i think i killed my fish

[quick061]

ok, today was the big day that i was going to move my bass from one house to my apartment 4 hours away. i got a big tub that was about the size of his 20g tank, moved him and his water into it, added a little dechlor and ice because it was about 90 degrees in the bed of my truck.

however, when i got up to my apartment i went to check on my fish and discovered i had a fish popsicle instead. the temperature in his tub was down really low, the fish was leaning on its side and his fins almost felt frozen. he was even tring to roll belly-up. the problem was when i stopped for gas mid way thru i got another bag of ice, not realizing that it wasn't hot enough to actually need it. so instead of just keeping the water cool it got it way too cold.

discovering my fish pop i brought the tub in, dumped out some of the cold water and added some luke-warm water from his large aquarium that i am setting up for him. i didn't do too much, probably about 10-15% because i didn't want to bring the temp up too fast.

so now i've put him back into his small old aquarium and everything and he seems to be ok, moving all of his fins and swimming a bit.

so what i want to know is if there's anything else i can do? i figure if he can make it until the morning he stands a pretty good chance of surviving but i don't know. any advice would be great.

[morleyz]

What kind of bass?

[brackishwannbe]

I learned this lesson while actually fishing for largemouth bass that I wanted to put in my farm pond. After catching the fish and puting them into buckets we put the left over ice in the buckets with fish and when we got home there was some very cold fish almost like a 'fishsicle'. We were able to revive most of the fish by swishing them back in forth in the pond. This causes forced water through thier gills, since the fish were not able to breath on thier own. We've done this methond many, many times for one reason or another when tranpsport fish to another farm pond. Most of the fish survive and the ones that didn't found they way into the frying pan at supper time. Even thou your fish recovered you'll need to watch it over the next couple of days.

[Faramir]

The problem is that water has a very latent heat of fusion - in other words, a lot of energy is required to melt ice. Where does this come from? The water, of course. Therefore, in melting ice a lot of heat energy is drawn out of the surrounding water. The practical upshot of this is that ice is very good at cooling water.

As you found.

[DrDeath]

On the upside, since bass are generally cold water fish and very used to winterey waters I would think he'll probably be ok.

His pampered bass should adapt :)

DrD

[quick061]

its a largemouth that's about 2.5 years old and just over a foot long.

i just checked on it this morning and although he hasn't started eating yet he seems fine. all of his fins are up and he's responding pretty well. i'm not too worried about him not eating though, i'm sure he will start sometime in the next couple of days.

[morleyz]

I agree with DrDeath...a large mouth should be able to cope with very cold water.

[quick061]

yes that was my mindset at the time also. but what i realized later was that in nature the change is usually with the season and takes anywhere from days to months. its not the same as it happening in hours.

[OrionGirl]

Which goes to show you aren't from anywhere cold. :)

The temp here can drop from 60 to below freezing in a few hours. On small waters, that means it will drop 15+ degrees an hour, especially if the wind is whipping around.

Granted, it's not a good thing to do to a fish, but it does happen in the wild. The biggest problem for fish in the winter is when the surface completely freezes over. Eventually the water becomes oxygen deprived and this kills fish quickly. That, or the formation of frazil ice (very small ice crystals, usually in smaller streams) which clogs and freezes the gill tissue.

[Corax]

One question... How are you able to legally keep that fish? In TN, where I'm from, no wild game fish may be kept in captivity unless you have a permit, and those are only for farmers generally... Just curious, cuz I would expect the CA laws to be even more strict cuz of all the granola (fruits and nuts) that write your eco-protection laws out there...

[OrionGirl]

A quick review of CA fishing regs shows that it isn't legal to transport live fish without special permits, so I suspect possession in captivity isn't legal either.

Happens all the time.

All I ask is that people don't throw out the fish into local waterways when they don't want it anymore.

[DrDeath]

RAven - You had me laughing again! "Those granolas" :)

Of course it is the "granolas" that legalize pot, so of course they think it would be wrong to keep a game fish, wear fur, cut down a tree, etc :p

DrD

[OrionGirl]

Wyoming is not noted for it's granola population, but it's not legal here to keep game fish without permits, nor is it legal to transport any live game fish without a permit. This practice is based on fishery management more than anything else. People don't realize how big most game fish will get in an aquarium (no predators, regular feedings and higher temps, usually), and then don't know what to do with the huge fish they have. Very few LFS will accept them as turn ins, so people dump them in a local waterway, with no thought to the consequences.

Illegally 'stocked' fish have ruined many native fisheries, as well as spread/introduced diseases. It may seem like a joke, but think how you'd feel if you came home and discovered an oscar had been dumped in your tetra tank. Same thing, only many times a breeding population is established. In a lake, one bass might seem insignificant, but a breeding population will decimate a trout fishery. Not a pretty picture.

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by OrionGirl
Which goes to show you aren't from anywhere cold. :)

The temp here can drop from 60 to below freezing in a few hours. On small waters, that means it will drop 15+ degrees an hour, especially if the wind is whipping around.

Granted, it's not a good thing to do to a fish, but it does happen in the wild. Eventually the water becomes oxygen deprived and this kills fish quickly. I wonder if his bass was 'obtained' in a region where such drastic temp changes can happen?
I think getting more oxygen to the bass is very important. What size is the tank, or pond?

[quick061]

80gal tank.

and no, i do not currently posess a permit for this game specimin. however, it is being used for educational purposes and on top of that i doubt anyone would really be upset anyways.

i guess that temp. changes can happen like that in some areas but i doubt he's ever experienced one, even in the mountain lake where he was caught. besides i've had it since he was about 2.5" so since then he's been an aquarium fish.

btw the one good thing about having a bass is that you are never out of options if they get too big. i've had numerous offers to take him off my hands for a meal already. sheez, some people :rolleyes:

[pinballqueen]

The only time it's really a problem to have a wild species as a pet is if it happens to turn out to be an endangered species, as far as the game warden is concerned. I spoke to a game warden recently about this very thing, and he said as long as I had a fishing license to catch the fish, they didn't really care what I did with it once it came out of the lake. He said it was "technically" illegal to keep ANY native fish without educational permits or specific reasons, such as reviving the gene pool at a hatchery, but nothing is ever really said about it unless you release it and someone sees you, or you catch an endangered fish to keep as a specimen.... Then again, "technically" it's illegal to catch tadpoles and raise them, too, and I know a lot of people who do that for their kids....

People around here (Backwoods, USA) don't even mind the fact that people catch oppossums and use them to train their hunting dogs.... game wardens included in both the practice and the observation of it, and it's just as unlawful according to the FGC.

Your area might be a little more strict in their interpretation of the law, though...