cant keep them alive!!!

[Hounded819]

Ok so I havnt been ice fishing sence i was about 10 im 25 now. decided to get back into it. And after the first day i had 5 shinners left didnt want to waste them so i brought them back and put them in a large cooler with about 12 gall of water and a air pump that is made for 5-15 gall fish tanks. They lived for about 4 hours. Next time we went had a dozon and tryed the same thing killed 6 off in 4 hours and the rest over night. I dont knwo what im doing wrong . i can remeber beeing a kid and my dad had an old bath tub in the spare room and he would fill it with water and put them in and they would be fine for weeks. so yesterday i had a buddy drop off his left over shuinners and i took a 5 gal bucket drilled alot of little holes in it and took it to the lil pond in my back yard and put it under and put them in. had 7 with one that was a about dead. checked it befor work had the same number then when i got back from work i only had 2 left. is it me of are they harder to keep than i remember

[Monadnock Fisherman]

Well if you are using town water there is the problem
It is treated. It is a minnow killer

[Santo180]

I have an unheated mudroom that I keep mine in.  Just a 5 gal bucket no aeration or nothing.  Keeping them cold is the key.  When it's warmer I ice in the 5 gal buck and don't really have much of a problem.  NY has strange bait laws so I usually just have to keep them alive till then next weekend.

[GCD]

Well if you are using town water there is the problem
It is treated. It is a minnow killer

^^^^^ This ^^^^^^

You need to use lake or rain water to keep them in, or treat your tap water with a chlorine remover. Then put your shiners in a plastic bag with the water they were in and float it in your big container for 10-15 min. so they both become the same temp., then dump the shiners into the big container.

If you clean your cooler with detergent that could be a problem too.

[tinyfisher]

If they're dying that quickly, you're probably getting crap bait from the bait shop.  Or, if they're fine out on the lake and dying when you get them home, you might be shocking them.  If you transfer them to different containger or change the water, make sure the water is the same temperature.  I usually keep a 5 gallon bucket full of water next to my minnow cooler, that way they're the same temp when I go to change the water, and the chlorine evaporates as well.

[chfishon]

I would keep them cold and change the water out with lake water....

[mojofish]

Small fish are sensitive to water conditions which include water treatment chemicals, temperature, and bacteria levels.

For water quality and temp. I use a clean (no soap) 7 gal bucket and aerator rated for 10 gal set up few days in advance. This allows chemicals in town water to evaporate. Helps to keep in cool area. Use a small thermometer to check temps before transfer. Sometimes I will add some snow or ice to level out temps so I do not shock fish.

Try a different bait store too some bait shops the fish die no matter what.

You could also go extreme like me:

Use lake water. I also put in gravel, a water logged branch, a small plant, and 1 goldfish in my set up. The combination of these things helps water quality enormously. The gold fish keeps bacteria levels fine and act as an mine canary if water levels toxify.

My system was very easy to put together and I keep bait year round. I also now catch my own bait (minnows and crawfish) and use them on the same water that they were taken from. I have very good success, my daughter loves "bait fishing" with me and I save tons of time money and gas.

[Hounded819]

think i figured it out. put a new temp gauge in the tank and found out the old one was junk and bought some salt stuff to help with thier slim.. have had 2 dozen shinners for 3 days now and still look as good as the day i got them thanks for the help guys

[Epkomd]

i have accidentally sent all the bait in my tanks into shock a couple times by dropping the temp to fast on a water change.

i found if you slowly bring the temp back to what it was at, they will revive. i was freaked when i looked and saw them all belly up.

i learned my lesson then.