Live Aquaria delayed delivery

kaxt

kaxt

Member
My order of fish shipped out yesterday and was supposed to be delivered today, but I just got an email saying the delivery is delayed due to severe weather. Has anyone ever had their fish shipment delayed and had the fish still alive when they finally arrived. I'm not going to be able to think of anything other than those poor fish just sitting in a box waiting for death today.
 
I went through this about a month ago with live aquaria. Fish had to spend an extra night in Louisville, I think.

I ordered:
2 orchid dottybacks
1 melanurus wrasse
1 damsel

The damsel and one dottyback were DOA. The other dottyback looked perfectly fine, and the wrasse looked a little rough. Both fish are now very healthy and in my display. Live aquaria put the money for the DOAs back on my debit card.

Keep in mind to NOT drip acclimate. The ammonia burn would be severe. Float for temp acclimation and match tank temp to their salinity. Then get them out of the bags quickly.

Good luck.
 
unfortunately shipping delays happen all the time, depending one what you are receiving can changes the chances of survival, as we all know some fish are definitely hardier than others. as well as how cold it is in the areas the fish are being held. I live in maine and it's not uncommon for delays or extreme cold I tend to watch the weather nation wide to see what's happening or predicted before ordering.

best bet is to obviously turn off all lights (tank and room to make is as dark as possible) float for temperature, (contact live aquaria for the shipping specific gravity and have your QT prepped at the same level) so once temperature is reached you can open the bags and remove from the bag water immediately.

also if your tanks salinity is slightly lower than shipping water is safer than slightly higher, it's harder for a fish to adjust osmoregulation upwards than downwards.
 
I had a delayed shipment years ago and the fish were fine. Let us know how it goes. Its always so exciting to have livestock coming, and now your dreading opening the box afraid of what you will find. That sucks. Hope it goes well for you!
 
Liveaquaria has always been very good to me and replaced any DoA's. Its horrible for the fish for sure but if they do die you should have no problem getting reimbursed.
 
I have had fish deliveries delayed by a day on a few occasions. Though the results were not positive on one of those occasions, in all other cases the fish arrive safe and sound.
 
I had a Barnacle Blenny get stuck in the Charlottesville UPS warehouse over a weekend and I was so surprised he was alive that Monday when they delivered him.
 
I've got 3 expensive corals delayed overnight

I've got 3 expensive corals delayed overnight

Any ideas on special treatment once they arrive?
 
I had 3 anthias delayed 24 hours they all lived. I agree with nereefpat . I did NOT do the drip method. I CAREFULLY matched temp and salinity BEFORE opening bag and then quickly moved fish into new water once open. ( using none of the shipment water )

I did alot of reading in the 24 hours I waited and decided on the match parms exactly and quick move method. I think this esp important on delayed shipments.
 
The worst part is that I paid for Saturday delivery and they didn't ship then due to bad weather near them. When they weren't able to ship on Friday I had asked them to cancel the order and was surprised last night when I got the shipping confirmation. We are supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow so I'm really hoping it isn't delayed another day.

I have a tomini tang, a mccoskers wrasse, a goby, and a skunk cleaner shrimp coming. I plan on just temp acclimating for any fish that survive, but what about the shrimp? I know inverts are very sensitive to salinity changes. Does anyone know what the specify gravity of the water will be in the shipping bags? If I can find out that information I will definitely have a tank waiting for them that matches.
 
Unfortunately I have recently been on the delayed delivery list. My first ever liveaquaria order was close to Christmas. I wasn't even thinking about it being the holidays. I just wanted fish......
Both packages got hit with a cold front and had to deal with colder temps then liveaquaria prepared for.
Two packages for the order and both got delayed with one of them shipping a day behind the other from the beginning. The fish were NOT happy but the clowns and a powder brown tang made it through. The tang was upside down and very non responsive. Though, it was breathing. So it got acclimated and I'm very happy I didn't give up on it.
They went through TTM now and are in QT putting on weight very nicely.

Now, the anemone I ordered at the same time..........no go. That bag smelled and the nem was inside out. Very DOA.
 
I have a box of inverts stuck in Louisville right now. It’s a replacement for delayed DOA just before Christmas.
 
Thanks for all the advice, everyone. The fish are supposed to arrive within the next 30 minutes.

My plan is to make a small pinhole in each bag just so I can check salinity. Then float the bags to match temp. While they are floating I'll match the salinity in the QT tank to the bags. I'll just put the fish right in the tank as soon as I open the bags. Hopefully the bags all have the same salinity, the Live Aquaria website linked above gave a pretty wide range of what it could be. If not, I guess I'll aim for the salinity in the shrimp bag.

I'll keep everyone posted.
 
Did the fish ship out of california? If so,probably out a quality marine and my last shipment from them, my salinity was 1.021. Good luck.
 
kaxt said:
Thanks for all the advice, everyone. The fish are supposed to arrive within the next 30 minutes.

My plan is to make a small pinhole in each bag just so I can check salinity. Then float the bags to match temp. While they are floating I'll match the salinity in the QT tank to the bags. I'll just put the fish right in the tank as soon as I open the bags. Hopefully the bags all have the same salinity, the Live Aquaria website linked above gave a pretty wide range of what it could be. If not, I guess I'll aim for the salinity in the shrimp bag.

I'll keep everyone posted.
Click to expand...

put tape over the pinhole after you take the sample, it only takes a little air to start moving the PH (causing the ammonia conversion).
 
Everything is alive!!! The goby doesn't look so good, but it's still alive. Hopefully with clean, warm water it can recover.

The order did ship out of California. The fish were in 1.023 water and the shrimp was in 1.025. I matched the qt tank for the fish and I matched a small container for the shrimp. I put the shrimp in the clean matched water and I'm now drip acclimating to match my display. I don't plan to quarantine the shrimp.
 
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