fish shipment delayed, what to do when they get here?

[HelplessNewbie]

The endlers I was expecting are delayed. If I get them tomorrow, they would have been in the fish bag 5 days. Should I skip drip acclimation? Just float the unopened bag for 15 mins?

[mynameisnobody]

Float to temp and toss them into a quarantine tank. Keep an eye on them and enjoy. 

[nabokovfan87]

There's a few things that you probably could do which would help them with general health and immune response to the stress conditions.  I'll note this into two separate categories.

If the fish arrive with some DOA:
-Open the box from the mail, and determine if there is a massive difference in temp between the bag/box atmosphere and the room with your tanks.  The fish will already be highly stressed and in poor conditions. As soon as you open that bag is when you run into issues due to ammonia and PH shift.
-Prep everything you need before you open the bag.  Have a plan for where the fish are going, make sure it's setup and go ahead and float the bag to acclimate it to that setup.  Make sure filtration is working well and consider adding an additional airstone in this situation.
-"plop and drop" the fish into the new tank.  Take care to ensure the body of any dead fish is not introduced into the tank.  This can be difficult.  The key is to minimize the time that the fish are in the bag water itself.
-If you have them, add aquarium salt and catappa leaves to the tank OR (not both) add carbon to your filtration
-Consider adding the med trio right away, especially your anti-bacterial medications in this instance.
-hold food right away, give them time in a dark room to oxygenate and recover for at least 12-24 hours.
Note: Salt here would be 1 TBSP per 2G (1/3 cup per 10G)

If the fish arrive looking very healthy:
-Open the box from the mail, let the box sit in your room near the tank for ~30 minutes.  Float the back in the tank following that step.
-Similar to the above, prep everything.  Make sure your filtration is working.  If you are putting them into a QT tank, go ahead and add in a light dose of salt and then your botanicals.  If you don't have that consider carbon in your filtration, but it should not be required.  This is an added "benefit" step to help the fish.
-"plop and drop" the fish into the tank, take care to ensure they are all swimming normal and observe them.  Keep the lights off to reduce stress.  Check on them every couple of hours.
-Once it's been a few hours, 6-12 or so, then offer a very light amount of food.  Give the fish time to acclimate and reduce stress.  5 days without food is not a major issue, but just ease them into it as opposed to massive meals.
Note: Salt here would be 1 TBSP per 3G (1/4 cup per 10G)

The main thing is to try to make that transition, especially temperature this time of year, as easy as possible.  If the fish came from pretty different water parameters to your own or there was a shipping issue, then it's just a bit of a heightened stress for you and the fish.  Small little tweaks, but essentially very similar process to land the fish and get them back into an aquarium to recover.

If you don't have catappa leaves you can use something like rooibos organic tea (plain 100% rooibos tea) or alder cones.  If you don't have carbon, but have purigen or polyfilter that works well also for this case.

[HelplessNewbie]

@nabokovfan87 This is exactly what I was hoping for.

I have pond salt, but I had never used it before. Is the dosage the same?

My QT has a hob filter right now, but I can throw in an aerator. I was planning on med trio, for sure.

I hadn't thought about only some fish being DOA, so this procedure is truly helpful.

Thank you!!!

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/27/2023 at 7:21 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

@nabokovfan87 This is exactly what I was hoping for.

I have pond salt, but I had never used it before. Is the dosage the same?

I am 99.999999999999% salt is salt and it's just the matter of the actual size of the container and the directions on the box.  I assume API, I'll grab the details here below for clarity. 

Aquarium co-op article:  https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/aquarium-salt-for-sick-fish

API Aquarium Salt Directions: Add 1 rounded tablespoon for every 5 gallons or 0.5 teaspoon for every gallon of aquarium water.


API POND Salt Directions: Ponds with plants: add 1.25 cups of Pond Salt for each 100 gallons of pond water. Ponds without plants: add 2.5 cups of Pond Salt for each 100 gallons of pond water.

It all appears / seems to be the same, just a different package size.  The TX-10 is a specific type of salt, higher quality grade.  The dosage tools on the API site agree to the same salt dose for the same volume of water.

On 7/27/2023 at 7:21 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

I hadn't thought about only some fish being DOA, so this procedure is truly helpful.

