Fish triage... planning ahead...

[Magnum Man]

so, my Fish from Hawaii, are all likely to arrive dead, it's been a week... I don't know how they pack them, but apparently 5 days in shipping is not unusual...

they are coming to my work... I'm thinking if any are alive, it would be best to get them out of their packaging as quickly as possible... I have RO water at work... thinking a bucket, with a couple gallons of RO in it, I also have a hot room, we call the tempering room, I can set to 80 degrees, to try to get them stabilized... I can take an air pump and stone, or a small sponge filter, to put in the bucket

assuming ammonia, lack of oxygen ( unless they are in permeable bags ) and temperature are going to be the biggest issues, for extended time in their packaging???

there are supposed to be 10 Crenuchus spilurus, a rare fish around here, in this order... so, I'm hoping they are not all dead... I expect they are, but want to be prepared, if by some miracle a few are still alive...

 

[GaryE]

Difficult. Crenuchus are supposed to be sensitive.

Once you unpack them, you want stability. Going from set up to set up is not good.

I expect they'll be cold. Beyond that, it depends on the packing. In breather bags, they may be okay. Poly bags, with luck. I had fish get lost in the postal system, and they were fine after 3 weeks in poly bags.
But they were single packed, in Springtime.
You may want to white knuckle it and keep them til you get home to their tanks. Then cut the bags, pour them through a net and get them into warmer water. Accumulated ammonia is the issue.

Remember, it isn't a species that needs high heat through. No roller coasters. What they go up to is where they stay for a bit - at least for the QT weeks. Cold tropicals will lie on the bottom, and sometimes float. If the gills move, there's hope. Put in warm water, they can revive quickly. No drip acclimation. It kills.

If you don't quarantine, these fish will be very vulnerable for a few weeks.

I've seen bags of 300 seemingly dead fish where 80% of them came to life and were fine. We used to hold on to them with no sales for 3 weeks, because they needed tlc and Ich was a serious danger. But most of the time, as long as things hadn't gone too far, we could bring them around. I have one of those species in my tanks now, 10 years and a few generations later.

You inspired me. I may have Crenuchus coming this week, or early in the next. I have never had fish shipped to me in winter, but it has been weirdly mild here and the forecasts look good. They used to make it to the import place in fine shape...

 

[emeraldking]

there are supposed to be 10 Crenuchus spilurus, a rare fish around here, in this order... so, I'm hoping they are not all dead... I expect they are, but want to be prepared, if by some miracle a few are still alive...

Depending on how the concentration of oxygen is present in those bags, fish should be able to outlive this time frame. But as already been mentioned, Crenuchus species are sensitive. So, that's a factor to consider...

 

[Back in the fold]

I’m crossing my fingers for you . It would be a shame to lose such an interesting and rare fish , especially so many .

 

[Magnum Man]

well, they arrived into town this morning, and are out for delivery... fingers crossed... it's below zero here today... so they will very likely be cold, at minimum...

 

[Back in the fold]

Below zero . . . . this could be a miracle . Did they pack them with heat packs ?

 

[Magnum Man]

I hope so... on paper this is a quality seller, they knew they were going to Minnesota... however I don't think there is a heat pack that lasts for a week... so hopefully the box is marked live fish, keep warm???

 

[Innesfan]

So hoping for a miraculous happy ending...

 

[Magnum Man]

What a waste... the water in the bags was around 40 degrees, the box was not marked live fish, my postal carrier stuck it in my mail box, out on the street ( which I retrieved immediately )... the bags were not even in a good insulated box, junks of styrofoam loosely fit inside the postal box... they are in my 80 degree warming room, but I'm quite sure all are dead

 

[Magnum Man]

I just sent this email to the seller...

"What a complete waste... the box was not marked live fish, the mail carrier stuck it in my mailbox out on the street ( it is well below freezing today ) I can't bet it wasn't placed in a warm place at any point, in shipping, because there was nothing telling them it needed to stay warm on the box... I pulled it out of the mail box before the carrier even left, as I was looking for it... the Styrofoam box was not sealed very well ( big gaps between the pieces ) the water inside the box was 40 degrees, and all the fish are dead... these are rare, hard to get fish, & I'm just sick, that 10 of them were so mishandled..."

 

[Magnum Man]

 

[GaryE]

That's a homemade box. I made my own boxes when I sent killies or livebearers to friends, but only in summer and not with any open gaps.

That is amateur work.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have been making my own boxes for years. I do not use styrofoam. I use rigid insulation which I buy in 4x8 ft. sheets. I have a hot wire cutter so that I can get tight seals. I do not lose many fish. I also know how to pack and how to use heat packs.

I stopped using the USPS Priority mail for shipping fish over 20 years ago. I stopped using Express Mail about 10 years ago. I only use fedEx or UPS.

I would not have order the fish you did because of from where they are coming. I would have had alarm bells going off when it involved Priority Mail from Hawaii. But look at the good part of this experience. Hopefully you learned not to buy from the seller, not to have fish shipped Priority Mail and not to buy fish sent from Hawaii.

One live fish has to be worth at least 3 DOAs............

 

[Innesfan]

How awful. And infuriating. I am so sorry.

 

[MaloK]

Mishandled, Is a very soft word to describe it.