FedEx Is Killing My Fish :-(

[DEL]

best of luck...fingers crossed

 

[DEL]

i lost a blotchy in 3 days because i think they were throwin the box around and didnt know what was inside. sux!!

 

[cybermeez]

Robin, if you ever need to, you can order it to my place. My doormen can open and stick it in my tank. Just give me a call.

Thanks Arthur, that's a very nice offer. I just might take you up on that one of these days. And I could meet your trained mandarin.

BTW, I had to move one of the little female ORA green mandarins to the main tank tonight. She's getting skinny and I hope this will help. The other 2 are fine. She's so small that for tonight I have her in a little critter box with a grate on the top so she doesn't disappear in the tank overnight. I'll let her out tomorrow after all the other fish have been fed and I can watch how she does. She's just so tiny!

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

best of luck

 

[bizarrecorals]

If the fish was in good health with proper packaging, shouldnt be too much of a problem staying in the bag for a few extra days, if the fish was sick prior to shipping, it'll be dead espicially Fedex guys throwing the boxes around. I've seen fish make it 4-7 days in the bag, espicialy domestic shipping.

 

[guarda]

Hope she's doesn't get skinnier but if there's anything you think I can do to help, let me know. And anytime you're in the area just give me a holler!

Thanks Arthur, that's a very nice offer. I just might take you up on that one of these days. And I could meet your trained mandarin.

BTW, I had to move one of the little female ORA green mandarins to the main tank tonight. She's getting skinny and I hope this will help. The other 2 are fine. She's so small that for tonight I have her in a little critter box with a grate on the top so she doesn't disappear in the tank overnight. I'll let her out tomorrow after all the other fish have been fed and I can watch how she does. She's just so tiny!

 

[guarda]

Very subjective as there are lots of variables we can't even measure. That's why I never order livestock through the mail. I know people do it all the time but I don't think it's really fair to put them at risk like that. Just my personal opinion/preference.

If the fish was in good health with proper packaging, shouldnt be too much of a problem staying in the bag for a few extra days, if the fish was sick prior to shipping, it'll be dead espicially Fedex guys throwing the boxes around. I've seen fish make it 4-7 days in the bag, espicialy domestic shipping.

 

[jf2381]

Any updates?

 

[NYreefNoob]

the problem is with shipping fish is it might be nice the day they sent it out or in that area, but going across states and different weather and temps will cause alot of fish to stress out, shoot, just drive from the bronx to my house with a bag of water and see how much the water temp changes

 

[jf2381]

and it doesn't help that the temp dropped a lot in the last two days.

 

[cjdevito]

I'm actually in the same boat, had two boxes coming from Liveaquaria for delivery saturday. One box from their WI location which got here with no problems, and the second from LA and the divers den that get held up in Memphis due to severe storms. Only one item in that box, a 4" sympodium colony. That box is being delivered today. My hopes aren't high, but liveaquaria does pack exceptionally well so you never know.

I've been doing saturday deliveries from liveaquaria since before they were liveaquaria and were still Flying Fish Express; this is the first time in nearly a decade and a half that I've had a problem with a saturday delivery, and I can't blame them for it.

I have also always received the exact specimen pictured when I've ordered from the divers den.

 

[albano]

One box from their WI location which got here with no problems, and the second from LA and the divers den that get held up in Memphis due to severe storms.

Divers Den is from WI, not Calif (if that's what you meant by LA)....Live Aquaria fish/corals are shipped from a wholesaler in Calif.


.

 

[Obsessed]

Yep, you were right, there has not been a storm down here in Memphis in some time. Wish I had joined here Friday like I had planned..I would have scooped them fish up for you and sent them at a later date.

 

[CONSTANTNE]

I had a fish delayed from LA before during the summer due to delays by Fedex. Fish came 2 days later in perfect health. LA uses a lot of water and their packaging is great. Good luck and let us know what happens!

 

[cjdevito]

Divers Den is from WI, not Calif (if that's what you meant by LA)....Live Aquaria fish/corals are shipped from a wholesaler in Calif.

You're right, my bad. The WI shipment get held up, the LA (Los Angeles) one didn't.

 

[cybermeez]

FedEx finally delivered the fish around 8:30 this morning. The box was leaking and the fish had been in there for 3 days - the last 2 with no heat pack left. I opened the box, felt the bags and they were ice cold. I was certain none of the fish had made it, but I couldn't see through the multiple bags to tell.

LiveAquaria said obviously the fish were going to be very stressed (if they were still alive) so I should float them 40 minutes (twice normal) and drip acclimate them even if they appeared to be dead.

After the 40 minutes floating was up I opened the bags. Much to my tremendous surprise, though they weren't really moving, all the fish were alive! As the drip acclimation proceeded they all began to perk up, even the Geometric Pygmy Hawk!

Since they are all very small fish and had been through a lot, I decided to put them in a Critter Keeper box so they would be in the main tank and the other fish could see them, but they wouldn't be subjected to any possible harassment. I put some chopped up mysis in the box, though nobody seemed hungry after their ordeal. I'll check on them when I get home from work. Hopefully they will recover and survive long term in my tank.

 

[guarda]

Awesome! Hope they make it through ok.

 

[reefs4life]

I've been following this thread and I'm happy to hear the fish didn't die, that would have been really upsetting even if you get your money back. I've had issues with USPS myself and the post office is 2 minutes from my house, luckily it was in town and one guy from USPS was nice enough to give me the package after post office hours instead of me waiting for them to deliver it the following day. Post some pics of the survivors, if you can, when they're all good lol

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

Just curious... why would you guys prefer to purchase from LA/or any other non-local vendors? Price, quality, guarantee?

 

[cybermeez]

In my case, I'd previously purchased 2 other Geometric Pygmy Hawks locally and neither survived more than 24 hours past acclimation. As for other fish, about 50% of the time they come in with ich or some other malady. I understand that this is bound to happen with wild caught fish. However, LiveAquaria has exceptional quarantine procedures and won't ship a fish until they've had it for several weeks, treated it if need be and they know it's healthy and eating.

Also, as of late I've been focused on the more sensitive fish (Dartfish, Mandarins, Pygmy Hawk, Coral Croucher) which do poorly in quarantine. If I get them from LA, I know they are clean and can put them right into my main tank. If they happen to have other fish I want at the same time, I'll add them to the box to make the shipping more cost effective.

I do this with some Loaches too, though they quarantine better than the reef fish. They are the freshwater equivalent of Hippo Tangs, total ich magnets.