wilds just arrived need help

[3dees]

really mad at fed ex. waited by the door all morning for my wilds. let the dog out the back door at noon and there wass the box sitting on the stairs. no knock no bell. box wass in bad shape and leaking. 1 bag had about 1/4 cup of water left. needless to say the fish was dead. anyway my question is 4 of the fish are swimming around great but 3 are laying on thier sides. reassure me that this is normal. by the way this was not the fault of john at snook21.
packaging could'nt be better. box must have been thrown around.

[Aquaben19]

Most shippers use a sedative when shipping fish. Get them into thier tank water and shut off your lights. Let them settle in. Then, wait.

[kaceyo]

I've had them do that to me too. Waiting around for a pkg that's already sitting on your doorstep. Very frustrating.
Laying on the bottom isn't that unusual. It can take up to 24hrs +/- for them to recover so just give them time.
Adding a couple of tsp of Hydrogen Peroxide might help, but don't over do it.

[wgtaylor]

I agree with Ben, keep it dark, don't feed until morning. Not uncommon for them to lay on their side for a few hours.
If you can and get more have them "hold for pick-up" at fed-ex airport, much safer.
They are tough, came all the way from SA.......darn fed-ex.:mad:

[3dees]

thanks guys. I kind of thought it was normal but I just wanted to make sure.
fed ex is bad around here but UPS is even worse. just can't figure out why the driver would go thru the gate to the back of the house when the front door is 10 feet from the street. I think he knew the box was mishandled and did'nt want to face an irate customer.

[Wahter]

Should be okay if the fish are lying on their sides initially.

I have bad luck with FedEx, UPS, and US Postal. One time a box was badly crushed that there was no doubt the contents were damaged, the FedEx guy just left it at my door - no knock, no doorbell, etc... just like in your case.

Here's a photo of a box delivered by Fedex: (note the "Fragile" labels on the box)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/Chunker/other/fedex.jpg

Here's a photo of a box delivered by UPS:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v230/Chunker/other/ups.jpg

I don't have a photo of the box delivered by US Postal, but it looked like an elephant sat on it.

That's why if I can, I'll go to the airport to pickup the fish.


Walter

[dalejordan]

PM sent...will be happy to help !!!!

[Double Up]

I used to work for ups and its not the drivers that destroy packages, it is the gorillas at the hub loading and unloading. If your ever waiting for a package, keep checking the tracking # while waiting! sometimes a driver will leave a package in a weird spot or sometimes it will get miss loaded.

[mathao]

"I don't have a photo of the box delivered by US Postal, but it looked like an elephant sat on it."


an elephant probably did sat on it:D

[3dees]

I am sick over this. about 7 hours after putting the fish in the tank one died, plus the one that was doa. out of the six left two look fine but the other four are still on the bottom leaning on the side of the tank. some say don't worry as they could do this for hours and some say for a few days. I am worried that with the shape the carton arrived in that they may have taken a real beating. half expected to find more deaths this morning but even though they are still leaning on thier sides they are alive. I have a feeling this is'nt going to turn out as planned.

[William Palumbo]

Get in contact with John. He is a good guy. This is not the norm for his shipping. Maybe he can make good on this. You should not get stuck with dead fish, when clearly it was the fault of delivery. Sad to say, but you'll no doubt loose more Discus. See what John has to say...Bill

[Altum Nut]

Sorry to here that 3dees,

I have always picked up fish from the airport but isn't there something you can do in relation to the delivery person/postal service being lieable for damages.
It just seems it's not fair. We pay big bucks for shipping and this is what we get.
I really hope the rest recover for you.

...Ralph

[3dees]

yeah I sent John pics of the box, the bag with no water, and the dead fish.
he is refunding for the doa and is trying to get the shipping costs returned also. the other fish died after I talked to him so he is'nt aware of it. I am contacting him now. this is'nt his fault. you could tell he spends a lot of time protecting the fish for shipping.

[William Palumbo]

I have ordered a few times from John as well. Always top notch packing. Tho not Johns fault, I'm sure he will work with you on a replacement order...Bill

[3dees]

called John,
he is making good on the 3 dead fish and any more that may die. thought you might like to see hor carton was delivered.

[ZX10R]

I had some fish sent to me USPS one time and they showed up 4 hours late. Then when they did show up I was standing outside and the lady was throwing the box around like it was a beach ball. Makes you wonder why they can't see "LIVE TROPICAL FISH" all over the outside of the box and what they are thinking when water is leaking out of the box. Tells me they just don't give a damn!!:mad:

[DiscusKev]

Ouch, sorry to hear such a bad news. Snookn21 sure is doing a great job and covering your loss :thumbsup: to him.

Hope all goes well for you,

[Darrell Ward]

From seeing the pics, it's no wonder the driver left it and ran. He, or she, just didn't want to deal with an irate customer. The driver just wanted to get this wet, leaky mess off the truck. I've had packages destroyed by every carrier in North America, and even a couple of freight carriers that deliver with tractor trailers and carry large freight. It makes you mad, but it happens. The idiots at these hubs don't care, they know stuff is insured, and no one is going fire them.

