Betta died after transporting it in a car. Any ideas why?

[egracheva]

Hi everybody,

I have just lost my buddy (Seoba Jr. - short from Sebastian in Russian). He passed away a few days after I transported him from NC to MD (an 8 hour drive). I have done the same trip before and he seemed to be a bit shook up, but got over it pretty fast. The night before transporting him, I've put him in a clean container from bird seed filled halfway with water. The next day I put that temporary container in my car at the passenger's feet.. The roads were not too even, so maybe the container got shaken up quite a bit. Ever since I brought my Seoba back home, he seemed depressed and would refuse to eat much. It seemed like we won't even know that the food was in front of him as if he couldn't see it...
I know you guys are experienced Betta owners, please let me know what could have caused his death so that I could avoid the same mistake with my new baby Seoba III.

[vilmarisv]

How old was he?
It's posible that he was too old to withstand the harsh conditions of the trip.

The betta in my avatar died because I left him for 4 days without food while on vacation. I had left him for longer before with no problems but he was much older now and although he had not been ill, he did not make it. Broke my heart too, he was my favorite and it'll be hard to find another of it's quality.

[Tikibirds]

He may of been sick too and you didn't know it.

[egracheva]

He was close to 3 years old. Maybe it was combined age and stress which have done it. He was so active before the trip though. He was one of those fish who were curious and would swim arround the whole day... He would eat like a horse too.

[thekoimaiden]

I'm sorry for you loss. I'm inclined to think that it was his age that contributed to his death. Just as when people get older they can't handle the stress of traveling like they used to, the same thing happens to fish.

[aokashi]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the floor of a car is usually where it heats up when driving? or if you had AC on it would have been colder on on the bottom :( sorry for you loss

[Sena Hansler]

For my fish, I have them strapped on a seat in a bucket. BUT as they get older they cannot seem to handle as much as they used to