What other essential oils serve the same purpose as Oil of Clove when euthanizing a fish? I have Tea Tree, Rosemary and Spearmint on hand, among a few others. I do have whole cloves and ground cloves, but I believe it takes time to make oil from them. Ideas?
Besides Clove Oil.....
- Thread starter pl*co
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While not an oil, I've heard pure benzocaine works well for both euthanizing or as an anesthetic if dosed properly. edit: Doesn't help you right now obviously, just put that out there as an option.
I’ve unfortunately had to use the knife method a couple times when I had no other source available.
I’ve unfortunately had to use the knife method a couple times when I had no other source available.
There was a recent thread that talked about ways to humanely euthanize fish - one poster suggested every day baking soda in the water - the release of CO2 would make the fish sleepy and finally die, apparantly painlessly. Unfortunately, I had to put down a sick fish the other day and used baking soda. It actually worked quite well, with no apparent discomfort (eg. wild flopping, agitation, jumping) he went quite calmly - respirating slower and slower until after about one hour, he just stopped any gill or fin movement. I hate having to kill fish, but this seemed to be one of the best ways to do it, low tech and cheap.
Well, I tried the whacking method once. I couldn't get enough behind it...something about purposely hurting a fish... so naturally, it took more than one whack. Not good for the fish or me. Didn't want to do that again and I definately do not like seeing my fishes insides on the outside by using a cleaver or whatever. Tried that once too.
So I mixed up a batch of my own concoction. I read several articles that mentioned clove oil, baking soda, neosporin (interesting..except it said rub it on the fish.... well heck, that takes too much time). So I melted a squirt of neosporin in a bit of boiling water, dumped in the cloves and let them boil a bit, then let them steep and cool. That wasn't enough for me so I put in some ground cloves and stirred it up. Then I mixed in some baking soda and strained it over a cup containing the fish and some tank water. A few thrashes and it was all over. Couldn't have been 20 seconds, but even that was too long for me. Next time, I will have oil of clove on hand to avoid even one thrash. Thanks for the advice everyone.
So I mixed up a batch of my own concoction. I read several articles that mentioned clove oil, baking soda, neosporin (interesting..except it said rub it on the fish.... well heck, that takes too much time). So I melted a squirt of neosporin in a bit of boiling water, dumped in the cloves and let them boil a bit, then let them steep and cool. That wasn't enough for me so I put in some ground cloves and stirred it up. Then I mixed in some baking soda and strained it over a cup containing the fish and some tank water. A few thrashes and it was all over. Couldn't have been 20 seconds, but even that was too long for me. Next time, I will have oil of clove on hand to avoid even one thrash. Thanks for the advice everyone.
I think clove oil is recommended specifically because of it's pain killing properties. That's why clove oil is a home remedy for a tooth ache. Tea tree oil and other oils would probably sting pretty badly. Same with the vodka.
I think this is the key, clove oil is an anaesthetic, other are not. Gasoline is toxic, but I wouldn't reccomend it as a euthanizing agent.
Clove oil will mix with water if you are willing to stir it a bit, the idea that it takes vodka to break it down and make it emulsifiable just doesn't hold water. It is widely used as an anesthetic for fish that are intended to recover. exposure to vodka wouldn't fit into this category well. There are several good anesthetics available, clove oil is just the easy to get one that does the job well.
Dave