Fish shipment gone wrong! Advice needed please?

I recieved a shipment this morning, one bag containing 3 honey gourami.
They appeared to be packed well in an insulation box with heat pack etc. They were shipped yesterday and arrived today before 1pm.

They did not and do not look good at all! I thought they were doa when I opened the box but they were all breathing.
So I acclimated them quickly to my QT tank (I'm not bothered about doa policy I just wanted to get them out and try to help these little guys)
They were lying on their sides with no movement or coming up for air, and appear to have what looks to be some kind of injury, irritation or ammonia burns?
One is able to hang at the top of the tank by himself and the other two I've had to net to keep near the surface.
They aren't moving, just breathing. They've been in the tank for almost 5 hours now and nothing. Just lying on their sides at the bottom of the net.



I've got no idea what caused it, though the slip said they added oxygen to the bags which I'm not sure is ok for labyrinth fish?

Is there anything I can do for these poor little guys ?

Thank you for any advice that can be given

 

Shame but I doubt there’s much you could do but hope they come around

As for cause, oxygen shouldn’t be an issue, it’s probably better it was added. Temperature may of been a problem, given it’s been fairly warm lately and the addition of a heat pack, it could of pushed it a bit too far.

Where did you end up ordering from?

 

Shame but I doubt there’s much you could do but hope they come around

As for cause, oxygen shouldn’t be an issue, it’s probably better it was added. Temperature may of been a problem, given it’s been fairly warm lately and the addition of a heat pack, it could of pushed it a bit too far.

Where did you end up ordering from?

Aw, it's so sad I really do hope they perk up too.

Ah alright, I am not particularly familiar with adding oxygen to the bag. I've shipped bettas in the past without, just lots of air up top so thank you for clarification! The heat pack was only small and on the opposite side of the box, it was only half cracked and wasnt overly warm in there, but I suppose it could have gotten too warm at some point earlier on! Oh dear..
The other fish in the shipment are all ok, just seems to be these poor guys that got it rough.

I went with abyss aquatic warehouse. This is the second order from them, a replacement to remedy the first. Those 3 arrived very cold and not too good either, although I managed to remedy them back to health. They are doing great now. But overall not very pleased. Could have been the courier too, in all fairness

 

poor things. Its so sad how fish are treated

 

How long were they in the shipping process?

 

How long were they in the shipping process?

A Total of 20 hours

 

A Total of 20 hours

Honestly my guess is these may not have been super healthy to begin with or were they just shipped with air versus oxygen

 

poor things. Its so sad how fish are treated

I know, I'm devastated...poor things. I'm just holding on, keeping them as comfortable as possible, hoping they'll pull through. I really dont even know who to blame here, the store has an excellent reputation.
It may well have even been the courier? I've never had a bad shipping experience until now

 

Honestly my guess is these may not have been super healthy to begin with or were they just shipped with air versus oxygen

I did use a store with an otherwise excellent reputation, but with all that's going on it's very possible. They state they inject oxygen, since they are a primarily a marine supplier with some very high quality stock , so I'd expect they did? but who really knows. The weather where I am has been fluctuating too, it was cold and rainy this morning and hot when I received them. It may well have even been the courier.
I guess all I can do is keep them as comfortable as possible and ride it out. It's not looking good, but you never know

 

Sodium chloride helps a lot with shipping stress. Sodium is exchanged for ammonium and also for hydrogen ions at the gills to regulate blood pH (it usually goes down during shipping). Chloride is exchanged for HCO3- also for pH regulation. And probably some things I've forgotten.

My advice for shipping stress is usually salt...but it looks like you have them in a planted tank and plants don't like too much sodium...

I'd consider fishing them out and putting them in a tank with some salt.

 

Sodium chloride helps a lot with shipping stress. Sodium is exchanged for ammonium and also for hydrogen ions at the gills to regulate blood pH (it usually goes down during shipping). Chloride is exchanged for HCO3- also for pH regulation. And probably some things I've forgotten.

My advice for shipping stress is usually salt...but it looks like you have them in a planted tank and plants don't like too much sodium...

I'd consider fishing them out and putting them in a tank with some salt.

Ah! That's excellent information, thank you!
I do have aquarium salt on hand, do you think a bath or dip could help?
If not, I do have a small 3.5 gallon I could set up and move them over to if it would give them a fighting chance

 

Ah! That's excellent information, thank you!
I do have aquarium salt on hand, do you think a bath or dip could help?
If not, I do have a small 3.5 gallon I could set up and move them over to if it would give them a fighting chance

I would fill the 3.5 gal with water from the tank they're in (to avoid a 2nd acclimation) then top off the main tank with new water. Then move the fish over to it along with an air stone and add roughly 1/16 of a teaspoon of salt (it doesn't take much).

