Should I Euthanise my sick betta fish?

Question

My poor betta has been struggling with an awful sickness for several weeks now. All of his symptoms point to fish tuberculosis which, by the way is 100% fatal. At this point, he is not active and has stopped eating - he simply floats near the top of the water and breaths almost undetectably. His fins have deteriorated to the point where I can see his bones, his scales are raised and puffy, and he has red sores on his back and gills.

Should I euthanize him using clove oil and vodka, or let him die on his own? He really seems to be suffering =(

Answer 1

I'm sorry for you poor fish. I dont really have an oppinion. Do what you think is the best for you and your fish. Again Im sorry.

Answer 2

TB is not 100% fatal, but the survival rate is VERY low.  If he's as miserable as you made him sound, I think it would be in his best interest to knock him out with clove oil and let him go with vodka.  Also, be sure to wash your hands very well with soap-- this can be passed to humans (with fairly minor results).  Sorry you had to deal with this.  :(

EDIT: Vodka is what actually kills the fish-- clove oil is just the anesthetist.

Answer 3

it sounds in his best interest to put him down ='[  if you do put him down, use the clove oil ONLY the vodka is a bad idea.... just use the cole oil =]

poor lil fishy... sometimes despite our best efforts it just doesnt work out ='[

Answer 4

Gosh.  That sounds like what happened to my Betas.  It wasn't until it happened the 2nd time that I figured out that I was putting something in the tank that the fish store recommended.  It was really for goldfish but they said it would work good for Betas.  I think it was to condition the water and prevent ick or something like that.  Don't remember anymore but, after my first Beta lived about 3 or 4 years, I decided to put this stuff in.  It then got all the symptoms you just described and finally died.  I, too, didn't know what to do at the time.  Then I got another one and he did well and then I came across the bottle of stuff I had and started using it, thinking it was a good thing.  Well, the same thing happened again.  Duh!  I finally put 2 and 2 together and decided it was that stuff.  Too late though.  That Beta died too.

I didn't know there was a way to euthanize a fish that wouldn't make it suffer.  Had I known that, I would have euthanized mine.  It looked like it was suffering so much.

Maybe this link can help you.  I hope so:

http://care.betta-fish.com.ar/