Oxygen tabs for fish transport and shipping?

[TwoHedWlf]

Nothing anywhere I can find seems to say what is in those bait buddies tablets. The description, that it just "Bubbles for hours", makes me wonder if it's just adding oxygen by circulating the water. Could just be a bakingsoda/acid reaction. And anyway if you put that in a closed bag it would build up pressure until the bag explodes.

I'd just use an air pump, get a 12v one and power it off the car. Any stops you make they'll be fine for an hour or two.

 

[jjohnwm]

Or even just get a small 12v inverter and use it in your car to run a standard 120v AC air pump. I have an inverter that lives in my car, along with an old cheapie air pump, specifically for this purpose. An old insulated cooler, with a small hole drilled in the lid to pass through an airline with airstone will keep even somewhat crowded fish alive and healthy for many hours.

 

[ichthyogeek]

That oxygen tablets are not safe for fish would differ from the experience of lots of people who have used them.

Any practical experience on your part?

Well I've transported fish on airplanes before in bag, past TSA agents. The fish have lasted ~8 hours or so in the bag without any oxygen input, but I was also transporting tropicals (specifically livebearers), and not oxygen intensive species, like coldwater minnows etc. Depending on what you're collecting and how far you're moving them, you might not need the tablets. YMMV.

I never said that the oxygen tablets were not safe for fish. I said that I understood sodium percarbonate to not be safe for fish. I asked what the oxygen tablets were made of.