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Shipping fish

Started by Guest_Skipjack_* , Aug 23 2006 12:06 AM

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#1 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 23 August 2006 - 12:06 AM

This is a brief overview of my basic tecnique

1. Withdraw feed for at least 24 hours. (keeps wastes from building up in the water)

2. Condition shipping water. I usually make up a couple of gallons of water the night before. To two gallons, I add two teaspoons of Kosher salt, make sure it does not contain anti caking agents. 5 ml of ammolock. Four Jungle bag buddies, which promote a good slime coat, and mildly tranquilize fish.

3. Vigorously aerate water overnight.

4. Use good bags!!!!

5. Add a small amount of water, roughly one inch higher that the top of the fishes back.

6. Add fish/ fishes. I am pretty conservative here. For a three day journey, I would ship no more than 2-3 three inch fish in a 6 x 12 bag. If you are shipping overnight, you can up the numbers.

7. I use welding oxygen in the bag. If you do not have a tank, take a large balloon to a local welding shop, and beg for a fill up.

8. Double bag! Turn first bag upside down inside second bag.

9. The Box. During cool weather I simply pad the fish bag inside the box with newspaper. During hot weather a cooler, and cool pack may be needed. I often custom make a cooler by using polystyrene foam, and custom cutting it to fit the box.

10. I usually use USPS priority, or overnight. Flat rate priority boxes are very handy.

www.aquabid.com is a great place to get small quantities of shipping supplies

#2 Guest_dsmith73_*

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Posted 30 August 2006 - 04:30 PM

This is a great way to get ready and ship fish Skipjack. Kudos on your dedication. I thought I would add some comments on how we do it. I'm not saying it's better by any means, just different.

First off, we try to keep the water in the holding tanks as fresh as posible. This being said, we normally use their holding water as packing water. This puts my mind at ease as far as any additional stress we might cause by switching their water quickly. To this water, we add a generous portion of Amquel and Polyaqua. Amquel to remove any ammonia or harmful pheromones, etc. produced during shipping and Polyaqua to help regenerate any slime coat that might have been removed while they were being handled.

We ship almost exclusively in breather bags and would openly suggest them to anyone. They work great and w have never had any problems with them. The only fish I would not suggest for these bags are the air breathers)like bowfin and gar) and larger spiny fish like large sunfish or catfish. These, we double or triple bag in conventional fish bags.

Please let me know what you guys think and if you think there are any additions or changes I might make.

#3 Guest_bearskookums_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 05:29 PM

Hi I am new here...just wondering when you ship it via priority mail...or overnight...do you have to tell the usps people? cause I remember them asking if theres perishables etc...just wondering what to delare or do you just put the bag in the box and just ship off? thanks

#4 Guest_teleost_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 05:40 PM

Hi I am new here...just wondering when you ship it via priority mail...or overnight...do you have to tell the usps people? cause I remember them asking if theres perishables etc...just wondering what to delare or do you just put the bag in the box and just ship off? thanks

This is just the way I do it, so take this information with a grain of salt.

I put this on the box:

"Post Master: This package may be opened for inspection.
Please inspect indoors to avoid temperature changes."

"Packaged in accord with US
Postal Regulations section 526.6"

And I put lots of "Perishable! Fragile!" stickers on the box.

I no longer put the "live fish" lables as they tend to "get lost" this way.

And I use priority. dsmith73 taught me the actual method and convinced me that priority was the way to go.

#5 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 06:01 PM

You guys are a lot more careful than I am! While I have used the Kordon bags, I usually just beg some bags from PetsMart and use those. I just ship them with their regular tank water - no additives, no oxygen. I'm not convinced these additives actually do anything except lighten your pocketbook I use priority mail. While I don't ship very often at all, I have never had any losses except when one of the bags popped once (yes, it was double-bagged). I also don't feed the day before shipping.

Now, if I sold fish as a business and my reputation depended on it, then I would probably do all that stuff you guys talk about. Except that slime coat stuff

#6 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 06:03 PM

I use the Kordon breather bags. Once had some least killies sent to me by priority mail, but it took NINE DAYS! We wrote them off as lost. They were in a breather bag, and every one made it! Recently shipped some tadpoles in one, but I don't know the results yet.

#7 Guest_teleost_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 06:04 PM

I like you Irate! The renegade fish shipper. "I don't need no stinking oxygen!"

#8 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 06:11 PM

Hey, I was a professional fish bagger once! Beginners always want to blow up the bags with their breath - you have to break them from that. There's a way of snatching the bag shut so that you get a nice tight bag full of 3/4 air and just about 1/4 of water. Don't try this at home, all you oxygen-filling, stress-coat-doping tyros! Leave it to the pro's :twisted:

#9 Guest_bearskookums_*

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Posted 11 October 2006 - 06:16 PM

I do that bag snatching technic most of the time...easy and convienient...learnt it from my dad...he used to import fish from japan etc....man talk about receiving fish...we had to get a big truck to go pick them up at the airport...and sometimes some of the fish are so sich we have to hold them and feed em oxygen for hours! :oops:

#10 Guest_keepnatives_*

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Posted 19 May 2007 - 07:52 PM

I use breather bags wrapped in newspaper usually in a styro in a cardboard box Priority mail. I shipped 5 brook sticklebacks (each bagged separately) Mon May 7th first thing in the morning to the west coast from the east coast. The address was out of date and Thursday May 17th the same box of fish arrived back on my doorstep, my son put them in the basement and I wasn't able to get to them till midnight. All five alive and kicking and scarfing up live blackworms. I love those breather bags!

