Typhoons - Did shipping cause this??

[Andrewjw]

Hello all,
I just received a few typhoon plecos, LDA 105, and I have never received fish in such bad shape. Their eyes are very sunken, and they are breathing super fast, and they just sit there, barely clinging on to life.

The seller is suggesting that they must not do well with shipping!
However, they were packed well, individually bagged, arrived warm and without leaks....and they were only in bags for a total of a few hours (sent same day airfreight for only 30 minute flight).

I have been shipped a lot of fish over the last 30 years and have never seen fish not tolerate shipping.

What do you all think? Does this species simply ship poorly?

Andy

[Acanthicus]

Hi

This is not caused by some hours of shipping. I have seen several Typhoons lately that were in a bad shape and my guess is, that they are not kept well in Brazil already. Obviously I cant tell for sure, because sadly I'm not there, but my impression is that tons of Typhoons are being shipped in the last few months, and they become readily available. Still, they belong to the more expensive fishes, so possibly they are being collected in such big numbers that it is not possible anymore to keep them fit until they get exported. They are illegal to collect and to ship, maybe another reason why they get less attention, especially when they are easier to collect now than some years ago, when every individual was treated like a diamond.

I dont know how long your dealer has had them, anything more than two weeks would rule out what I said above, for your fish at least.

[Jools]

Agree, these fish don't go like this in a few days let alone hours. Suspect it's because they are illegal to export from Para, they are shipped (slowly) to another state and then international.

Jools

[Tony4143]

Man this breaks my heart to see them like this, hope you can get them back into shape
-Tony

[Andrewjw]

Update: A few days have gone by, and they are somehow doing much better. They eyes are no longer sunken at all, and they aren't breathing hard. Even better, they are eating shrimp and chewing on some wood. So they are going to make it. I am truly surprised.....(and relieved).
Andy

[MarcW]

That's great news, other than being malnourished I guess they had no other issues, e.g. internal parasites, in my limited experience, which has been with more omnivorous fish, if they looked that bad they didn't make it.

Good luck with them!