Shipping Disaster

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Fabulous to hear they made it, bet you lost a few years of life due to stress though.
And I agree with jrthor 85, by having it held at the post office, you eliminate the chance of the fish spending the day in a local mail truck, you can pick it up as soon as the post office opens, or it gets there.
In the midwest there is a shipper called SpeeDee delivery that I have had good luck with, (very limited range) and cost can be under $20 for a 5lb box overnight. They actually pick up the box to be shipped at your house or business.
I prefer omly to ship very small fish, less chance of puncturing the bag, and they seem to handle the stress better. I can then also use breathable bags in case of the those extra layover mishaps.
 
They were not breather bags. They were 4in. bags all 8 fish were individually bagged. I really wished I would have taken more mental notes on how it was done, but I wasn't thinking clearly when they arrived I was in such a rush to get to them all reasonable thoughts were gone. I will ask Rick to how he ships and post it! It was a box inside of a box though! And 8 small bags inside one big bag, The water was a very dark blue color. Everything rapped in news paper with styrofoam interior surrounding the second box. and what was most astounding was these fish weren't breathing hard, nor did they look very stressed out accept for the smallest one. I have one, the runt, and I mean he is the little guy of the 8 who is struggling still, but if I can just get him to eat I will be fine, his breathing has slowed down some, but he is still very dark and stressed! Wish I could get him to eat!
 
^ It sounds pretty typical for shipping. Most people who take the time and care to ship fish properly will individually bag them. Even when I was shipping tiny fish before I got breather bags, I would always try to individually triple-bag them. It's a pain on the fingers if you're tying rubber bands but they'll stand a better chance of surviving should they be in the box for a long time. The water was probably blue from Bag Buddy tablets, which calm the fish down and supposedly release O2. I use 1/2 tablet in small bags and a whole tablet in large bags (8 - 12") with bigger fish.

I put all the small bags inside of a larger bag or box liner, just in case a small bag springs a leak. I stuff newspaper or bubble wrap in between the bags to keep them from squishing one another and help hold them in place. Then I tie this larger bag off with a big rubber band, tape a heat pack (if it's cool out) to the underside of the styro lid, and box them up.
 
Thanks for the updates Josh, Yup it is evident that Rick has a Great line going considering their toughness, lol.

...and Dark Blue is the color that you want for the water, Im glad someone believes in it too. I often wonder if some of my customers flip out when they see dark blue water.
 
^ Do you use Bag Buddies, or something else?

Just a warning about the Bag Buddies. Cary Strong (I don't know if you guys remember his crazy @ss) from Great Lakes Discus once told me that the first time he used them, he tossed 4 or 5 into each bag that contained an adult discus just because he thought it'd give him extra peace of mind. Instead, the Bag Buddies burnt all the fins off the fish and they laid on the bottom of the tank for a week when the customer received them. :ROFL: So never use too many!
 
Such an awesome story, glad to hear that they made it alive!
Just some advice as I have raised many ebjd fry...since they where in a bag for a week, Im sure their stress lvls were so high that they could be prone to parasites or some other sort of disease. If you haven't already, raise their temp, de-worm or feed food w/garlic (NLS), aq salt (but not for long term as they get dependent) and some sort of antiseptic won't hurt such as: Seachem Paraguard.
Good luck and keep us updated!


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ryansmith83 said:
^ It sounds pretty typical for shipping. Most people who take the time and care to ship fish properly will individually bag them. Even when I was shipping tiny fish before I got breather bags, I would always try to individually triple-bag them. It's a pain on the fingers if you're tying rubber bands but they'll stand a better chance of surviving should they be in the box for a long time. The water was probably blue from Bag Buddy tablets, which calm the fish down and supposedly release O2. I use 1/2 tablet in small bags and a whole tablet in large bags (8 - 12") with bigger fish.

I put all the small bags inside of a larger bag or box liner, just in case a small bag springs a leak. I stuff newspaper or bubble wrap in between the bags to keep them from squishing one another and help hold them in place. Then I tie this larger bag off with a big rubber band, tape a heat pack (if it's cool out) to the underside of the styro lid, and box them up.
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You'd have to use 20 Bag Buddies to get the water dark blue like I use. I've already stated what I use. I also have a thread on it but feel like who cares. Anyways all that matters is how MY fishes get to my customers.
 
Calihawk said:
You'd have to use 20 Bag Buddies to get the water dark blue like I use. I've already stated what I use. I also have a thread on it but feel like who cares. Anyways all that matters is how MY fishes get to my customers.
Click to expand...

I thought the blue was from Methylene blue (sp?). Haven't done my research as far as what it exactly does but from what I was told, it was used to prevent stress induced diseases
 
DammitKhoa said:
I thought the blue was from Methylene blue (sp?). Haven't done my research as far as what it exactly does but from what I was told, it was used to prevent stress induced diseases
Click to expand...

Exactly...Here is my unfinished thread (due to lack of relevance stemming from lack of application for most hobbyists)

Here is a gift for your fishes livelihood http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?492555-Shipping-102

Listen : : : :Methylene Blue improves the Hemoglobin transfer of Oxygen to the system of transported fishes and lowers ammonia/nitrite toxicity.
----------Salt or Na makes an electrolyte solution and it also helps maintain the pH of the water...without it the fish will work harder to 'breathe' and the pH will drop
----------Zeolite, even though I fast (starve) my shipped fishes no less than 2 days prior...my customers pay $50 shipping so it's worth every step
 
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