However the new ones don't feel the same. They don't have that sticky feel like the old ones. And I've noticed with some spiny fish they get pierced easier and don't tend to seal themselves as the used to. They can be double bagged for those fish 2-3 inch sunnies for example.

#11 Guest_ckraft_*

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 02:37 AM

I use breather bags wrapped in newspaper usually in a styro in a cardboard box Priority mail.

I received some fish shipped that way, the paper seemed to have sealed one of the breather bags and that fish died.

I received some guppies, transshipped in Colorado. One of the bags leaked, there remained just enough water to keep the fish moist. It lived just fine.

#12 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 09:59 AM

I received some fish shipped that way, the paper seemed to have sealed one of the breather bags and that fish died.

I've had this problem once in a shipment I received, too. Care needs to be taken to keep the newspaper dry when packing the fish. Perhaps the bags don't need to be wrapped, if there's enough packing material between the bags.

#13 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 05:12 PM

I just recieved some blue spots and the newspaper was soaked all around the breather bags. The fish were fine. The fish that Ed talked about here are ones I shipped. I just think I put too many jellybeans in that jar I think. The instructions say you can double bag with the kordon breather bags and that is what I do. That has been my only major disaster of this nature, "the one I shipped to Ed".

#14 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 21 May 2007 - 05:25 PM

I use the Kordon breather bags. Once had some least killies sent to me by priority mail, but it took NINE DAYS! We wrote them off as lost. They were in a breather bag, and every one made it! Recently shipped some tadpoles in one, but I don't know the results yet.

Priority mail gurantees two to three days so I do not know what happened to your shipment.

About how to ship fish through the mail. They have to be bagged of course. Then you have to have bubble wrap or insulation foam like they use on houses or something like that. Then all of that is supposed to be in a liquid tight bag sealed tight. I do everything but seal the last bag tight. I put a lable on top that says fragile handle with care. That seems to satisfy them right away. So they do not ask the normal questions which are any glass containers, perishiables, or liquids. It is up to you what you tell them if they do ask. I have had no major problems. I figure all they are trying to do is protect the other customers mail. I double bag every one, then I put lots of news paper. then I put a garbage bag along with the insulation ( builders type "pink foam" ). I figure if one bag bursts or even two ( which is very very unlikley) their would be no problem with liquid seeping out of that garbage bag. I just do not seal it tight. I like air to get to the bags. Maybe I will test if their is enough oxygen in and around the newspaper some day and seal the outer bag as a test. With a few fish only just to test. Well that is what I do. I do use the bag buddies also. And I do think they help. I use half tank water and half fresh water. I do not put the bag buddies in the bag but I break them up and aireate the water over night before adding tank water.

#15 Guest_gerald_*

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Posted 22 May 2007 - 10:31 AM

rather than wrapping the B-bags in newspaper (which can reduce gas exchange if wet) i use styro "peanuts" (NOT the dissolve-in-water kind) between and around the bags to maintain air space. ask friends who work in medical or research labs to save you their thick-wall styro boxes - they probably throw away lots of these. CAUTION - heat packs consume oxygen and may suffocate fish if used with B-bags, unless the heat pack's air supply is separated from the B-bag's air supply. not an issue for cold-tolerant natives but for those who ship tropicals too...

#16 Guest_edbihary_*

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Posted 22 May 2007 - 05:54 PM

I just recieved some blue spots and the newspaper was soaked all around the breather bags. The fish were fine. The fish that Ed talked about here are ones I shipped. I just think I put too many jellybeans in that jar I think. The instructions say you can double bag with the kordon breather bags and that is what I do. That has been my only major disaster of this nature, "the one I shipped to Ed".

I wasn't pointing fingers. We all have learning experiences. It was a learning experience for me, too.

#17 Guest_nativecajun_*

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Posted 15 June 2007 - 07:29 AM

I wasn't pointing fingers. We all have learning experiences. It was a learning experience for me, too.

I know you were not pointing fingers Ed since you did not mention who shipped. I do feel threatened easily but not this time. Thanks the same. But for the styrofoam peanuts make sure they are styrofoam and not the corn starch type. But consider they do not soak up water and that would be against the USPS guidelines who ever mentioned the peanuts. The guide lines say you have to have enough absorbant material to soak up any and all water that may spill or leak.

#18 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 20 June 2007 - 11:56 AM

Priority mail gurantees two to three days so I do not know what happened to your shipment.

Actually, I have inquired at a couple of post offices. There is absolutely no guarantee that it will arrive in 2-3 days. That is just their anticipated time frame. Refunds are not given for late arrivals, no matter how late. :mad:

#19 Guest_mette_*

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Posted 24 February 2008 - 08:31 PM

7. I use welding oxygen in the bag. If you do not have a tank, take a large balloon to a local welding shop, and beg for a fill up.

Anybody use the O₂ sold in small cylinders at the hardware store?

Posted Image

#20 Guest_Skipjack_*

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Posted 24 February 2008 - 09:26 PM

That will work great. But it is almost 100% oxygen. Unsafe for air breathers. Never ship bowfin, mudminnow, or gar in it.
But it will work fantastic with most other fish. I use O2 to ship, and breather bags.
I have lost many fish in breather bags, but have never lost a fish shipped in pure O2. I do not care how warm it gets water in contact with 100% O2 still maintains decent DO.