how to humanely euthanize large oscar

Question
I have a large Oscar about 12inches long. He has these large knots on his side and they have been getting bigger. The Knots have weighted him so that he is upside down on bottom of tank. He has been like this for a few days. I would like to euthinize him in a humane way but don't know how what would you suggest?

Answer
Hi Carrie,
Wow, I just had to go through what you got to do about a month or two ago. I had a large Oscar of 12 inches who had tumors so bad, he was really wasting away. I had to do the kindest thing possible and that was to humanely euthanize him of course.

Clove oil is the only humane way to euthanize fish. Small doses are used by fish veterinarians for anesthesia. Larger doses can euthanize fish.

What you need is a few bottles of clove oil, a large plastic container, a Towel, A big net and perhaps an extra person to help.

Figure out how much water you'll need in your container first so you can make sure you have enough clove oil for the amount of water.

The dosage is- Euthanasia= 25 drops per liter use a plastic bottle such as an empty water/soda bottle first to pre-mix the correct amount for your container and shake up the dosage with some water before pouring it into your euthanize container. This is necessary because clove oil sometimes doesn't mix very well with water. But it works well once this is done.

Lower your oscar's tank water to make catching him easier. Move as carefully and swiftly as possible. Put him into the euthanize container (with clove oil already in) and use the towel if necessary to keep things dark and secure. Some fish are out almost in just a few minutes. Others may take 30 minutes or so.

My experience was it only took a couple of minutes and my huge oscar never thrashed around or acted stressed.

This is a good explanation about clove oil plus a video showing the affect on large fish when it is used to sedate a koi that need an ulcer treatment-

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=4352

My sympathy is with you! I know how saddening it is to have to euthanize such a large and personable fish. But you are doing the right thing...

Take care,
Karen~