Very upset, very very upset

[SRC]

My lovely Gam went from

to this

And if that isn't bad enough...


Jae went from

to this

I am SO upset!!!!!!!!!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Awww! Did they arrive like that? (sorry if they didn't arrive in the 1st place...) I'd let them be, put any meds they need in and if they don't perk up in colur in a few days to a week, contact the seller.

 

[Texaswoman]

Oh no. I'm sorry. What's up with the first male besides not being colored up, which they normally won't do for a few days, or until they are settled in. The second one looks like he got some fin damage, which is common and occurs when shipping hms alot. Who was your transhipper?

 

[Bettaman]

get them in some nice clean water don't add any meds if anything a very small amount of salt,half a tea spoon per gallon, as that will shock them if you have almond leaves add a bit to the tank, and then add some to a water container for water changes and do one every 3 days at 50% you will see them turn around after a week or so then take a new picture...........

 

[SRC]

The top ones fins are torn to shreds..dorsal, anal, and his tail.

The bottom one...he's beat to hell and back.

Neither one is very happy at the moment.

 

[WILDER]

That's upset me, awful.

 

[BettaMomma]

THAT right there is why I have a VERY hard time thinking that shipping bettas is EVER a good idea.
ever.

It's really hard to imagine what those two went through on their way to you.
How incredibly sad.

 

[SHANTYMAID]

I'm so glad that i have read this because i was thinking about asking on this forum about getting a couple of Bettas from abroad. Now i have definatly come to the conclusion that i will not be doing that.
I so very sorry about your fish SRC but hopfully given a little bit of time and your care they will recover good luck with them

Best wishes

Shanna

 

[Texaswoman]

Yes, hard to imagine, but all the petstore bettas are shipped here with barely enough water to cover them, and in vials so small they aren't much bigger than a toothpick container. They fill a whole pallette up, and most don't make it to the stores. Now, that's sad, and we keep buying the fish from the petstores, so what's the difference?

 

[BettaMomma]

The diff is that I, as one person, can not stop a place like WalMart or PetSmart or PetCo or Pets at Home from ordering bettas via the mail. They order them whether I like it or not. (and trust me, they all know that I strongly despise it )

However, choosing to order and have these guys shipped to me is something I do have control over - that's just my point.

The only reason I got into keeping bettas is because I felt bad for one of them on the shelf @ WalMart. I can't even begin to tell you how many countless hundreds of dollars I haven't spent on things like tanks, heaters, plants, gravel, rocks, airstones, pumps, medication, etc. etc. (NONE of which I will purchase anywhere but at my locally owned lfs, unless it's an emergency) because one day I felt sorry for a little red fella who now goes by Amos. (In fact, right now he's on the brink of disaster because I thought he'd like a 5 gallon tank with a filter - oh good god NOT a good idea, but that's for another topic).

Once I understood the logistics of how these things are treated, how they're displayed, what their horrible story is, I decided that I would do whatever I could to make a diff in the lives of some bettas. So far, the count is only up to 4, but I'm quite certain the next time I see a sick one, I'll drag it home and nurse it back to health (or make a tremendous attempt to, anyway), and the one after that, and then the one after THAT, etc. etc.

I just feel like since there's not much we can all do except what we are doing (by coimplaining fiercely to the companies directly and get everyone else to do the same) there's not much we can do.

So, in other words - I'd never intentionally put a fish into a situation where it had to be banged around on some shipping truck.

 

[purple_drazi]

oh. my. god. those pictures are so awful.
poor bunnies.

I'm sure that with your expert care they'll recover and be back to their beautiful selves soon!

 

[BettaMomma]

SRC - this might be a series of really stupid questions, but did you:
1) contact the seller
2) talk to the shipping company to see why they were so badly damaged

???

 

[yeeviabetta]

It is ok. They both will turn back in shape in a few weeks. Don't be upset, SRC. You haven't seen worst that that yet. Now for everyone that have intention to get betta from thailand, you guys know it is a GAMBLE.
I will recommend new comers or anyone here to get bettas that birth in USA. You will never regret because they more adapted to the water here and the food. Cheaper too.

 

[SRC]

Actually, all fish are shipped that way. So unless you just don't keep fish, or you're able to go catch them yourself...they all get shipped one way or another...there's no getting around it.

These fish were shipped overnight USPS, I'm quite sure they don't care what they did to them...they had live cargo and fragile written all over the box. And I don't think there's anything they'll do about it, as they aren't dead. I'm sure they were just thrown around and jossled and that's why they were all beat up...but the odd thing is....there were no fin peices in the bags . And I don't think both of them bit their own fins, becasue it was more then just their tails...it was dorsals and anals as well. So I dunno.

I did contact the sellers and the trans-shipper. The trans-shipper says they didn't look like that when they left...so they evidently must have been mishandled in the mail. Both fish came from very reputable breeders (Kong and Siam). Kong has offered to send me a new fish, he didn't understand why it took so long for the fish to get to me, he sent the fish out on Feb 27 and I just got it...he says....the fish must have stayed in a unopened bag for a week..is probably why it's in such bad shape...but see I dunno. Siam simply says he's gonna check with the trans-shipper about the condition when it arrived to her.

American Bettas are no cheaper then Thailand bettas...except for the $5 fee that is charged to ship them over here to the trans-shippers. The fish are still $20 each, you still have to pay for a styrofoam box and heat pad, and you still have to pay the overnight shipping.

Personally, I've never had any that reacted badly to the water difference.

But, on a good note. Both have perked up, eaten, and seem to be doing rather well...regardless of their rough treatment.

 

[BetasRock]

I bet the reason there losing color is cause they haven't ate anything since the shipment and there air supply is pry all but gone!!