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Thread: A nightmare at the airport

  1. #1
    Registered Member Argentum's Avatar
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    Default A nightmare at the airport

    At last i now have a chance to let you all know about the NIGHTMARE I experienced in the day that was supposed to the most exciting day fo my life.

    Here are sample pictures of the wilds i ordered:

    Blue Heckel
    image.jpeg

    Bluemoon Heckel
    image.jpeg

    Cuipeua -Solid red-
    image.jpeg

    Rio Xingu
    image.jpeg

    I started the day @ 5:30 am after only 1.5 hours of sleep full of excitement and anticipation. After driving to Jeddah The flight arrived in time 9 am Saturday (weekend) morning after it has spent 75 hours!! In flight and transit. I barely had time to receive them and drive back to yanbu and place the fish in their tanks.

    I received the delivery note from the cargo office and was ready to receive the discus & 9:30 am the only thing left was the custom clearance, simple right? WRONG!!

    We spent full 8 hours arguing with the customs employees and escalating the issue about their senseless, useless, stupid delay and arguments.

    In the last 3 hours I lost hope, all my dreams of breeding wild discus vanished, the only think i was thinking of is that they have suffocated to death. After finally the manager of Quarantine arrived and intervened and released the fish @ 5 pm (85 hours) and the first bag i inspected was a dead angel fish! I thought that if this small one died the large discus must have all suffocated to DEATH.

    we rushed back to my friends place which was not ready for this all we had to save any living discus was 20 gallons of RO water a bottle of Safe and an air pump!!! Hopeless case right? WRONG!

    To our surprise and thanks to GODs answer to my prayer then of course the excellent packing and preparation from Vitor Hugo ALL the discus were not only alive but in an excellent condition!!! (except the angel fish). Many thanks to him, I don't believe it could have been done any better!

    But the challenge did not stop here! Now i had the discus emptied in the shipping boxes (excellent quality by the way) with half shipping water and half RO clean water and some Prime and grains of salt. I couldn't re-bag them for my 4 hour trip back to yanbu because i didn't have the bags or the oxygen.

  2. #2
    Registered Member Phillydubs's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    What a cliff hanger....

  3. #3
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Keep going...You have me on pins and needles.
    Mama Bear

  4. #4
    Registered Member Argentum's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    We went and bought two battery operated air pumps and added more clean water placed an air stone in each box placed them in the car and went back home and arrived @1 am.
    So now the wild discus spent 85 hours in the bags and 7 more hours in the boxes.



    When i arrived i did no acclimation and just placed them in their aquarium directly. Previously prepared with 60 ppm TDS, 25 C and salt (to match the salt i added to thd shipping boxes.

    After this rough trip this is how some came in





    Later i will post some pictures of them after 12 hours in the tank.

    Thanks to GOD, not a single Discus died ���� I almost died from worrying the whole day, until the moment i placed them in their aquarium.
    Last edited by Argentum; 06-17-2016 at 04:25 PM.

  5. #5
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    When they say Discus are tough they ain't kidding. Surviving 85 hours in a bag is a testament to that. I never would have thought it possible. I'd have driven them home in buckets but using fish boxes with an air stone was a better idea. You got some beauties. Now that they're home with you they will be fine. I'm looking forward to seeing more pics. Please take care of them. Are they tank bred wilds?
    Mama Bear

  6. #6
    Registered Member Argentum's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Quote Originally Posted by LizStreithorst View Post
    When they say Discus are tough they ain't kidding. Surviving 85 hours in a bag is a testament to that. I never would have thought it possible. I'd have driven them home in buckets but using fish boxes with an air stone was a better idea. You got some beauties. Now that they're home with you they will be fine. I'm looking forward to seeing more pics. Please take care of them. Are they tank bred wilds?
    Thanks Liz,

    They are very strong indeed!
    The challenge was that the bags after all this time will be loaded with ammonia and once the bags are open CO2 will start to escape from the water, increasing the pH, thus making the ammonia toxic again. Here seachem Safe was the saver!

    These are Wild caught discus from Heckels from Nahamunda, reds from Cuipeua, Yellows from Rio Xingu and there are two from the Trombeta not shown here. They all came from Santarem Discus.

    Now they have completed a month in the QT tank, all fine with a little drop in the middle (they had a minor ammonia burn due to a mini cycle). But I wanted to share the story from the start

  7. #7
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Just sent you a PM.
    Mama Bear

  8. #8
    Homesteader Altum Nut's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Wow...now that's an experience not many would be willing to take on. Glad it all worked out and surprised you have any finger nails left...Lol
    Superb looking Discus considering the many hours in transit and will be patiently waiting till they are settled in your tank.

    ...Ralph
    "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
    -John Wooden

  9. #9
    Registered Member Argentum's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Quote Originally Posted by Altum Nut View Post
    Wow...now that's an experience not many would be willing to take on. Glad it all worked out and surprised you have any finger nails left...Lol
    Superb looking Discus considering the many hours in transit and will be patiently waiting till they are settled in your tank.

    ...Ralph
    My nails are intact lol, I was burning from inside however, at one point i was so depressed and started to imagine in my mind how will i quit the hobby sell my new fishroom, Discus ... Everything... Not to mention the huge financial loss!

  10. #10
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    God must have been smiling on you. The fish should have been dead. I'm sure that you will do very well with them. I want more pics as time goes on.
    Mama Bear

  11. #11
    Registered Member rickztahone's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Quote Originally Posted by LizStreithorst View Post
    God must have been smiling on you. The fish should have been dead. I'm sure that you will do very well with them. I want more pics as time goes on.
    ditto. Would love to see pics. I would put in a complaint against customs. I know that probably no one cares there at the airport but if enough people do it, maybe someone will notice how stupid they can be?

    Click here to view my 75g Acrylic Tank w/ Bean Animal Overflow with 40g Sump Thread

    Also, click here for my 25 group of discus grow out thread


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  12. #12
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    If he lived in the States he could do that and it might help. But he lives in Saudi Arabia. I don't know that it's like there but filing a complaint with customs might not be the best thing for him to do.
    Mama Bear

  13. #13
    Homesteader Altum Nut's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Since were on the customs subject and sorry Argentum for going off topic but this is the one reason why I'm not attempting to bring any of my Wilds to Nada for show.
    I spoke to both US and Can borders about permits and all they say is fill out the online documents and submit them and you will get an answer. With my luck, I drive 4 hrs. to the border just to find out that someone mis-informed me from customs and have to drive back or they destroy fish. Not worth it

    ...Ralph
    "Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."
    -John Wooden

  14. #14
    Registered Member Allwin's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Nevertheless gorgeous wilds, keep us posted when they retain their colors back.

  15. #15
    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: A nightmare at the airport

    Such a shame. April said that importing fish to Canada was a pain. Yet she could drive across the border, pick them up in the States and drive back to Canada with no problem. Go figure. I didn't know that is was so hard to ship from Canada to the States. After all, aren't our countries best buddies?
    Mama Bear

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