The Danger of Shipping Arowana

Cirrus

Arowana blogger
It is very rare, but once in a while an arowana shipment does not go as planned. This weekend I did a favor by helping to ship out a nice 12-14 inch Panda Gold 24K cross back from Vancouver to Edmonton. All went well with the drop off at Westjet. The bag was oxygenated, I provided heatpacks, the box was in good condition. I saw the fish healthy in the box right up to when it was weighed at Westjet in the box.

Then something happened because the fish did not arrive as planned in Edmonton. Even though the fish was dropped off early in Vancouver, Westjet says there was some kind of "miscommunication" and the fish did not arrive until a later flight than it should have.

Worse than that, the fish landed in distress. It was upside down in the bag and breathing hard. Assuming there was a swim bladder issue, standard treatment was followed (low tank water, low light, warm and clean water), and then we all hoped the fish would recover. Unfortunately today after just over 48 hours after it was shipped out, the fish died.

Did Westjet drop the box or otherwise mishandle the box? Why was the box delayed? Did the fish have a swim bladder issue that developed due to the fight itself (without any fault due to Westjet)? Unfortunately we will never know.

A few photos of the fish are provided below, both from in Vancouver just before the flight, and in Edmonton, when it arrived in distress.
 

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exoticaquaria

Active Member
It is very rare, but once in a while an arowana shipment does not go as planned. This weekend I did a favor by helping to ship out a nice 12-14 inch Panda Gold 24K cross back from Vancouver to Edmonton. All went well with the drop off at Westjet. The bag was oxygenated, I provided heatpacks, the box was in good condition. I saw the fish healthy in the box right up to when it was weighed at Westjet in the box.

Then something happened because the fish did not arrive as planned in Edmonton. Even though the fish was dropped off early in Vancouver, Westjet says there was some kind of "miscommunication" and the fish did not arrive until a later flight than it should have.

Worse than that, the fish landed in distress. It was upside down in the bag and breathing hard. Assuming there was a swim bladder issue, standard treatment was followed (low tank water, low light, warm and clean water), and then we all hoped the fish would recover. Unfortunately today after just over 48 hours after it was shipped out, the fish died.

Did Westjet drop the box or otherwise mishandle the box? Why was the box delayed? Did the fish have a swim bladder issue that developed due to the fight itself (without any fault due to Westjet)? Unfortunately we will never know.

A few photos of the fish are provided below, both from in Vancouver just before the flight, and in Edmonton, when it arrived in distress.

Sorry to hear this. I remember back in the days when I use to ship fish, I would do whatever it takes to make sure the fish arrives safely. On most occasion, 99.9%, fish will arrive without a problem but there has been those moments where I'm completely clueless. On one occasion it was a very short fight and easy fish to ship. Sometimes you just never know!
 
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