(Very) long‐term transport of Silurus glanis, Carcharhinus melanopterus, Scomber colias, Trachurus picturatus, Polyprion americanus, Rhinoptera marmoratus, Salmo salar, Scomber scombrus, Sardina pilchardus, and others, by land, water and air

• Published in: Zoo Biology
• Main Authors: Correia, João, Daghfous, Gheylen, Silva, David, Graça, Gonçalo, Beltran, Ivan, Reis, João, Marques, José P., Silva, Luís, Guedes, Rui, Morato, Telmo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2022
• Subjects: Alka; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/zoo.21684; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/zoo.21684; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/zoo.21684

Abstract In this paper, we cover 4 years of live fish transports that ranged from 14 to 200 h (8 days), and bioloads from 3.8 to 76.9 kg/m 3 . The key ingredients for success in all trips, where virtually no mortality occurred, was atributed to (1) pre‐buffering the water with sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate at 50 g/m 3 (each)—and/or ATM Alka‐Haul TM at 25 g/m 3 —and applying additional (partial or full) doses throughout each transport, whenever the tanks were accessible; (2) pre‐quenching ammonia with ATM Triage TM at 32 g/m 3 , and applying additional (partial or full) doses throughout each transport, whenever the tanks were accessible; (3) keeping the dissolved oxygen saturation rate above 100%, ideally above 150%; (4) Keeping temperature on the lower limit of each species' tolerance range; (5) Using foam fractionators to effectively eliminate organic matter from the water and (6) Using pure sine wave inverters, which allows for a steady supply of electrical current throughout the transport. The use of a ‘preventive’ versus ‘corrective’ pH buffering philosophy is also discussed.