Fish dead after 1 hour in bag from pet shop

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Garden and Aquatics

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 28, 2024
Messages
15
Location
Mansfield, UK
Thinking that fish can survive hours bagged, I got a few more bits from town before I took them home.

After 30 minutes they were upside down, so I rushed home as quick as I could.

When I got home they were basically dead, no movement at all.

I stuck them in my tank and they just dropped to the bottom, no movement.

I stuck an air hose under their noses, after a few minutes i tried to touch them and they moved a little before not moving at all again.

I repeated this a few times every minute or so.

They are all fine now, thank goodness.

I have heard of fish lasting days bagged, so is that wrong.

can fish only last short amounts of time bagged.

note: that the bag was punctured, so I had them put another bag on it but I did not tie it.

could this have somehow effected the pressure of the air and not allowed the water to absorb the air as it should?
 
Probably not, I would ask the pet shop about this. How long were the fish in there? Filters with waterfalls give oxygen to the fish without those the water runs out of oxygen. That may have been why. Glad they are okay!
 
My local fish store will inject O2 if the journey home is more than 30 minutes. However I've personally transported fish in a bag for a 3 hour car journey with no O2, and fish are shipped all the time with longer journeys, with precautions.
 
Probably not, I would ask the pet shop about this. How long were the fish in there? Filters with waterfalls give oxygen to the fish without those the water runs out of oxygen. That may have been why. Glad they are okay!

I think the idea is that the oxygen in bag can sustain the fish for several hours. Of course 30 minutes is preferable. Fish get shipped with pure oxygen in the bag no problem for 2-3 days.

My local fish store will inject O2 if the journey home is more than 30 minutes. However I've personally transported fish in a bag for a 3 hour car journey with no O2, and fish are shipped all the time with longer journeys, with precautions.

That's what I though, I wonder if the puncture caused low pressure in the bag and low oxygen transfer to water. Like I say they were critical after only 30 minutes.
 
I think the idea is that the oxygen in bag can sustain the fish for several hours. Of course 30 minutes is preferable. Fish get shipped with pure oxygen in the bag no problem for 2-3 days.
I transported fish 1200 miles ( 1931 KM) with just room air while just opening the bag every 2 -3 hours to exchange the air in the bag with air out of the atmosphere. On oxygen, fish can last 48+ hours. ( I've shipped fish literally around the world. ) The issue you had may be the type of fish they were ( they went into shock) , the type of air that was put into the bag, the temperature of the water, or even something else.
That's what I though, I wonder if the puncture caused low pressure in the bag and low oxygen transfer to water. Like I say they were critical after only 30 minutes.
Oxygen is not forced into the water with pressure but from an exchange of gasses. When there is carbon dioxide present in the water, it gets exchanged with oxygen when there is a rippling or bubbles at the water's surface. What will happen eventually is the the carbon dioxide in the water will end up in the air portion of the bag and the oxygen that was in the air part of the bag will be absorbed into the water. If there is too much carbon dioxide and not enough oxygen, the fish will suffer from Carbon Dioxide poisoning. It's not necessarily a death sentence but not the best for the fish. :( Hope this explains things. (y)
 
I've heard of rummy nose playing dead when bagged. I think there are several types of fish that do it. Not saying that's the case here just that it can happen.
 
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