How do I kill my fish?

[bigben]

I have ONE fish in my DT that cannot be caught. I have tried leaving the net in there for weeks for him to get used to, I have tried traps, I have tried hooks. He won't be caught!
I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate mail from the people who think no animal should ever be harmed, but I didn't build this tank to support ONE lil damsel.
The tank needs emptied of all fish, so that it can sit for six weeks to rid it of ick. I have a QT ready for him, but I cannot catch him. I have a reef tank, so I feel I am out of options.

Since I have exhausted ALL efforts to remove him. How do I kill him? Without harming the inverts of course.
Bring on the PETA

Ben

 

[fishy head]

did you try catching him late at night, llike aroung 3 in the morning
i could not catch my fish and i tried late at night and i got him.

 

[bellanavis]

Take all the rock out, and then you will be bale to catch him, put a peice of anything, plastic, in the tank, so that it kinda cuts the tank in half, get him on one side, and keep making that side smaller, eventualy it will be so small, you will be able to get him, do you know what I mean? Try to get some eggcrate from homedepo of lowes, and section off the tank that way, you will be bale to get him. DO NOGT KILL HIM, if you don't want him, I will take him.

 

[chipmaker]

It would be a cold day in you know where before I rip out rock to save a fish specialy a damsel. Try a small hook it works. You may have to heat and reform hook shank to point a bit more, to make it smaller but its easy to do with a bic lighter and a pir of needle nose pliers. Have you tried making a fish trap with a soda bottle. That often works. There is always dynamite if all else fails! ;-)
Now is the time to experiment with other mehtods instead of trying it when there is more fish in the tank and corals etc in place that you run the risk of crashing a tank if start disrupting rocks and pulling things apart. BTW was that damsel used to initiate a cycle or what? What changed your mind with keeping the damsel? Inquiring minds wants to know........No flame from me. Above all else have fun doing it ;-)

 

[who dey]

i hate damsels!!! i say killem!!! I know thats not nice but whatever

JK, take all the rocks out like said above

 

[bigben]

Thanks for the input all. I am new to saltwater, and the damsel was my first fish since I read they were hearty. I only want him out, to do hypo on him in my QT for Ich. I want to avoid killing him, and will try the sectioning method. I think I can get him into a quarter side of the tank and only remove that LR.
Would that upset my ecosystem? I have a 55gal display w/ 30ga fuge - 60 lbs LR, 60 lvs LS.
Thanks

 

[bellanavis]

If you want, take a container that is just big enough for the rock,a nd put some of the tank water in with it, and then corner him to where you can get him, or just move the rock to one side on a pile, till you get him, there are lots of ways to corner him, without killing him, or upsetting your tank.
In my opinion, not talking to you BIGBEN, since you are willing to try to get him out and you said you really don't want to kill him, why get a fish, or anything else alive for that matter if you intend on killing it anyways? There are many other ways to cycle your tank, without using a damsel.

 

[debbie]

For hard to catch fish I have used a flashlight and the whole room and tank totally dark. They seem to go into a corner and with a small light you can see enough to catch him.

 

[renogaw]

nm, its late and i misread

 

[bracebldrs]

make a fish trap , i did want a pic? i got idea from meleves site
got my three stripe out in 5min .belive me i tried every other option
ok exept pulling rock .

 

[1journeyman]

Try leaving your net in the tank so it gets used to it. Don't feed for a couple of days, then put some food in the net near the surface. Stand there and wait... eventually he'll swim into the net.

 

[watson3]

Eel...

 

[madman33]

lionfish....toadfish....but im confused though lol if he has ich and you dont care if he dies then why not just let him die of the ich? Then let the tank sit and rid its self of ich...

 

[ci11337]

Originally Posted by BellaNavis
Take all the rock out, and then you will be bale to catch him, put a peice of anything, plastic, in the tank, so that it kinda cuts the tank in half, get him on one side, and keep making that side smaller, eventualy it will be so small, you will be able to get him, do you know what I mean? Try to get some eggcrate from homedepo of lowes, and section off the tank that way, you will be bale to get him. DO NOGT KILL HIM, if you don't want him, I will take him.
Do this and take out like 3/4 of the water and you will catch him..

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

If you have ich there are some things you can do to cure it without killing your corals.
Before you try to chemically irradicate ich let's look at your setup - go to Home depot and buy some nylon window screening - corral your damsel by patiently dividing the tank - even if you have wholes in your LR in the back you can slide the screen bak there and then drop a rock on it to hold it in place.
Slowly move closure to the damsel and have you trap as an outlet and it'll go right in.
You have to be patient
BTW - if you are not going to medicate the tank and don't have a UV filter it'll take 9 months to completely remove ich from your tank.
three ich maturing cycles without food may end the onslaught

 

[ocellaris_keeper]

I just remembered that anothe way to rid your tank of Ich is to soak all your food in garlic and continue to add garlic into the water for nine months - it'll coat your fishes and your live rock and garlic actually causes the fully grown ich to explode from inside.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by ocellaris_keeper
I just remembered that anothe way to rid your tank of Ich is to soak all your food in garlic and continue to add garlic into the water for nine months - it'll coat your fishes and your live rock and garlic actually causes the fully grown ich to explode from inside.
Do you have a source you can reference on this? I've never heard that.

 

[russy pelican]

Something about "coating my fish, live rock, and inverts with garlic" doesn't sit well with me. :thinking:
That said, one method that may prove usefull is filling a really big syringe up with boiling water and shooting it at the fish when it's backed into a hole or cave. Be sure there aren't any valuable specimens too close by. It won't kill the fish immediately, but will incapacitate it well enough that you can remove it with a net. You have to act fast and have the little bugger cornered, though.

 

[alyssia]

Originally Posted by ocellaris_keeper
If you have ich there are some things you can do to cure it without killing your corals.
Before you try to chemically irradicate ich let's look at your setup - go to Home depot and buy some nylon window screening - corral your damsel by patiently dividing the tank - even if you have wholes in your LR in the back you can slide the screen bak there and then drop a rock on it to hold it in place.
Slowly move closure to the damsel and have you trap as an outlet and it'll go right in.
You have to be patient
BTW - if you are not going to medicate the tank and don't have a UV filter it'll take 9 months to completely remove ich from your tank.
three ich maturing cycles without food may end the onslaught

Nine months? I've always heard six weeks.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by alyssia
Nine months? I've always heard six weeks.
I've read in rare instances some cysts can go into almost a "hibernation"and stay dormant for months.
Never heard such specific details though.