In verse 143, it was said: فَلَوْلَا أَنَّهُ كَانَ مِنَ الْمُسَبِّحِينَ (Had he not been of those who proclaim Allah's purity,....). From this verse, it is wrong to assume that had Sayyidna Yunus (علیہ السلام) not been making tasbih, that fish would have been living right through the last day of Qiyamah. Instead, the sense is that the very belly of this fish would have been made the grave of Sayyidna Yunus (علیہ السلام) .
Distress is removed by tasbih (remembrance) and istighfar (repentance)
From this verse we also learn that tasbih لَّا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ : the act of proclaiming the purity of Allah) and istighfar (...: the act of seeking forgiveness from Him) have a proven efficacy of their own. It has already appeared in Sarah Al-Anbiya' [ 21] that Sayyidna Yunus 'Sell while in the belly of the fish, used to recite the following sentence of tasbih:
لَّا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
There is no god but You - Pure are You - Indeed I was among the wrongdoers - Al-Anbiya', 21:87.
By the Barakah of this very Tasbih, Allah Ta’ ala had him delivered from this trial, and he came out safe and sound from the belly of the fish. Therefore, it has been continuously reported from pious elders that they recite this tasbih one hundred and twenty-five thousand times at the time they faced any individual or collective distress and, by virtue of its barakah, Allah Ta’ ala would have this distress removed from them.
According to a narration from Sayyidna Sa'd Ibn AbI Waqqas ؓ appearing in Abu Dawad, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said: "Any Muslim who recites the prayer Sayyidna Yunus (علیہ السلام) had made while in the belly of the fish, that is: لَّا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ (la ilaha anta - subhanaka - inni kuntu minaz-zalimin: There is no god but You - Pure are You - Indeed I was among the wrongdoers - 21:87) for any (permissible) objective, his du'a or prayer will be answered." (Tafsir Qurtubi)