Hello

Could any one help ?

I have a kissing Gourami and he's not been eating for about four weeks'.

He was in a 215 litre tank, fully cycled, he has now been moved to the medical room (QT).

I'm not sure what's wrong with him, and not sure whether I should cut through his spine and end its life.

Any ideas ?

I seem to have no luck with fish these days

have you tried different feeds with him?

other than that i'm not sure what to do

four weeks not eating at all... are you absolutely sure he's not eating at all?
after four weeks i would expect some loss of body mass, or even death, definately some other signs of illness

please dont cut him, use clove oil to knock him out and once asleep either cut his head off or simply overdose on clove oil, its cheap and easy to get hold of, just mix a few drops into some tank water and sit him in it, after 10 mins he should be laying on his side on the bottom, if not add a few more premixed drops in tank water to his water hes in and leave again, once his breathing has slowed and hes on his side, make a stronger mix with say 10-15 drops mixed into a bit of tank water and add that, wait untill respiration has stopped. i then freeze aswell just to make sure.

Thanks for your responses.

The fish is starting to eat now.

I will wait until his conditions are to a good standard before putting back in the community tank.

Good. What do you feed him? I had one 14 years and he grew to 11" and he'd eat anything but they like some vegetable matter too.

10 drops of clove oil in 1 litre of water will suffice & lead to a peaceful demise.

There is no need to decapitate the fish.

Simply mix 10 drops of clove oil in a test tube or similar with a little tank water, shake well, add to a 1 litre ice cream tub (or similar) top up with tank water, introduce the fish, cover & wait 10 minutes.

The fish will be dead. Check thoroughly for any signs of gill movement before consigning to the toilet/bin what ever.

It is a good thing to see people on here recommending the correct way to euthanase fish correctly.

Possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever read on these hallowed boards

Serious fish keepers do not take euthanasia lightly. More so if they have bred the fish themselves.

I think Kelly is a dedicated fish keeper & offers excellent, sound advice.

thank you RubusRoo, i love my fish, and i never euthanise unless the fish is standing no chance of survival. i always keep a small bottle of clove oil in the cupboard for emergencies, the last thing you want is a severely injured or sick fish needing euthanasia and no humane way of carrying it out.

to the OP i hope your fish is now eating well, fingers crossed he makes a full recovery

Some books and online sites say to put a fish in a plastic bag and bang it on a brick wall outside to kill it as death's instantaneous.

only if you have the strength to do it in one hit, and even so death is not guaranteed on the first hit, surely for the sake of a £3 bottle of clove oil you can find in any chemist or health food shop its best to just let your fish drift off into a painless sleep.

UPDATE *************

The problem was not the food. I have two kissing fish and the other one is bullying it.

I moved the kissing fish back to the main tank to see it being chased round by the other one, obviously I didn't know this was the problem or I wouldn't of put it back in.

I now need to get it out of the main tank, but the fish is so fast. The only way I will be able to transfere the fish, is when it's is lying on the aquarium floor due to severe attack.

To make things worse, the fish has developed fin rot. I have my net, but no luck - it's is too fast....

I presume they're two males, as they do the kissing. I don't know whether buying a couple of females would help ?

Thanks for any responses in advance

Any fish can be netted, even the fastest. You need two nets so buy another one and drive it in to one net using the other one. You'll catch it with one net with lots of patience. Frankly I wouldn't buy more. Just separate them as soon as possible. Keeping them singly is okay. Did you read my earlier post above? Post 5.

Yes she certainly is. Sometimes it's necessary to euthanase a fish. The only time I've done it is with one of my daughter's goldfish which had neen laid on the bottom and suffering days.

There is one thing. Cut the spin isn't humane as brain death doesn't occur until a short time afterwards.

There is also the acohol method or sudden temprature shock of putting the fish in ice cold water