How to revive a dead fish. (shipping D.O.A.)

[JD7.62]

Youre fish wasn't dead. Your fish's metabolisim hit rock bottom with the cold but was still alive, you warmed it and provided it with o2 needed. I purchase live minnows from the baitshop (ALOT cheaper then LFS) and freeze them and then feed to my fish. Well once I had them in the freezer for just a couple hours and then decided to feed. I dropped the frozen fish in tank water to defrost and what did I find when I came back? Two live swimming fish!

You are so quick to quesiton some one when they mention drugs/sedatives when apparently YOU are the one that doesnt know much about shipping.

 

[beantickler]

Youre fish wasn't dead. Your fish's metabolisim hit rock bottom with the cold but was still alive, you warmed it and provided it with o2 needed. I purchase live minnows from the baitshop (ALOT cheaper then LFS) and freeze them and then feed to my fish. Well once I had them in the freezer for just a couple hours and then decided to feed. I dropped the frozen fish in tank water to defrost and what did I find when I came back? Two live swimming fish!

You are so quick to quesiton some one when they mention drugs/sedatives when apparently YOU are the one that doesnt know much about shipping.

Wow great story, except for the part about the whole story... I am so quick to question drugs/sedatives because I know the shipper. I ship fish alot also, so lets figure out who exactly is a little too quick to question here. I don't know of ANYONE who sedates fish to ship them. It is people like you who make MFK so weak anymore. Go run your mouth elsewhere. Like I have said a million times in this thread, I put this here to help people out. I don't care if the fish was dead or not dead. You got lucky and your fish started swimming again. If this helps people then good. If it never gets commented on again then who cares? At least I tried to lead some people in the right direction to helping save a fish.

 

[gomezladdams]

Great info!
Although my fish werent as close to death as yours were I had a bag of 10 plecos arrive with 52f water 5 of them floating upside down.I started a drip of warm tank water and within an hour they all revived and are all still ok to this day.They were way too small to do any of the method you described but for a larger fish I certainly would have run the tank water right into thier mouths."Hypothermia" would certainly minimize any brain damage from lack of oxygen.

And although Ive had several people disbelieve it I too have seen frozen solid killies revive in warm water.Fish are amazing what they can go through and survive.

 

[marinebiologist]

could you use that method if you fish died of constipation or something?

 

[niblit]

i work in a fish store and get alot of fish shipped from all over the world.i have used similar methods to save fish many many times it really works in some cases.as far as sedation most fish shipped long term are sedated. i get many of my fish diver direct and theyre always sedated so im sure theyre sedated enroute to your transhipper and he just bags them for the short trip to you.question?,if you know your fish guy so well and know he would never sedate your fish why wouldnt he know how to use heat packs/insulated containers ect

 

[beantickler]

could you use that method if you fish died of constipation or something?

No.

i work in a fish store and get alot of fish shipped from all over the world.i have used similar methods to save fish many many times it really works in some cases.as far as sedation most fish shipped long term are sedated. i get many of my fish diver direct and theyre always sedated so im sure theyre sedated enroute to your transhipper and he just bags them for the short trip to you.question?,if you know your fish guy so well and know he would never sedate your fish why wouldnt he know how to use heat packs/insulated containers ect

Maybe an overseas shipper uses sedation but what for? These fish still come overnight? For all of the fish I have had shipped to me over the years I have never had a fish sedated. All of the fish that I ship out get a little amquel and oxygen and thats all. All of my fish have come to me wide awake aside from this fish which came to me with ice in his water. Maybe I should ask a mod to change the title of this thread to how to revive a FROZEN fish so I can quit having to answer the same questions over and over. About the heat pack question... I really don't know how that got messed up. I was told that it was a new heatpack they were trying out and it just didn't work like there old ones that they were used to using.

 

[solomon415]

Cool story. I'll remember this.

 

[JD7.62]

Wow great story, except for the part about the whole story... I am so quick to question drugs/sedatives because I know the shipper. I ship fish alot also, so lets figure out who exactly is a little too quick to question here. I don't know of ANYONE who sedates fish to ship them. It is people like you who make MFK so weak anymore. Go run your mouth elsewhere. Like I have said a million times in this thread, I put this here to help people out. I don't care if the fish was dead or not dead. You got lucky and your fish started swimming again. If this helps people then good. If it never gets commented on again then who cares? At least I tried to lead some people in the right direction to helping save a fish.

Why so angry? Is it because most people arent fooled into believing you actually brought a DEAD fish back to life?

For the record, sedatives are commonly used, but what do I know?!

 

[Privitor]

I wonder if it will have brain damage.

it has to get brain damage from being dead for 3 hours

 

[bl00]

There's alot of arguing here and its great to see so many people so impassioned about helping fish. I think alot of people like Danger, Sponge, and Niblit are adding some great points and experiences to Bean's thread.

I'd also like to contribute a thought that I've been pondering while following this thread. The ideas of brain damage and normality are being tossed around alot, but it is often not taken into account how little oxygen the brain of a fish uses compared to the brain of a human. Its like comparing the gas comsumption of a Hummer to Vespa. Logically, wouldn't this imply that a fish can survive for a significantly longer amount of time with diminished oxygen absorbtion?

That said, this is a great thread and is an amazing thread to discuss the preservation of the life of fish that might not otherwise have survived.