[Oldsaint]

I have a large, 12"-13" Naso vlamingii that was given to me about a year ago. It has grown way to big for my 260. I contacted the New Orleans aquarium and worked out donating her to them. I'm driving to NO in Sept anyways and figured it would be better to take the fish with me than to ship it. It's about an 17 hour drive. I was wondering what's the best way to do this. I have a crew cab truck so it will be inside.
So far these are the recommedations I've received.
Starve the fish for approx a week. Put it in a small tank for 24hrs so it flushes it's system out. The day of the trip put it into the 20g cooler and add, not sure what it's called, a pill to mellow the fish out. Do 2 50% water changes during the trip. I'll have a converter with me so I can plug in pwr heads, heaters or airstones. What ever you think is best.

[leebca]

WELCOME to the new Forum!

Water quality and proper gas exchange ares some of the important parts to the successful transportation of fishes.

Your vehicle should have a built-in mechanism for air exchange as you drive along. So the water gases will be in equilibrium with the inside vehicle gases. But when you stop to gas-up or eat or sleep, you will need to open windows or somehow make sure the air around the container is 'normal' and not carbon dioxide enriched. An added issue is car and road fumes. Fishes have more senses than humans have -- they can sense chemical changes. If poisonous gases get into the water, your fish will be stressed, maybe to the point of death. Watch for this and be prepared.

I would facilitate gas exchange with some medium circulation that will agitate the water's surface.

20 gallon cooler? You want the largest quantity of water possible for this sized fish. Think of how you might quarantine this fish. Would you use a 20 gallon tank to quarantine this fish? Although you don't have to provide it with the right swimming room, the fish has got to be able to turn around easily and at least do more than just 'float.' The more water, the less likely the fish will have an adverse reaction to strange gases and the less concentrated will be the fish wastes. Also, the more water the less likely to be swings in pH and temperature. Go as large as you can handle.

I would not recommend using any kind of anesthetic for this transportation. Respiration rate slows down with most anesthetics available to the hobbyist and this won't be in the fish's best interest for such a long time.

I don't understand, nor can reason out why someone recommended the 24 hour small tank step.

If intake should be reduced and restricted, then this shold begin at least 10 days before transportation. Starving it? Possibly okay if the fish will likely recover from the fast. If the fish is healthy to begin with, it should be fine fasting for a few weeks.

There are 'transportation additives' that are used by some fish shippers. They put an additive in the shipping water which removes/destroys ammonia. It is one of the reasons that fish shippers always recommend to NOT put their water in the aquarist's aquarium. Such chemicals control ammonia and nitrites in the shipping water. These can be useful and should be considered.

Water changes will be useful, but they cannot reduce the poisons any more than the percent of the water change. If you do plan to bring water for changes, keep one almost 100% volume off to the side in case of emergency and don't include it in your exchange total. The challenge of 'on the road water changes' is making sure the pH and temperature is right on with the water that is being removed. pH and temperature shock will be your worst enemies in making exchanges.

Before departing, I would, on your map route, indicate several marine aquarium stores along the route, should you need help. Think of them as emergency fish hospitals.

The fish may have issues of light shock. What are you planning regarding covering the container? If you use a solid cover that doesn't let light in, then you will be removing the cover frequently to check on the fish and putting the fish through light shock every time you want to check on it.

Those are my thoughts. Hope they are helpful!

[Oldsaint]

Great info. I've got an old 55 sitting around. I'll use that.
Thanks

[Morgman]

Get an inverter for your car and a strong air pump like a Tetra Luft pump. Buy the largest cooler you can find. That way you can put the thing in the bed of your truck and have easy access to it. Oh and if you a have some spillage its not big deal.

Drill some holes for the airlines in the lid of the cooler. Go buy a sponge filter and start it up in your system. That way this thing will be seeded for your trip. Try and make sure your fish can't injure itself on the sponge filter's lift tube on the interior of the cooler. Crank the air up on this setup and your good to go. I would run at least 2 airstones in this setup plus the sponge filter. A 12" -14" tang is a lot of fish. I would not worry about temp in your insulated cooler from Florida to New Orleans, its not gonna be cold. Just keep your cooler closed for the trip. You can do water changes if you think your tang needs maybe half way. Honestly, if this is running correctly and you have decent water volume and air flow I don't see any problems.