euthanizing a betta?

[LoveFishyDustin]

Hi all!  I'm new here.  Bit of background:  I've owned bettas for four years and currently have six, two females and four males.  The male I've had the longest, Dustin, is at least three and a half years old and he is not doing well.  I moved to Alaska at the end of August and he started doing poorly about a week after I got here (though he's not made bubble nests in a year, I've assumed he's too old) and has slowly been getting worse, especially the last two weeks or so.  I thought it might be the water because it tastes really funky and an unusually high number of friends' bettas who are also living in the water (school dorm) have died, too, so I switched to nice bottled water and put a bit of aquarium salt in the water.  It doesn't seem to have really helped, he spends most of him time just kind of suspended in the water without moving his little side fins and often kind of rolls onto his side, he's not been eating much (though ate two pellets today) and is really skinny- either he ignores the food or tries to get it but misses, and he doesn't have interest in blood worms.  He's just so listless and it seems like he's looking at me, I know it's crazy!  But he spends all his time at the front of the tank looking out at me.  I certainly don't want him to die but he is SO miserable and I feel bad for making him suffer, he's such a good fish.  Can anyone think of anything else I might do?  And, no flames please, but does anyone know of any humane methods of euthanizing a fish?  I just took some pictures of him this afternoon and have a picture of him when he was healthy and Aiwen had me download Picasa, but I'm not good with computers and still don't know how to get the pictures on here!






*Images resized by moderator

[Squeek]

Hi and welcome to petfish!
Don't worry, you wont get flamed here...sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do..I just had to euthanise a betta last night, and it wasn't easy.

heres a link with euthanisation tips..
http://www.petfish.net/forum/index.php?board=8;action=display;threadid=36760

**Ed:  Do you have a heater?  What size tank?  If you give him at least 2gals with a heater and add 1teaspoon of rock.aquarium salt per gallon, he might perk up.  I didn't see the pics before, but he looks fine to me.  Also, in another post, you mentioned not acclimating you fish...this can stress your fish out, so better to be safe than sorry!

[bubbles8]

Nessa,
I just read the whole thread you mentioned,morbid but interesting.I think that a painkiller would be my choice if I really had to do this.My qu is,would any painkiller do?I can find Panadol,aspirin,Depon etc but not the other painkillers mentioned at the thread.

[Squeek]

Personally, I have never used the painkiller method with fish.  With bettas, I tried the icecube method and it worked wonderfully.  I think the above painkillers you mentioned aren't as strong as the ones mentioned in the thread.  The quickest and painless way to euthanise is to give the fish a sharp blow to the head. It is infact mentioned in several aquarist books. I could never do it this way, though.

[bubbles8]

I know it's the best way but as everyone else here,could never do it!About the icecube method,someone said it's painfull to them coz they're not coldblooded fish.What if I used 2pills in a small amount of water???

[Squeek]

Its not really that painful for them if you use 1 icecube and let the water temp slowly decrease and add more icecubes.  Their metabolism slows down and everything else starts to slow down, too.  OTOH, the clove oil method is painfree as it is an anaesthetic and allows the fish to slowly slip away.  Clove oil will not burn as it is bottled in a carrier oil (almond or peach kernel oil) so adding a couple of drops of vodka to the few teaspoons of clove oil in a jar of water will help it to be better dispersed in the water and do its deed.  I used this clove oil method last night on a betta.

[bubbles8]

well,I hope I will not have to do this,but it's good to know I have a few options if smth comes up
Oh,sorry about your fishy too

[Echo88]

Not being mean or nothing, but couldnt you just flush it down the toilet? I'm not sure how all the pipes run or what not, but it seems like so much swirling and stuff would kill a weak betta. I've never had to put a betta to sleep thankfully and hope I never do.

[Squeek]

Absolutely not.  Theres a good chance that the betta can survive the ordeal.  The fish would die and painful and slow death from all the chemicals waste and bacteria...

Ed:

Excerpt from: http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/a/noflush.htm
Why flushing fish is not an option
Every fish owner is eventually faced with the dilemma of how to dispose of unwanted fish. All too often the desperate owner resorts to the age-old method of flushing. Oh the joy of the toilet - so simple, so quick, so effective. Or maybe not. Did pangs of guilt, or sobbing children keep you from whooshing Goldie down the porcelain throne? Okay, so it's time for plan ?B?. Drag out that dog-eared state park map and locate a river or lake so Goldie can have a nice new home. The kids can visit on weekends. Everyone is happy, right? Wrong. Unfortunately for both the fish and the environment neither option is appropriate.

