Zen is here

He got here just after 2pm.... Unfortunately it took 2 extra days through the mail than expected and he's not doing well.
He sank right to the bottom of his tank and was in lateral recumbency.... I placed him in a net and have him up closer to the surface so he can get air if he needs it. He was struggling to breathe on the bottom and was gaping. He's still in lateral recumbency in the net, but at least he's close to the surface now.
I'm praying like crazy that he recovers.... my poor, beautiful baby Zen! :(

I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes.

Hope everything turns out well. The few fish that I have had shipped take a few days to get used to things. They normally don't act very lively right away. I would keep the lights off and just hope he comes around.

Thanks STM.... I will do that. I've never had a fish shipped to me before, so this is a new experience for me as well. I'm so very worried for him.

I dont understand no one ships livestock unless it fedex overnight?? please fill me in and whats a zen?

Many fish are just extremely stressed from shipping. So keeping the lights down low and making them comfortable is all you can really do. Hopefully he will pull through and at least they are a very resilient fish to start with!

cwhip wrote:

I dont understand no one ships livestock unless it fedex overnight?? please fill me in and whats a zen?

You can send via USPS but the time is not for certain. Many sellers say they will do standard shipping or USPS at buyers request but their DOA policy only covers overnight/2 day shipping this is even more common when shipping small fish like Bettas.

O and Zen is their new Betta.

I would never buy livestock unless it's overnight FedEx with a guaranteed live arrival from the seller,these animals cost way too much to take chances.its not worth the heartbreak and monetary loss eitther.

Well it is a far more common practice with these smaller and hardy fish. Not to mention that the Betta would be more of an emotional loss then a monetary one. Surprisingly USPS has some very fast shipping but hangups do happen.

I didn't know we were talking about a Betta none the less it should be overnight period, these are live animals for goodness sakes so it still should be done right.

I have had fish shipped over night and 2 day. They always show up better on overnight but it really depends on the packing. I agree overnight is the way to go hope all is well.

Yeah it is certainly the preferred method but when you buy a fish for $4 and shipping cost $70 vice $12.50... well the choice can get harder to make.

The reason that Zen took so long is that last Monday was a Holiday and the mail got backed up for the whole week. Usually when I ship on a Monday they are at there destinations by Wed. happy and healthy. He didn't get shipped until Tuesday instead of Monday and with the Holiday the week got all screwed up. I have always shipped my fish by Priority Mail and have never had any problems with it.

Meredith, keep me posted on how he's doing.

Sorry to hear what happened. Hopefully he's ok. Poor guy

Meredith, sorry to hear about Zen. Make sure he is warm enough. It can make a difference to them.

On the few occasions I've had fish shipped, it's been either USPS priority or express mail. Express means the medium flat rate box. Two, or even three, days in transit - in MILD weather - has not been a problem, if they are packed right - as striking says.

Of course, the shorter they have to stay in the bags, the better.

Anyway, let's see how Zen does over the next day or so.

Zen passed away around 5 o'clock yesterday after noon. Whisper did everything right as far as having him packed and shipped priority...she's done it a million times and as far as I know, there's never been a problem.

The problem here was the stupid USPS. There's no reason it took them 4 days to get him here...and what's worse is the rural postal carrier is responsible for delivering mail to our entire town (including the rural roads/farms) which means he didn't get here until 2pm. Just a few days ago we didn't get our mail until 5:30!

I've never had a fish shipped to me before...I will never trust the mail with something like that again. I'm just sick. Zen was so beautiful and perfect.

Sorry to hear of your loss .
On the mailing issue , I have been shipping USPS Priority for years now . I ALWAYS give a live arrival guarantee when I ship . I never ship on a Holiday week. And I always ship on Saturday.
NO , they do not sit anywhere on Sunday . They are on the move and almost always arrive on Monday's .
Have I had loss's ? Yes . Four or five in as many years. And Yes , I reshipped replacements ,At my expense , The following Sat.

I just don't know what to do. Whisper didn't do anything wrong, it was the retarded postal system. I could see if the "holiday" was Christmas or something, but it was labor day... there's no influx of cards or packages being sent out because of labor day, so there's no reason it took them 4 days to get my fish here!

I hold them absolutely responsible...but there's nothing I can do. :(

Sorry for your loss.

I've received many live shipments via USPS priority - found out that shrimps do very well, nerites also do well, trapdoor snails do not - lost half of those but received a 50% refund. Have not tried buying fish online yet.

Thank you 2SC. I got my Ceriths through the mail as well as the Chaeto and polyps and they did really well.

I just don't know if I could ever trust the USPS with something like fish again unless it was overnighted or something.

I guess the fact that someone has PAID for their "Priority" service means nothing to them...nor does the fact that the package is marked in numerous places that it is fragile and perishable.