Sometimes you get sick and it is not because you did anything wrong. The same thing happens with fish.
The stress of shipping reduces the immune response of the fish, which increases the likelihood that they can get sick when shipped. Imagine how you would feel after being sealed in a dark box for a day or more and then bounced around with no notice.
Sometimes the box gets thrown or dropped. Once again, imagine how you would feel if you were in a box and it was dropped or thrown.
While we pack in insulated coolers and use heat packs in the winter, we cannot completely control temperature. If the box is left out in the sun in Arizona in the summer, or left in the snow in Minnesota during the winter, the fish will suffer. We look up the temperature in the UPS Hub of Louisville and at your address on every package the morning before we ship. All fish are shipped in insulated boxes. If necessary, we add heat packs. We have to make our decisions based on weather forecasts, which often can be very wrong. A forecast that is off be 3-5 degrees can make errors in our decisions on how to pack the boxes.
Sometimes, even though we clearly mark our boxes not to be turned upside down, they can be left upside down or on their sides. This can lead to some water leaking and getting on the heat packs which makes them stop working.
The longer the fish are in a small bag in a small box with limited oxygen, the more likely they are to get sick or die.
