sellers putting stuff in the shipping bags of fish...

[Magnum Man]

so, this kind of tags off my blue water thread... one supplier I've ordered from, puts those little pieces of absorbent foam in the bags... & I've seen sprigs of Java Moss, or similar, when shipping shrimp, to give them something to hold on to... today, I got my small gang of Cory's from Dan's, & noticed there was a chunk of what appears to be activated carbon, in each bag... yep, they were still individually packed, but each bag contained one nugget of carbon... I've bought a lot of fish from Dan's, & this is the 1st I've seen that...

it does make sense, to make the traveling fish as comfortable as possible, to increase survival rates, & hot packs have been a standard for as long as I've been mail ordering fish... the carbon seems like cheap insurance, if the fish had to spend an extra day in the bag???

anyone else use a seller that puts anything other than fish and water in the bags???

 

[gwand]

I have gotten white foam in the bag from The Wet Spot.

 

[Colin_T]

Carbon isn't going to do anything in a bag of fish.

We used zeolite and a small piece of neutral block when we were shipping fish that were going to spend 24 hours or more in the bag. The zeolite was used to remove ammonia from the water and the neutral block helped stop the pH dropping. We also fasted the fish for 24 hours before shipping and filled the bags with oxygen from a bottle to maximise the time the fish could stay in them.

When shipping fish we put a piece of plant in the bag for the shrimp to hang onto.

 

[GaryE]

Carbon is there to absorb the fright hormone/toxins some Cory group species release. It has nothing to do with ammonia. The toxins are only released by a minority of species, but for good shippers, for the safe species, a little piece of carbon calms the customers.

 

[jaylach]

Dan's fish uses carbon when shipping corys as they had an issue with them dying during shipping due to their literally poisoning themselves. The carbon prevents this. Corys are the only fish this is done as far as I know.

 

[connorlindeman]

A lot of sellers use a little block of foam for the shrimp to hold on to.

 

[Mr Limpet]

The white foam is a piece of Polyfilter, used to absorb ammonia produced by the fish. I fast my fish for 24 hours before shipping, but always include Polyfilter as extra insurance.

 

[CassCats]

Signs of a good shipper for corydoras imo, using carbon. They know their stuff on individual species groups and take care to prevent problems.

 

[Colin_T]

Doesn't carbon float?
If it does then it's not going to take up much if anything from the water.

 

[Magnum Man]

These sank, and looked like carbon pellets, but were softer than what I used to use on the Tilapia filter…

 

[fishorama]

I've gotten fish with Polyfilter in each bag. I appreciate the extra care from the shipper. Fasting a few days before shipping would be good but the polyfilter ensures that there is no ammonia. I can't see a bit of carbon would help much.

 

[CassCats]

Carbon sinks and is put in to absorb the toxins from the fish, not ammonia, which is why it's recommended to use it when shipping corydoras. It's well known to do this in the corydoras community. Some use the powdered carbon too, and will send the cories in bags of dark water

Sterbai cories are the most "famous" for this toxins, and there is a gentleman who has been studying the toxins in corydoras species who also recommends this practice.

The self poisoning thing is very well known among the corydoras community

Analysis of Venom Proteins in Corydoras Catfish - SICB

Meeting Abstract P3-57 Saturday, Jan. 6 15:30 – 17:30 Analysis of Venom Proteins in Corydoras Catfish HE, JY*; WICTOR, EP; THOMAS, EO; Univ. of the Pacific; Univ. of the Pacific; Univ. of the Pacific [email protected] http://pacific.edu/biology In the tropical fish pet trade, transportation...

sicb.org

 

[Colin_T]

Interesting read CassCats. They mention the water going cloudy and fish dying. I have never seen Cories or any other fish cause cloudy water or poison the fish in the bag with them. I wonder how much stress or what they did to the fish to get that response.

 

[Magnum Man]

makes one wonder, if this could be a problem in an aquarium... if the fish was getting harassed by another dominant Angel, or other Cichlid for example... I have a couple sterbai, in a mixed community tank, with a dominant angel...

also if this is relatively recently discovered, the wholesale shippers must have had issues shipping the ones that release toxins, or if there is a difference, the ones that release "strong" toxins, and maybe some of the newer species, simply died in shipping, prior to this knowledge???

 

[CassCats]

Interestingly, a past local store has had issues getting sterbai in because they'd constantly arrive dead in bag. As a result, this store jacked the price of their sterbai up to $16 a pop lol I paid over $75 for my sterbai group

It's not a super recent discovery but it's not studied in depth. It's extremely unusual to happen in an aquarium, but not impossible. Sterbai are the most famous for this toxin but not the only one to do it. Many are known to do it, I know leucomelas and cw028 are also known to not handle shipping well. The only DOA cories I ever had were leucomelas for this reason, only 1 survived shipping.

The poison defense is supposed to be a self defense response to predators trying to eat them, but it backfires on them in closed bags. Shipping can be very stressful as we all know not all delivery workers handle boxes with care, even if the box says fragile or live fish. A friend of mine worked at fedex for years and he's traumatized by things he's seen people do to the boxes carelessly.