Bag Buddies

[stormhawk]

Hi all,

I've heard about this product being mentioned by Bill previously in one of his posts in the Cory thread. What exactly does this product do and how effective is this product in helping fish survive a few days in transit during shipping? Anyone can help answer my query?

[whuntley]

http://www.junglelabs.com/pages/details.asp?item=JT703

gives the description right from the manufacturer. It is apparently a tablet form of the old product "Ship Right" that commercial shippers have used for many years in FL.

A little web crawling will quickly turn up a lot of folks who think they are great. I have used similar things in the past, but find the prime benefit is in controlling ammonium/ammonia. Amquel or Prime do that just fine and are simpler to use. When shipping fish, I mix a shipping water of the correct tds and temperature with about a triple dose of Amquel in a pump dispenser.

I move the fish from the water they were starved in for 24-48 hours, into a little of the shipping mix squirted into a bag. The bag is then sealed and I quickly put it in the box so the fish is in partial darkness and calms down immediately.

I feel dark is a perfect tranquilizer and beats any chemical for slowing the fish metabolism and getting them there in good health. Some of the additives appear to contain some methylene blue. It may help oxygen transport in thick commercial bags full of many fish. I'm not convinced it helps individuals in breather bags.

Ship Right used to be really expensive. Something like US$800 for a gallon jar!

Wright

[stormhawk]

It is apparently a tablet form of the old product "Ship Right" that commercial shippers have used for many years in FL.

Thanks for the link Wright.

I think I've heard of this Ship Right thingy. I once saw an advert in an old issue of TFH magazine in the early 90s and I think I recall seeing something like this in those adverts.

That's a very informative piece on how to ship fishes using Amquel or Prime. I'll keep that in mind the next time round.

Ship Right used to be really expensive. Something like US$800 for a gallon jar!

Holy crap! That's daylight robbery?!.. at least to me that is.

[keehoe]

JianYang, if you feel like giving it a try, let me know. I can give you some to try out. You don't need a lot of that as one tablet is for 4 litre of water. How much water are you sending oversea?

[stormhawk]

I'm not sure Kee Hoe. Not planning any future shipments for the moment. Testing it could be done however but I might have to sacrifice one fish for a try-out.

[RonWill]

I have used similar things in the past, but find the prime benefit is in controlling ammonium/ammonia. Amquel or Prime do that just fine and are simpler to use

Wright,
I have a box of Sera Active carbon and was wondering whether it'd do any good with breather-packed fishes, a couple of pellets per bag instead of dosing additives.

Kee Hoe,
When used with breather-bag packing, I think we'd have to break up the tablets. Then again, it's difficult to break cleanly with repeatable consistency (as in ⅛th of a tablet).

[whuntley]

Activate carbon will do little just sitting in the bag. It must have water forced through it (preferably under high pressure) to remove much ammonium. Ammonia chips (Ammo Carb, for example) are the same.

Please note that Bag Buddies were designed for getting fish home from the store, and not for long-term exposure like with Ship Right.

To use with the 50-60cc of water in a breather bag, it would seem essential to dissolve the tablet in a gallon of water and then use the water. That may defeat such things as oxygen release, but that is certainly not wanted in a breather bag, anyway. Just my biased US$0.02.

Wright

[stormhawk]

Then again, it's difficult to break cleanly with repeatable consistency (as in ⅛th of a tablet).

Ron, I came across an interesting item while I was at the pharmacy a few days ago. Was looking for syringes and I found this item that helps you break a pill into half or smaller easily. It's like a cross between a stapler and a knife blade. Very small, fits into the pocket. It might work in cracking the tablets up nicely.

[whuntley]

At my age, I have to use lots of pills every day. I use such a device all the time, for the cost of meds is lower per dose when bought in larger sizes. It works pretty well on smaller pills, but is nearly useless on very big ones.

Wright

[stormhawk]

Hmm.. wonder if it'll work with a Bag Buddy tab.

[ruyle]

Hmm.. wonder if it'll work with a Bag Buddy tab.

They'll work quite handily as they are roughly the size of a 325mg acetaminophen tablet.
They are not scored, however, and are blue and white.
These are not to be confused with "Butt Baggies" which is what
New Yorkers have to pack around when they walk their dogs!

Bill

[keehoe]

What i normallly do is break half a tablet and disolve them in small tub of water, put the fish(s) into container with 2 litre of clean water. Then slowly pour the cocktail into the fish container. Have tried that when giving a pair of fish to a very busy person who left the fishes in the office for more than a week. (The fishes were in breathable bag.) Both fish were in good health weeks after they reach new home.

These solution will form crystal when dryup. I suppose a microscopic view on the crystal would reveal its actual identity.

[hobbit6003]

Hmm.. wonder if it'll work with a Bag Buddy tab.

They'll work quite handily as they are roughly the size of a 325mg acetaminophen tablet.
They are not scored, however, and are blue and white.
These are not to be confused with "Butt Baggies" which is what
New Yorkers have to pack around when they walk their dogs!

Bill

Hi Bill,

What does this analgesic drug do to the fish?



Cheers,

Kenny

[ruyle]

Hi Bill,

What does this analgesic drug do to the fish?



Cheers,

Kenny

Kenny, the container doesn't list contents, but reads "Water Conditioning
tablets with fish calmer." Like Wright mentioned, it combats ammonia
buildup during transit and it seems to have methylene blue
that darkens the water (probably the fish calmer). It also claims to add
oxygen to the water. You can use one tablet to one gallon of water according
to label instructions, so 80 tablets will last you awhile. Just
checked and Wright's link doesn't mention contents, either, Mark Weiss
must've written this for them

HTH,

Bill