What are their chances of surviving shipping?

[Tim Wheatley]

I ordered some Silver Dollars, 5" length. The sender didn't feed them for 3 days to reduce ammonia in their poop and shipped them with heat pads.

There were dropped at FedEx at 10am yesterday, they were moved to another location and have sat on a truck since 4am today going nowhere. FedEx said 'due to weather' they were not delivered today.

I called FedEx at 5:30pm and was told they were not coming today (first I had heard, and the online tracking still said they were coming today). I was pretty angry so I eventually got the package taken off the truck and brought inside. It hasn't been opened yet and will be inside until the morning when it's put on the truck again for delivery tomorrow... Obviously by then the heat packs will be done.

So, have fish ever surprised you by surviving? I moved 1000 miles with fish in buckets and every single one survived, so I am holding out hope... Do you think there's any hope these fish are going to make it, or should I give up hope already? If they get delivered at 10am tomorrow they'll have been in the hands of Fedex for 48 hours, without hear for probably 18 (if the heat packs lasted that long) and on a truck for about 10 hours today.

I'm not really going to question the packing. I know they were seperately packed (so hopefully one dying won't have affected the others). I trust the shipper on that front. This is all FedEx... Who said they could not ship even though my pregnant wife was able to drive the route today and nothing is stopping anyone around here from getting to work...

I guess I'm just venting. I'm annoyed. This is probably going to be a needless loss of fish.

Tim

 

[hdultra]

wish you the best Tim

 

[BigJim]

Good luck. Some heat packs last up to 72 hours. I hope the shipper used those. You picked a rough week to order fish by mail. Tropical fish don't really like single digit temperatures.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

Yeah, I know. I just thought that with the shipper being three hours away and the fish being properly packed it would be OK for that time as they'd never be sat still at any point. Didn't even consider they'd get stuck as we both watched the weather forecast closely and used a gap. They guaranteed him 24 hours and (as you'll know) the weather here should not have stopped them yesterday. Maybe last week, maybe this past weekend, but not yesterday.

 

[andreahp]

Wow - I hope you open the boxes and find they are survivors! I'd be besides myself also.

 

[Oscar Man]

What website did you order from ? I could love to see fish online

 

[Tim Wheatley]

It was a private sale. The shipper did everything right.

It's now nearly 1pm. The promised early delivery from FedEx has not happened.

This feels awful as I know every second counts and they're ticking away. My frustration rose earlier as I just got a delivery from FedEx, but as it was a different 'service' it wasn't included with that drop. I know I am going to be opening dead fish now... If the shipper dropped them at the place at 10am, he probably had them bagged by 9am Monday. It's 1pm Wednesday, that's too much. When I moved my fish from Massachusetts to Illinois they lasted the 30 hours just fine, but they had the warmth of the truck cab and the agitation of any bumps to oxygenate the water, this is now at least 51 hours and counting.

This doesn't matter, but FedEx aren't even going to have to refund postage. I just called and they said their smallprint explains what they mean by guaranteed. Apparently guaranteed does not mean guaranteed. Funny, real funny.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

What website did you order from ? I could love to see fish online

I usually order from aquariumfish.net online. Never had a problem.

 

[BigJim]

I hate fine print. Just say what you mean.

Is there insurance on the shipment?

 

[Bettababe1011]

Miracles can happen. Right now those fish need a miracle. I sincerely hope they are alright. Hopefully the most you have to deal with would be some sickly fish that pull through. Good luck.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

All five are dead. The packing was superb, can't fault the shipper in any way. He packed them exactly as he said he would.

Another bit of annoyance was that I was promised an early delivery today. I got them at 3:17pm.

No I don't think so, but I'm not worried about a refund. I just wanted the fish. I would have driven down if I didn't trust them to deliver.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Poor fishies. Shame on fedex. Shame. That's ridiculous that their not getting the fish shipped when they said they would be caused the death of five innocent fish and the distress of the buyer. I repeat my earlier statement, shame on fedex, shame.

 

[Tim Wheatley]

I probably would have waited, but the seller needed to get rid as he had aggression issues and they were the victims in the tank. So they went from that, to this. Really annoyed and myself and them. Really myself more now. I should have driven down there.

 

[TraceyB4602]

: ( poor little fishies I hate Fedex there guarantees are crap

Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium

 

[Bettababe1011]

Quoting from a book, "Regret is the silliest human emotion. What is done is done.". You didn't know that this would happen. But I guess even if regret is silly, telling it so doesn't chase it away. You could have gone down to pick them up, yes, but you didn't. It's no use beating yourself up over something that is out of your control. And now learn from any mistakes you feel you made.

 

[BigJim]

I'd call up FedEx and complain. I ordered shoes late Monday evening that got shipped from Wisconsin and I had them by 1:30 this afternoon using the basic UPS shipping. It's a similar distance to practically the same location.