I purchased a decent size order of fish before Labor Day. Because of the holiday they didn't ship until Tuesday. The fish arrived, according to tracking, in Anchorage, AK at 6:08 a.m. this morning. Plenty of time to arrive here today (Anchorage is about a 3-3.5 hour flight). However, it has sat at the facility all day and isn't scheduled to arrive until tomorrow some time. I'm concerned that the fish won't be alive. I think 48 is absolutely pushing what they can handle in bags. Thoughts?
Fish in shipping...
- Thread starter meklo907
- Start date
lagatbezan
Member
I agree with above but only add prime if the shipper doesn't use copper in their water. Mixing Copper and prime could be deadly.
A lot of places fill the bag with lots of oxygen so the fish "should" be okay hopefully.
I usually ask the shipper what salt level they ship their fish in and set my qt to the same level. Float the bag unopened for 30 min to adjust for temperature and then open the bag, check the salt level of the bag, adjust my qt if needed and quickly take the fish out of the bag and transfer. The less time they spend in the bag after it's open the safer they are. After the bag is opened the ph and ammonia starts changing rapidly turning deadly in about 30 min.
A lot of places fill the bag with lots of oxygen so the fish "should" be okay hopefully.
I usually ask the shipper what salt level they ship their fish in and set my qt to the same level. Float the bag unopened for 30 min to adjust for temperature and then open the bag, check the salt level of the bag, adjust my qt if needed and quickly take the fish out of the bag and transfer. The less time they spend in the bag after it's open the safer they are. After the bag is opened the ph and ammonia starts changing rapidly turning deadly in about 30 min.
Thank you both for your input. The vendor is saltwaterfish. I've been really pleased with them in the past. I sent them an email earlier and plan to call them in the morning. I don't know about the copper treatment. To be honest I hadn't ever heard of that. I can inquire about that and the salinity when I call. I have four qt tanks already set up and ready to go. I do have some water treatments, I think, laying around.
geridoc
Well-Known Member
I don't think adding Prime to the bag is a good idea - Prime lowers the oxygen level, and it is very possible that the levels are already depleted. IMHO, the key is to get the fish into fresh saltwater asap. Begin drip acclimatization right away, and take off any excess water from the bags immediately.
According to my refractometer the specific gravity was right around 1.017. I chose not to add prime, I've never really used, or liked, any of the additives for binding ammonia/nitrite, or whatnot. I dripped acclimated for around 3 hours. Some where DOA and a few others not looking good. According to their email they ship them for up to three days. However, they didn't look when I got them.
Also, Fedex was supposed to be signature required delivery, but they just dropped it off on my door step without even ringing the bell. I was home all day and he/she was quite enough to not even make the dog bark.
Also, Fedex was supposed to be signature required delivery, but they just dropped it off on my door step without even ringing the bell. I was home all day and he/she was quite enough to not even make the dog bark.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
And file a complaint with FedEx.
lagatbezan
Member
Wow, sorry to hear that.
I think you should rethink the long drip acclimation next time. I know there are a lot of sites that insist on doing that but that can turn out to be more deadly when dealing with fish that have spend more than a couple of hours in a closed up bag.
Fish poops and breathes while its in the shipping bag or on the way home from the store. This waste gets in the water in a form of ammonium and Co2 and stays in the water. The moment the bag is opened the Co2 is released which causes the Ph to shoot up which in turn converts the harmless ammonium to ammonia. The fish in the bag is now breathing and drinking this ammonia which is deadly causing internal damage. The longer it stays in that bag the more it is exposed to the ammonia. once the bag is opened you usually have about 30 minutes to get the fish out of the bag before the spike. Ammonia is deadly.
I think you should rethink the long drip acclimation next time. I know there are a lot of sites that insist on doing that but that can turn out to be more deadly when dealing with fish that have spend more than a couple of hours in a closed up bag.
Fish poops and breathes while its in the shipping bag or on the way home from the store. This waste gets in the water in a form of ammonium and Co2 and stays in the water. The moment the bag is opened the Co2 is released which causes the Ph to shoot up which in turn converts the harmless ammonium to ammonia. The fish in the bag is now breathing and drinking this ammonia which is deadly causing internal damage. The longer it stays in that bag the more it is exposed to the ammonia. once the bag is opened you usually have about 30 minutes to get the fish out of the bag before the spike. Ammonia is deadly.
I gave your post earlier some serious thought. I didn't gloss over it. I had a couple things in mind in my process. One was the shape of the fish I was seeing. I floated them for a bit before opening the bag and I upped the flow on the drip. Usually, I drip slowly and I did increase the rate significantly. I also exchanged part of the bag water immediately by pouring some qt water in the bucket. My thought process was that I was reducing the present ammonia by approx. 50% (actually less, I didn't double the water volume exactly) and probably slightly shocking them with higher salt content water. Then slowly drip them to match the rest of the water parameters. I assumed it would be better than the instant increase in salinity and still reduce some of the ammonia. While it wasn't ideal, I assumed it was better than the alternative.
So far I have lost five fish. Two were DOA (green chromis) and three didn't make it through the night. Two more chromis and a tailspot blenny. None of them looked good in the bag, but I had hoped. All the other fish look good and seem to be doing fine. Most are eating and looking for food. That's a good sign. A kole tang, I didn't think he was going to survive until the morning, make a complete a huge turn around. He is actively swimming and seems to be doing much better. He hasn't really accepted food yet, but he is looking better.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
How many fish total did you order?
silverado61
Well-Known Member
And what size tank?