. Therefore be especially diligent when using clove oil alone that the fish is really dead. It is much safer to use vodka as the final step.

Unacceptable methods of euthanasia are: freezing, boiling, chopping, removing the fish from water, using a seltzer tablet, slamming, pithing, decapitating, or flushing down the toilet. These methods are slow, torturous, stressful or violent. Clove oil followed by vodka is both inexpensive and humane. The fish goes to sleep like we might before an operation, and simply doesn't wake up.

Hopefully you will rarely have to perform this task, but when you do, it's at least comforting to know your fish does not have to suffer.

[Moogled]

Just smash it. Smashing is instant death.

There are many ways to do it, but IMO why bother with olive oil, vodka, and all that hubbub?

Consider all the methods delivered in this thread and choose the one that you can stand doing.

[Underwater]

Didn't Nats ask for a HUMANE way to kill fish? I'm sure the obvious clubbing, slicing, smashing and chopping were thought about for a flash, but were discarded in favor of something a little bit better.

If they cared enough to ask the question, I'm sure they were hoping for a useful answer (and thx to those who honestly tried to offer one). Some call it hubbub-I call it compassion.

JMO.

[WhoPoopWrasse]

The clove oil is the humane way to go but if you don't have it quickly cutting off it's head is second best

Clove oil is available in health food stores and I think everyone should have some in case of emergencies...

[WhoPoopWrasse]

Here's something I got from another forum concerning freezing:

A large number of people are under the impression that freezing the fish is humane. It isn't. What happens first is that the fish can't properly take in oxygen. We might liken that to suffocation. As the temperature drops, the gills begin to freeze up (we might liken that to our lungs freezing). So as the fish gasps for air it cannot get, it dies in a cold, dark place. This is definitely not humane. Maybe the aquarist thinks it is okay, but it isn't, based upon when we know about fish. Freezing a fish is one of the most inhumane ways of putting down a fish. I think it became popular because the hobbyists, cowards some tend to be, would just rather pop the fish into the freezer and not have to look at the fish anymore. What they don't see is the suffering, suffocating fish in pain, taking up to 15 minutes to die as its gills freeze over and internal organs freeze and rupture.

[atcguy]

you think poor fishy suffers when its head is cut off... Come on people ,its a fish...!!! When someone posts on here that they lost a fish.. The first thing I look for is "was it expensive" ?? if so then I think that sucks... but when someone says I lost my clown today and all these people post their condolences, I just laugh like this topic.. anyone who needs to put a fish to sleep is crazy... put it on the pavement and step on it.. if thats too gory for you, put it in a covered pot and shake like hell.... , even better the garberator!!!! thats my choice,,

[WhoPoopWrasse]

Gerad, Wow! you're colder than a fish!

[Ryan_Lap]

When I said to cut off its head that is the best way I have ever done it.

When I tried clove oil once it just took forever and the fish was twitching and ect.

I know there is something you can get from your vet, but now your just spending a pile off money and not all vets have it.

[ae86ray]

wait till winter time.....freeze it..

[Keri]

Originally Posted by ae86ray

wait till winter time.....freeze it..

srsly? I'm sad you have no freezer, but that's besides the point

If you are going to decapitate it QUICKLY then you will cause less trauma, but most people hesitate, stretching things out.