Dropsy and Euthanize

Oh no! Sick fish?! Come here and see if someone can help!
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Read this before posting!!

Since this board has been up, we have found there are several questions that routinely get asked in order to help diagnose problems. If you can have that information to begin with in your post, we'll be able to help right away (if we can!) without having to wait for you to post the info we need.

1) Your water parameters - pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrates and salinity (if appropriate). This is by far the most important information you can provide! Do not answer this with "Fine" "Perfect" "ok", that tells us nothing. We need hard numbers.

2) Tank size and a list of ALL inhabitants. Include algae eaters, plecos, everything. We need to know what you have and how big the tank is.

3) Feeding, water change schedule and a list of all products you are using or have added to the tank (examples: Cycle, Amquel, salt, etc)

4) What changes you've made in the tank in the last week or so. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference.

5) How long the aquarium has been set up, and how did you cycle it? If you don't know what cycling is read this: Fishless Cycling Article and familiarize yourself with all the information. Yes. All of it.

We want to help, and providing this information will go a LONG way to getting a diagnosis and hopeful cure that much faster.

While you wait for assistance:
One of the easiest and best ways to help your fish feel better is clean water! If you are already on a regular water change schedule (50% weekly is recommended) a good step to making your fish more comfortable while waiting for diagnosis/suggestions is to do a large water change immediately. Feel free to repeat daily or as often as you can, clean water is always a good thing! Use of Amquel or Prime as a dechlor may help with any ammonia or nitrite issues, and is highly recommended.

Note - if you do not normally do large water changes, doing a sudden, large water change could shock your fish by suddenly changing their established water chemistry. Clean water is still your first goal, so in this case, do several smaller (10%) water changes over the next day or two before starting any large ones.
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Dadof4
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by Dadof4 »

I would go with higher doses than 3 drops. That sounds more like a anaesthesia dose (I really don't know) but to play safe I would go with double dose so he stops breathing and then just leave him in the mix for quite a while. Once he looks like he's not going to recover place him in a plastic bag and then in the freezer just to make sure. If the clove oil has an anaesthetizing effect, even if he's not dead from the clove oil he will not feel the cold of being placed in the freezer.

Oh, and as for a sharp blow to the head, it doesn't always work. You may knock them out but the brain may not die for a while. I was going to explain what happens but it's too graphic for younger audience.
"Darwin swings...annnnnnd a miss. Boy Jim, Chuck's suffered at the plate tonight. He's 0 for 3 and I'm not sure he's recovered from that shoulder pull a few weeks ago. I'll bet the front office is re-thinking that contract."
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by LilGreenPuffer »

Yeah, that's why you should also decapitate them immediately.
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by StormySkiez »

9 drops mixed into 1g of water. He's still alive. I'm ready to give away all my tropical fish. I can't do this crap.
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by bigfatfish »

Sorry you are having such a distressing time. I had to use 5 drops of clove oil in 1 lit of water when I sedated my GSP the first time, so 9 drops in a gallon doesn't sound much. Add a little more & cover the container so it is nice & dark. And you CAN do this crap - its all part of it.
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by StormySkiez »

Thank you bigfatfish for the support. I added a cup of vodkA to ensure he was euthanized. Another site said you add close to 16 drops of clove oil to overdose for 1.5g. I want to be sure this dirty deed is done. The same site said to add 2oz of vodka per 8 oz after the clove oil. I had to estimate.

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/fish-euthanasia

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-mos ... a-fish.htm

I can't keep on euthanizing pets. It's killing me.
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Re: Dropsy and Euthanize

Post by rachy »

aww its so sad that its been so hard for u :( i know i would b the same..thats if i even got brave enough in the 1st place. u just remember that uve done this really hard thing because u care for ur pets so much and u wanted to do the best for them. xx
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