# Fish transportation troubles



## lawrencezarb (13 Nov 2007)

I recently bought some fish from a fellow aquarist. they were 9 cardinal tetras, 2 corydoras and a flying fox.

We bagged them up in one large fish bag, and I transported them about 4 miles.

By the time I got them home the flying fox was dead, some of the tetras were dead, others were gasping and the corydoras's were ok.

now the survivors are 2 tetra's and the corydoras.

My question, what went wrong?...I havde transported many fish and have had them bagged for many hours with no losses.

did I have too many fish in 1 bag?

help....I do not want this to happen again..


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## beeky (13 Nov 2007)

How long were they in the bag for?

It does sound quite aloit for one bag, but it depends how big the bag was! Flying foxes are quite boisterous and get quite large, so again it depends on the size.

Remember that there should be more air than water - 1/3 water to 2/3 air.


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## lawrencezarb (13 Nov 2007)

They were in the bag for probably 30 mins at most, the flying fox was about 4ins long.

The bag was about 16in long, with about 5-6in of water in it


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## Graeme Edwards (13 Nov 2007)

I would say they suffocated, by the sounds of things. That is a lot of fish for one bag. Youl find in some retailers, they inject oxygen into a bag before it gets sent on it merry way. The water may of been low in oxygen before even adding the fish. Consider it a lesson, unfortunately at the price of the fish. We have all made mistakes like that, me included.


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## lawrencezarb (14 Nov 2007)

It is bad enough to lose the fish, I just needed to know what killed them so can I don't make the mistake again.

I've invested now in some Kordon breather bags, which should hopefully help, and of course next time not to have so many fish in 1 bag..


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## neil1973 (14 Nov 2007)

If plenty air was in the bag then you generally have to put a lot of fish in before they will suffocate in half and hour but without seeing the size of the bag and fish it's hard to guess about this. A few general thoughts:

I assume that you used the water from the tank that the fish were originally in, could there have been any water quality issues before you bagged them e.g. ammonia, nitrite, low oxygen levels etc.

Had the fish been recently fed? This can be quite significant.

Did they get cold during transport?

keeping them in the dark always helps as well.

cheers
Neil


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## beeky (14 Nov 2007)

Things seem to indicate low oxygen levels to me as the cory's survived. These can breathe atmospheric air and use their stomach as a simple 'lung' (some species do this more than others).


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## lawrencezarb (14 Nov 2007)

I do not believe there was any water quality issues as they were taken out of a tank, with tank water, that they all were living in for about a year.

I have no information about the feeding issue.


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