What is a humane way ....

[Sonia]

to cull a deformed fish? I recently posted that we had guppy fry and one of them has a pretty severe spinal deformity. It seems to be doing ok finding food and growing ect but I def. don't want to allow it to breed. OTOH I don't want to cause needless suffering either. So what is a humane way of disposing of a fish?

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Flush down the toilet? Honestly, I can't think of a more humane way.

 

[Sonia]

I thought of that but I can't imagine that being a pleasant experience....I mean it's not like it can drown

I was thinking of the freezer method but I have heard that that is cruel as well.

Is there maybe something I could put in the water to make it 'go to sleep' and then flush ect?

 

[Robin'sBrood]

Bleach? Seriously, I don't have an answer for you, sorry. I had a Betta that was over 3 years old and it was pretty obvious that her time was just about over. Didn't have the heart to flush her until she gave up the ghost though.

 

[Sonia]

It's ok...it's not suffering I just need to cull it before they reach breeding age. I'll keep looking. Thanks for trying to help though!

 

[Cara]

Maybe take it out of the water and knock it over the head, like you would a fish you had caught?

 

[patandchickens]

I totally agree that flushing is not humane at all, although I will confess that's what I was 'brought up on' by an old-timey type aquarist father. Other common expedients such as freezing, dropping in boiling water, and dropping into vodka or rubbing alcohol clearly are not humane as the fish thrashes in agony.

Me, I've used a scissors (net the fish out, place on paper towel, snip just behind head).

I've also seen clove oil recommended -- a quick google suggests the doseage is on the order of 0.5 mL per liter of water (that's like, 10 drops per quart of water) and you have to shake it VIGOROUSLY A WHILE to get the oil droplets suspended in the water, then drop the fish in immediately.

There are anesthetics you can OD the fish on, but they are not readily available (I've used MS222 in the lab for tadpoles etc, but it's not something you can easily get elsewhere).

If more than one or two guppies have deformaties, you might want to consider the possibility that you have fish tuberculosis in the population. At least in some places it is particularly common among guppies. There is no real cure -- you would have to pretty much get rid of them all and start with new 'clean' fish -- but it is worth figuring out whether you're likely to have it in your tanks, b/c if you do, you don't wanna mouth-siphon or get the tank water on bare skin that might have cuts or other lesions. Fish TB is transmissible to humans; at first it just causes funny, slow-growing, basically nontroubling lumps under the skin, but if left to its own devices can cause arthritis etc and most Drs won't even *think* of it, let alone recognize it. So if you should have it in your tanks you might want to be xtra careful.

Anyhow, sympathies and best wishes,

Pat

 

[Sonia]

Quote:
It is less than 1 cm long....somehow I don't think that would work lol

 

[Sonia]

Thanks for all the info pat. Out of several hundred guppies we have bred this is the first with a deformity and it is the only on from this batch so I don't think it is TB. It's spine curves sharply upwards, no growths of any sort. Any idea where I might be able to get ahold of clove oil?

 

[thewarriorchild]

Quote:

Oh my gosh I thought I was going to wet my pants...

How bout feed it to a cat as a treat, circle of life and all.. you could let it go in a lake or something where it could live and die of natural causes. You could give it its own tank

"If more than one or two guppies have deformaties, you might want to consider the possibility that you have fish tuberculosis in the population. At least in some places it is particularly common among guppies. There is no real cure -- you would have to pretty much get rid of them all and start with new 'clean' fish -- but it is worth figuring out whether you're likely to have it in your tanks, b/c if you do, you don't wanna mouth-siphon or get the tank water on bare skin that might have cuts or other lesions. Fish TB is transmissible to humans; at first it just causes funny, slow-growing, basically nontroubling lumps under the skin, but if left to its own devices can cause arthritis etc and most Drs won't even *think* of it, let alone recognize it. So if you should have it in your tanks you might want to be xtra careful."

NO WAY!!!