How I bag fish for shipping.

[koiguy1969]

first I get an appropriate sized box.. for most fish 8" or less, I use these boxes from the post office. 12"x12"x8". nice size and they deliver them to my house for free. ( I have an account).

I assemble the box, label it as "LIVE FISH" so it might get handled gentler.

then I insulate the box with 1/2" Styrofoam sheeting.fully , with lid.

I fill my shipping water prep jar with 1/3 of the water the fish are in, and 2/3 fresh dechlorinated water. I put a few drops of ammonia detoxifier in, and a pinch of solar salt. for larger fish same process just bigger container.
and run a air pump and stone in the jar. to highly oxygenate the water.

I do this the night before shipping or that morning.. so its got plenty of time to mix and aerate the water that the fish will spend the next 18 hours plus in. larger fish or multiple fish may also get a, or part of a "Bag Buddy" tab also. Bag Buddy have an ammonia nutrualizer, a mild sedative and generate oxygen.

they are always double bagged, if not triple. 1/3 water and 2/3 pure oxygen.

Not pictured process... I have a shipping tub where they spend 3 days without being fed to purge their system of any fecal matter. you don't want them in a toilet. I also include an icepack when temps warrant. ice pack is wrapped in bubble wrap and placed inside the box, not inside the bag. you just want to keep the temp from getting too high. not get the water cold. and you want just enough water to cover the fish by an inch. the oxygen in the bag is far more essential.
I have had fish last 3 days, alive and healthy upon arrival. only had 1 fatality. when the package was lost and arrived a week late.
don't know if this will help anyone or even if anyone cares, but.... thanks for lookin' in.

if you ship fish, do you do anything different?

 

[koiguy1969]

leak free DIY gel ICEPACKS...

 

[koiguy1969]

this is my main shipping tub... this is where the fish are purged.

current lotto fish in purge tank... this also keeps them separated so they don't accidently get sold.....

70gph pump thru 5lbs of zeolite. switched out for each purge. sorry bout the crappy pics.

 

[addy1]

Nice info, I was wondering how you ship fish.

 

[Dave 54]

KoiGuy have you ever thought about elbagin added to your water prior to transport just a few crystals would do the job Elbagin is an excellent mild fungicide and bactericide. Further more Elbagin is an Ideal treatment to help prevent cross infection, for transporting fish and can be used with salt, however never OD your koi with it as it has been known to have the effect of killing your koi :-

http://www.absolute-koi.com/subcat789.html

It might be an idea for future use my friend

Dave

 

[koiguy1969]

Like my daddy always said... "If it aint broke.don't fix it".. But thanks for the tip. Everything I ship comes from the same pond. So cross contamination isn't an issue. At least not before arrival at customers.

 

[koiguy1969]

And contrary to some opinins shipping fish can be done in winter months as well. If you have somwhere for them til spring. there are heat packs that last up to 4 days. Maybe longer. these are 3 day ones.

 

[Tula]

I'm impressed. I purchased a koi earlier this summer. It arrived in a box labeled Live Fish , had an ice pack and was bagged in four bags....but no insulation.

 

[addy1]

Do you send over night? I know the priority boxes, to go across the country, take 2-3 days. I haven't tried the express, just looked it still takes 2-3 days.

 

[koiguy1969]

I try to over night. Its just not available in all zip codes. But 2 days shouldn't be an issue most of the time. Quicker is always better tho.