Online Fish Order delay, how to save fish?

Hey guys,

I placed an online order for 8 Green Rasbora and 8 Emerald Dwarf Rasbora to add to my tank as my LFS didn't have them and I really liked the look of them.

The online store shipped them via priority mail which showed they would be delivered in 1-3 days. After the first day tracking stopped updating. After waiting a week with no updates the online store assumed the fish were lost and shipped me a replacement order. The replacement order arrived in about 2 days without issues and are healthy
.

The issue I have now is the first lost packaged showed up. It's been 3.5 weeks since I ordered that package. I assumed everything would be completely dead, but surprisingly 12 out of the 16 are alive! How they managed to survive is beyond me. Testing the ammonia and it turned a dark teal color which leads me to believe that is past 8PPM.

Is there any hope to keep these guys alive? I've got a small 5 gallon holding tank I can put them in, but how can I do so without putting them into shock? I've got Ethro (medicine that I can ever spell). Should I use that? Or Ammo lock. I'm amazed they somehow lived this long and Id hate to be the reason they don't make it. I do realize the odds of them surviving is relatively low.

Any advice would be super appreciated.

 

Hey guys,

I placed an order for 8 Green Rasbora and 8 Emerald Dwarf Rasbora to add to my tank as my LFS didn't have them and I really liked the look of them.

The online store shipped them via priority mail which showed they would be delivered in 1-3 days. After the first day tracking stopped updating. After waiting a week with no updates the online store assumed the fish were lost and shipped me a replacement order. The replacement order arrived in about 2 days without issues and are healthy
.

The issue I have now is the first lost packaged showed up. It's been 3.5 weeks since I ordered that package. I assumed everything would be completely dead, but surprisingly 12 out of the 16 are alive! How they managed to survive is beyond me. Testing the ammonia and it turned a dark teal color which leads me to believe that is past 8PPM.

Is there any hope to keep these guys alive? I've got a small 5 gallon holding tank I can put them in, but how can I do so without putting them into shock? I've got Ethro (medicine that I can ever spell). Should I use that? Or Ammo lockI'm amazed they somehow lived this long and Id hate to be the reason they don't make it. I do realize the odds of them surviving is relatively low.

Any advice would be super appreciated.

Firstly, you should check pH. One reason why they may be surviving is that their respiration may have resulted in a build up of CO2 and thus lowered pH to a point where the ammonia is essentially 100% ammonium, which is not known to be (as) toxic.

If one acclimates them the normal way, the pH may increase enough while enough ammonium converts to ammonia that it starts to become toxic to the fish.

Ammo lock or Prime and stuff can only handle a certain amount of ammonia, and definitely not 8+ppm (I presume ammonia may be higher than 8ppm).

Personally, I'd just net them into the 5 gallon tank without using any medication, and hope for the best. But that's just me.

 

Firstly, you should check pH. One reason why they may be surviving is that their respiration may have resulted in a build up of CO2 and thus lowered pH to a point where the ammonia is essentially 100% ammonium, which is not known to be (as) toxic.

If one acclimates them the normal way, the pH may increase enough while enough ammonium converts to ammonia that it starts to become toxic to the fish.

Ammo lock or Prime and stuff can only handle a certain amount of ammonia, and definitely not 8+ppm (I presume ammonia may be higher than 8ppm).

Personally, I'd just net them into the 5 gallon tank without using any medication, and hope for the best. But that's just me.

I was thinking of doing that to and seeing which ones make it. Out of the 12 7-8 seem to be swimming and moving around. The rest are barely moving and I suppose they won't make it until morning either way.

 

I'd get them out of there asap. Just put them in clean dechlorinated water of the same temp and those that are not too far gone should recover.

 

I dumped them into my holding tank I also used some Driftwood from my other tank and some safe start that I had extra. We'll see which ones make it in the morning.

 

Small update!

All of the fish survived the night. Many of them have red gills (ammonia poisoning I assume?) But they are all starting to move around a little bit. I'll probably keep them in here for 2-3 weeks and then transfer them to my 29G.

 

Small update!

All of the fish survived the night. Many of them have red gills (ammonia poisoning I assume?) But they are all starting to move around a little bit. I'll probably keep them in here for 2-3 weeks and then transfer them to my 29G.

That is... amazing.

But yeah, keep an eye on them and make sure to do water changes as necessary to keep ammonia down in that tank.

Good luck to the fishies!

 

Picture of the holding tank and fish for anyone curious.

Don't judge the setup to harshly, as I wasn't prepared to have to keep fish in this, so the tank is exclusively made up of leftover parts.

2 nights in and everyone made it again! I'm really hoping I can move these guys to my main tanks in a couple weeks. I absolutely hate having fish die on me

 

Its great that some of them survived! Good Luck!