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Euthanising my friend the clown


tankcrazed

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tankcrazed

I'm feeling terrible. My percula named Harley whom I've had for 9 years caught popeye on 1 eye..

I qt'd him for 2 weeks and dosed antibiotics..the swelling went down but left him blind on 1 eye.

After I put him back into the display he seemed fine for a few weeks but I think he's blind on both eyes now and can't find his food anymore...he's getting really skinny already..

Is there anything I can do to save him? If not what's the most humane way of euthanizing him

 

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If you are going to euthanize him, I'd say take a SHARP knife and sever the skull/spine. You don't have to decapitate the fish, but severing the spine from the skull will kill it quickly and about as painlessly as one could hope for.

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I'm sorry for the little guy. I have no experience with this personally but I would think that a tank without rocks for him to bump into might be easier on him. As for food. You could try target feeding with a turkey baster right on his nose with pumps off. Is there an anemone or coral that he like to be hosted on? Because you could always feed him when he is on the host which will help him get to the food and be trained to expect food when he is on the host.

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I believe people that raise and sell clowns mainly use freezing as a way to get rid of unwanted ones...not to sure how humane that is though.

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I believe people that raise and sell clowns mainly use freezing as a way to get rid of unwanted ones...not to sure how humane that is though.

 

Yes that is the best way, the fish basically just falls asleep.

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natalia_la_loca

When I've had to euthanize fish, I use clove oil. It's also used by seahorse keepers as a sedative to calm the fish when doing pouch evacuations. The fish just slows down and eventually stops breathing if enough is added.

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FlowerMama

Whichever way you choose, sorry to hear about it. I like Metrokat's suggestion to see if she can learn to eat at the nem, and if she can't then you'll choose whichever manner you feel is best but at least you'll feel good knowing you gave it a shot.

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deadthrone

I've heard clove oil until the fish pretty much stops breathing adding a little at a time over a course up to a couple hours. Then freezing. You want your fishy friend to go painlessly.

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Just for a bit of information of this subject; the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) publishes a set of guidelines of acceptable methods of euthanasia of virtually every type of animal. Its backed by a lot of research and is generally considered the gold standard on the subject. It is publicly available here. They are just suggestions, not legally binding (though a vet not following them could probably get hit with malpractice).

 

For the section on finfish, the recommendations are as follows:

 

Finfish S6.2:
Acceptable
Immersion in buffered benzocaine or benzocaine
hydrochloride, isoflurane, sevoflurane, quinaldine
sulfate, buffered tricaine methanesulfonate,
2-phenoxyethanol, injected pentobarbital, rapid
chilling (appropriate zebrafish/research setting)
Acceptable With Conditions
S6.2: Eugenol, isoeugenol, clove oil, CO2
-saturated
water (aquarium-fish facilities/fisheries),
decapitation/cervical transection/manually applied
blunt force trauma followed by pithing, rapid chilling
followed by adjunctive method (aquarium-fish
facilities), maceration (research setting)
Basically, if you don't have access to a lot of drugs, and don't feel comfortable with the more physical methods (which work well if you know what you're doing, but can be screwed up easily), clove oil is your best bet. Its an anesthetic and a paralytic, it tends to be quite smooth, probably the closest (along with benzocaine and MS222) to what is sued in dogs and cats. If done quickly there can be some twitching and whirling, but thats just reflex muscle movements, whey are anesthetized.
Freezing, as in just tossing in a freezer, is not acceptable for a fish. Its equivalent to a person freezing to death, its cruel. . They aren't reptile or amphibians, they don't downregulate the same way (even in reptiles and amphibians, it will probably not be acceptable in a few years). "Rapid Chilling" entails making an icewater slurry, around 2-4C, and dumping him in it quickly. In fish less than 1" or so that live at tropic temperatures, this can cause hypothermic shock and death. Clowns are a bit more cold tolerant than tropicals, and if he's any bigger than an inch or so, this will not work well.
TL;DR, If he was my fish and I didn't have access ot other drugs, I'd use clove oil.
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hypostatic

Freezing, as in just tossing in a freezer, is not acceptable for a fish. Its equivalent to a person freezing to death, its cruel.

 

This would take a long while, especially if the fish is in salt water. Depending on the volume, it could take hours.

 

If you have access to dry ice or liquid N2, it can be fairly quick and painless

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I am not sure about fish to be honest but when human's freeze to death, there is a lot of suffering involved and mania. Def don't just toss it in the freezer.

 

Honestly I would try and save him first. I wonder if garlic would make the aroma stronger? Maybe putting some large mysis on tongs and putting it in front of his nose.

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Clove oil is a sedative, but it will be difficult to tell if you have overdosed the fish leading to death, or if its just sedated. I would use the clove oil until your clown is sedated and then the rapid chilling or decapitation method.

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jesster_rm80

Sorry to hear about your fish. I have had a clown going on 8 years now so come his time I will be there feeling sad as you are. I would try and save him with target feeding method if it was my fish, as that many years with anything alive is just not easy to give up on be it a fish, dog, cat or any type of animal. Good luck and hope for the best.

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Kronoisseur

Hope all goes well for your clown. I would try to save him first, but if you do have to put him down, I would put him in a bag of water from his aquarium like you would get it from the pet store. Put the clove oil in that bag slowly over some time, while letting the bag sit in the tank for normal temp. When he seems to be out of it, transition the bag into a icy cold water bucket and fully submerge the bag to try to get it to cool quickly. that or a deep freezer if you have one. good luck.

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aviator300

Back in my fresh water days, I would euthanize a fish by dropping him in boiling water. It sounds cruel and barbaric but the fish would spasm for about half a second and then be gone and motionless.

 

I hope this idea does not offend anyone because I honestly felt it was as painless as you could get and extremely fast.

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