Fish Bag Leaked During Delivery

I just received a trio of nice mature L134s.
But the box must have been abused in transport, as one of the two bags had leaked and the fish in the leaked bag was only just covered by water.
The worst bit was the water that had leaked was in the poly box and it had affected the heat pack, as it was cold and also the water in the box and the bags were cold to touch.

The fish looked alive but very docile, i could nudge them without much of a reaction, though i was worried about the fish that was in the bag that leaked.
So i put them straight into the tank without acclimatisation (drip their new tank water in the bag for around an hour).

The tanks temperatrure is 28/29 degrees, and they swam around at first but seemed to have some hidey holes now, and hopefully there won't be any adverse reactions.

Would i have been better to act as normal and drip acclimatise them, instead of putting them straight into their new tank, giving them time to adjust to the warmer water, or was i probably better just putting them straight into their tank in this case ?

its always a hard call when fish arrive like that, i've had them turn up in burst bags with little to no water in, and have felt the same as you, just get them into some water, not ideal, but at that point i always think that any water is better than none

Yea I tend to agree, any water is better than none! Hope they do well.

I would of put them in their tank too. Hopefully they will recover ok.

I would have put them in some water a little warmer than them, in a small bucket, but not as warm as the tank , then gradually add some tank water to the bucket . this minimises the temp shock bit.
anyway it sounds like you have been lucky!

Just watch out for white spot now.

It is a bugger sending and receiving fish via the post.

I myself avoid it at all costs, but I have never had a problem on the few occasions I have used the post.

Thanks for the replies.
The three of them are surviving and hiding in some bits of wood
I'll keep an eye on them for any reactions to stress, currently can only see some fins in amongst the wood, but i think they are over the worst.
Fed them some bloodworm tonight, it should get them eating a bit.

Nice looking fish and one looks a really podgy/egg laiden female as well, it is meant to be two females and one male, but i didn't get a chance to take any pictures after the shock of opening the poly box, will try in a week or so.

sounds like a close call - expecially at this time of year

If they made it through the night it sounds like it not going to be this that kills them....
white spot afterwards might be an issue but hopefully your keeping a close eye

How are they doing?

Lisa
The trio are doing fine, and there is even no signs of any disease
I moved them to larger tank on Monday and the only thing that caught my eye, is they are all pretty podgy, maybe too well feed before i got them.
So i am feeding them lower protien food with some vegetables, ie, crab cusine, 32% protein & hikari tropical wafers, around 40% protein, as Tetra prima and other popular brands are more around 50% protein, hopefully stop them getting too podgy.

good luck.