Plan A - Flushing
Isn?t the septic system designed for disposing of.. well.. undesirable things? Yes it is, however diseased fish should not be on the list of flushable items.
Consider the issue of cruelty to the fish. The debate over how much pain a fish is able to feel will rage on long past our lifetimes. But there is little doubt that a live fish flushed into a system carrying all manner of noxious wastes will suffer in some way. Flushing a live fish is little more humane than dumping an unwanted kitten or puppy down an outhouse pit. Enough said.

If that doesn't bother you, here's a more selfish reason to think twice about flushing. The fish carries with it the diseases or parasites that infected it in the first place. No matter how remote, there is always the possibility of passing those diseases on. Would you feel comfortable using a toilet knowing that a diseased fish had just been swimming there?


heres an excerpt from http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-longterm.html
Several options exist for euthanizing your ill pet. They include chemicals, decapitation, and donation. The best method is probably through the use of chemicals. A few vets recommend an overdose of MS-222, a fish anesthetic. It can be purchased from chemical supply companies as MS-222, tricaine methanesulfonate or Ethyl 3-aminobenzoate, methanesulfonic acid salt. Immerse the fish in a container of 350 ppm MS-222 (350 mg MS-222 per liter of water) for 10 minutes. This is very humane and is non-traumatic for both the fish and owner. Another chemical method is the injection of pentothal into the abdominal cavity. This may be more difficult for the owner as syringes may be hard to come by and sticking animals with needles may not sit well with some people. It is almost painless for the fish if this helps ease your hesitations regarding this method. Finally one can use alcohol to euthanize a fish. Make a 1:5 (20%) solution of Vodka (or any other similar strong grain neutral alcohol) and water. Then place the fish into the container and it will simply `go to sleep'. These 3 methods are highly recommended as they are very humane.

One method that has been recommended by a non-veterinary (but experienced Oscar breeder) type is the use of Alka-Seltzer. Place the fish in a shallow container of water and place 2 Alka-Seltzer tablets in a position under the gills. The fish supposedly will `fall asleep' within minutes.

A non-chemical but effective method is decapitation. Once again, some owners may be squeamish over this method. If done properly is quick and painless for the animal, and has the benefit of being cheap; most of us own knives but not anesthetics. Use a sharp knife and sever the spinal cord by quickly cutting down through the body just behind the eye at the level of the lateral line. The quicker you make this cut the better it will be for the fish. Remember to disinfect this knife after the procedure if you plan on using it for anything other than euthanizing fish.

If you are unable to go through with any of the above methods try contacting a local university. It is possible that one of the departments in biology or similar fields will take your sick fish off your hands. They may use the fish for research and study its disease or will be able to dispose of it properly.

Methods that are not recommended but are often mentioned include variations on freezing. Fish tend to suffer in these procedures. It does not matter whether they cool down slowly when you place them in a bowl of water in the freezer or if the water is already cold from the addition of ice cubes. Fish react to these methods in a negative way, and it is painful to watch. Finally one should NEVER flush a fish down the toilet. This is not an effective method of euthanasia but is a form of torture as the fish ends up in a septic tank or similar place where it is bathed in nasty chemicals and sewage before finally succumbing hours if not days later.

[Clint]

Methods that are not recommended but are often mentioned include variations on freezing. Fish tend to suffer in these procedures. It does not matter whether they cool down slowly when you place them in a bowl of water in the freezer or if the water is already cold from the addition of ice cubes. Fish react to these methods in a negative way, and it is painful to watch.

I totally disagree with this part of the statement. Fish are coldblooded. The lowering of temperature does not hurt them, their brain processes will have slowed down as the temperature falls. By the time the temp approaches freezing the fish would already be unconscious.
I advocte the freezer method. The process is a slow lowering of the temperature. I do not like the ice cube method because there is a shock with sudden temperature differences.

Flushing is terrible. The fish will first go on a crazy ride, and end up likely still alive in a cess pool. A certain painful death.

The use of alcohol, clove oil and other chemicals is painful, otherwise the fish wouldn't struggle so much.