[3dees]

Well, fish #4 died. two look ok but one is still on it's side and one one fish it has white on its head and bottom of the mouth. not looking good. Don't know if any will make it.

[3dees]

here's the bad news.

[William Palumbo]

Sorry to hear of the other losses. I figured you would lose them. Lack of oxygen is a hard recovery. Congrats to John for stepping up and covering your losses. THAT'S why you go with sponsors!...Bill

[mathao]

man ,sorry about your loses, as far as i know the people that works at the incoming and out going hub have a qouta to meet so they don't really care what is inside the package it could say "please fragile has glass inside" they would still throw it around. one time i ordered some glass bowls and when ups got it to me it wasn't bowls anymore, just a box full of sharp glass shards. the sad thing is you can't do anything about it.

[Dan]

thats pretty sad, i've been lucky enough to never have received a totaled box. i have seen my boxes get tossed around, flipped and thrown from the back of the truck to the font dashboard though(that actually happened yesterday, a box full of 1"-2" fry..). seems boxes that are usually marked fragile are the ones they like to kick around and throw.

kudos to john for helping you out in this situation.

[jball1125]

So sorry to hear that this happened to you. It has to be a horrible feeling knowing that the shipping company made you and John loose precious time, money, and fish and there is nothing you can do about it.
I hope next time everything goes smooth for you. :o

Best wishes and props to John for stepping up!

[mmorris]

I'm so sorry! I am well aware of how disappointed you must be. You shouldn't be responsible for 100% of the shipping costs.

[allan_mark76]

In cases like this I usually also lower the water to half with tsp of H2O2 with extra airline/stone. Keep everything dark and don't startle the tank (stress). Don't add salt either as their slime coat is fried so they are gentle. The survivors should also be extra quarantined as now they have extra stuff to worry about as their immune system is compromised. Last thing you need is an outbreak.

~AKA~

[nc0gnet0]

I like to use meth blue in cases like this to help with the oxygen transfer.

[3dees]

thanks to everone. as of this morning only 3 left. on the plus side they are swimming around the tank. lights not on yet so I can't see them clearly but hopefully they will make it. yes Bill I am soooo glad I went with a sponsor.
John is trying to get the shipping costs refunded, but I'm not holding my breath.

[3dees]

here's what left. even got them to eat some fbw.

[Spardas]

They look better. Hopefully FedEx won't do a crap job the next time around.

[kaceyo]

Well, they're up and about and swimmin like they otter. That's something. Baby them for a while and they'll be good as new.

[jball1125]

It looks like your in the clear with those. They look alot better than yesterday.

[babakaty]

Beautiful fish in a stunning tank. Makes me ill about the lost ones thinking what they must have gone through. I've dealt with John too, he'll make it right. Best of luck.

[Disgirl]

I am so relieved to see 3 survivors! So very sorry about the other ones though. I just can't understand how FedEx and UPS and the USPS can be so thoughtless with live creatures. Beautiful fish you have there! Best of luck with them and I hope they have a wonderful life now with you!
Barb

[tcmemphisbbq]

Because they simply don't care - it's all about the $$ now a days.

I dread getting things live in lately, last few times (except the ones I got from people on this site) were in horrible shape.

I had live rock, LIVE, cycled rock overnighted and it took 3 days after sitting in a unheated tub in a truck in the middle of winter - my cycled rock was trashed, the driver dropped it, it started leaking so they stowed it over the weekend.....I emailed Fred Smith himself (having previous business with him directly) - and while he apologized it was pretty much just a corporate BS apology.....

[Frankr409]

Those original pictures made me sad. I can only imagine how sick to your stomach this must have made you. Best wishes with the fish you have.

[joanr]

Sorry for your loss. I sure hate reading about shipping mishaps but luckily you have the three looking much better today. The tank is perfect for the wilds, nice job!

[3dees]

thanks everyone. I have never been so stressed over fish in all my years in this hobby. It's so sickening just sitting there watching them die. now I'll be stressed out when the next carton is shipped. all three are all over the tank now so maybe I can sleep tonight. lol

[3dees]

morning of day four. lights not on yet but I could see the fish cruising the tank. should I do a water change today or let them settle in a while longer. with all these poor guys have been through I don't want to stress them anymore.

[mmorris]

I would do a wc.

[kaceyo]

Ditto.

[3dees]

advice taken. major water change and this is a few hours later. hard for me to believe these guys were on thier sides hardly breathing two days ago. thanks so much to everyone here.
Dan

[catgoldfish]

Great looking tank. Glad some of them made it. Everyone gets stressed about sick or struggling fish. It says that you actually really care for them. I'm the same way.:)

[Wahter]

Glad to see some of them are pulling through. Just keep up with the TLC and those three should turn out nicely. Sorry to see losses though.



Walter