Thank you!!!

Unfortunately it does happen.  The best companies and best shippers can get a bad delivery person and vice versa.  Sometimes it's the small/fine details that certain shippers miss and it leads to fish stuck in corners and all kinds of things.

I hope all is well, looking forward to seeing how they do for ya! 🙂

[Jackson]

Take a picture of any doa in the bag . Call the dealer and let them know it took a whopping five days to ship them to you . All my fish have been delivered next day , less one delivery took two days . 

[Odd Duck]

I would float the bag to temp acclimate them, then plop and drop into your quarantine tank.

Never dump bag water into your tank, ever.  Dump through a net and only put fish into the tank.  I state this plainly even though I’m sure you and 99.9% of aquarists already know, but I never want this to be forgotten or misunderstood.

It would be perfect if you could test water parameters and take time to equalize and acclimate, but unless your fish were sent in a giant bag relative to their size with a big chunk of sponge filter in there, you just need to get them out of what has become toxic water as quickly as possible.  Be prepared to have some dead, most in rough shape, and potentially lose most if not all, even if they’re still alive in the bag.  There’s a fairly high chance they have some damage to their gills already so that will make them fragile.  There’s even a chance they will have kidney and liver insults and damage which is why there could be deaths over time.

There will be some pH shock almost certainly, but most fish can tolerate that easily.  It’s the other insults and damage that are the real issue.  Light salt at 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons is very appropriate, especially for endlers.  You don’t need strong salt like a soak solution and I would recommend against it.  Tannins would be fine, too - IAL’s - Indian Almond Leaves aren’t going to hurt and you can boil them a bit to release more tannins quickly, then add the leaves and tea to the tank after they are cooled down to lukewarm.

Here’s to wishing for healthy, safe arrival and solid recovery.

[HelplessNewbie]

On 7/28/2023 at 9:42 AM, Odd Duck said:

Here’s to wishing for healthy, safe arrival and solid recovery.

At this point, I don't think I will receive the package until Monday. I no longer hold out any hope that they will still be alive.

The seller is only 4.5 hrs away and packages he sent at the same time as mine (even clear across the country) already arrived no later than yesterday. He has a doa policy.

Edited July 28, 2023 by HelplessNewbie

[Miranda Marie]

On 7/28/2023 at 4:53 AM, Jackson said:

Take a picture of any doa in the bag . Call the dealer and let them know it took a whopping five days to ship them to you . All my fish have been delivered next day , less one delivery took two days . 

When I order fish from Aquahuna, they generally arrive 5 days later. I live way out in the middle of nowhere so that's fairly normal. So far, I've had no DOA and not lost any fish they have sent me.

Just as an confirmation that fish are more resilient than we give them credit for sometimes. Not saying that'll always be the case for everyone, but I've had success with long ship times on several occasions now. (I do avoid shipping in summer and winter though.)

[Odd Duck]

On 7/28/2023 at 6:25 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

At this point, I don't think I will receive the package until Monday. I no longer hold out any hope that they will still be alive.

The seller is only 4.5 hrs away and packages he sent at the same time as mine (even clear across the country) already arrived no later than yesterday. He has a doa policy.

I’ve heard of stranger things happening than fish surviving long ship times.  It’s not super likely they will survive but you never know.  If they used a big enough bag and they’re not sitting someplace hot, they could still be OK.  Are you able to track the shipment and see where it’s stuck?

[HelplessNewbie]

On 7/29/2023 at 1:51 AM, Odd Duck said:

Are you able to track the shipment and see where it’s stuck?

It was "in transit to the next facility" for the longest time, about 4 days! I should have insisted on any other service except USPS. It was Priority Mail.

[HelplessNewbie]

Wow, all four arrived alive! I floated the bag, plopped then dropped.

They are in quarantine now.

[Guppysnail]

I’m so happy they arrived alive. They must have been in fabulous condition. 

[Odd Duck]

On 7/29/2023 at 3:53 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

Wow, all four arrived alive! I floated the bag, plopped then dropped.

They are in quarantine now.

Wow!!!  That’s fantastic!  Now maintain pristine water and watch them like a hungry hawk for any issues.