 

I would fill the 3.5 gal with water from the tank they're in (to avoid a 2nd acclimation) then top off the main tank with new water. Then move the fish over to it along with an air stone and add roughly 1/16 of a teaspoon of salt (it doesn't take much).

Ok, I will definitely do that now. Thank you so much, really appreciate it!

 

CO2 build up during shipping lowers blood pH. At lower pH, hemoglobin has lower affinity for oxygen.

 

I'm so sorry they arent doing well. I hope they improve asap and pull through!

 

CO2 build up during shipping lowers blood pH. At lower pH, hemoglobin has lower affinity for oxygen.

Very informative posts! I'll definitely be jotting this stuff down for future reference.
I panicked and rushed to get the tank all set up
and forgot to ask you how long you suggest I leave them in there? Ive got a small seeded filter, heater and air stone in there. Is it just a matter of whether they right themselves or not?

 

I'm so sorry they arent doing well. I hope they improve asap and pull through!

Thank you, I really hope so too! It's very sad watching them like this

 

Very informative posts! I'll definitely be jotting this stuff down for future reference.
I panicked and rushed to get the tank all set up
and forgot to ask you how long you suggest I leave them in there? Ive got a small seeded filter, heater and air stone in there. Is it just a matter of whether they right themselves or not?

Until they resume some kind of normal behavior. Upright, breathing more normally, moving around a bit.

 

Always taking a risk buying fish online. Do you have a local fish store?

 

Always taking a risk buying fish online. Do you have a local fish store?

Oh I know there's a risk, but this is my first bad experience. I buy the majority of my fish online, even under normal circumstances, usually from breeders rather than stores, though.
And I often ship from other countries too, through a transhipper. Because the diversity, quality and health of the animals are usually far superior to any found at my local fish stores.
This shipment was my first from a store, and I am greatly off put and saddened by whatever did happen to these little guys. I will continue to shop online, but I'll definitely be sticking to breeders from now on when doing so. And use my Lfs for more readily available fish.
Wild type honey gourami are very difficult to come by where I live and that's the only reason I ordered from here.

 

The labyrinth organ of Anabantoids is not made to process pure O2, it can actually damage the tissues. I've been told to never use pure Oxygen with labyrinth breathers, so I would suspect that was the error. The shipping taking less than 24 hours certainly suggests something that harmed the fish from the shipping end, and it certainly wasn't anywhere near long enough for regular air to go bad, or for the water to get terribly polluted.

The risks of buying online are manageable when compared to the limited availability of species from local sources. I also prefer to see fish before I buy them, but you have to get them from whoever has them. My interest in Killifish pretty much forced me to have fish shipped at some point, as very few species are found in shops.

 

The labyrinth organ of Anabantoids is not made to process pure O2, it can actually damage the tissues. I've been told to never use pure Oxygen with labyrinth breathers, so I would suspect that was the error. The shipping taking less than 24 hours certainly suggests something that harmed the fish from the shipping end, and it certainly wasn't anywhere near long enough for regular air to go bad, or for the water to get terribly polluted.

The risks of buying online are manageable when compared to the limited availability of species from local sources. I also prefer to see fish before I buy them, but you have to get them from whoever has them. My interest in Killifish pretty much forced me to have fish shipped at some point, as very few species are found in shops.

Thank you!
I have heard it isn't safe to use pure oxygen with labyrinth fish, that's why I thought it was important to mention it in the original post. And why I never have used it myself when shipping bettas. I had suspected this might've been the culprit but wasn't sure at all. So thank you for clearing it up! I know not to make that mistake in the future myself now too. The store I got the fish from have an excellent reputation for quality stock, so I too am convinced this is something to do with the shipping process. Which the manager himself admitted, they are relatively new to.

And yes, unfortunately some species are just not popular enough to become readily available at Lfs.
It's sad that with the honey gourami in particular is so under appreciated in it's natural colour. I can get gold from most Lfs but the wild colour variant has vanished over the past few years. And wild is definitely my personal preference.
Killifish are amazing too! Ive seen some stunning species available online, but with the majority of those, I have only really seen eggs for sale, which is far beyond my keeping ability lol

*edit
I will be informing the store about O2 and labyrinth fish too. Hopefully this information can save future fish lives.

 

For anyone interested, sadly 2 of the gourami didn't survive the night
But the third is up and behaving relatively normal! Back in the tank now.
Hopefully he will continue to make progress