why do you suppose there are so many sick fish in LFS/Chains?

We constantly talk about avoiding stress in fish... the stress fish go through getting to our tanks is a heck of a lot worse. Sever overcrowding the whole way, being moved from all sorts of different waters, temperature variations, being shipped however THAT is done... stresses fish out and makes them very vulnerable to becoming sick (my guess at least).

So the fish that get to our houses healthy are probably ALLREADY the CREAM of the crop.

In addition to stress caused by overcrowding in the retail tanks and during shipping, many LFSs and chain stores use a single filtration system for all their tanks. This allows diseases to spread rather quickly, and fish that are already stressed can become ill fairly easily.

Sorry Bass, but pbecot01 and mcps95 pretty much covered it. Fish farms grow as many fish as possible in as small a space as possible. Most probably use flow through systems (not recirculating water) which lends itself to introduction of pathogens from outside the facility. There isn't much of natural selection at the farm either. No survival of the fittest. I'm not suggesting inbreeding or poor genetics(not saying that doesn't happen either), just that even weaker fish (physically or immune system-wise) may survive only to later succumb to shipping and all the factors associated with it as pbecot01 stated. Oh yeah, and the fact that the employees at Wmart and chains seem to be blind to floaters may have something to do with it?

I work in a fish store so let me try to explain a few things. I work in a big chain store and we get fish delivered twice every week, its winter time now and all the tropical fish are delivered without any heaters or any of that so we constantly have an Ich problem with all the new delivered fish.

The store owners do not really care about anything else but the money, I take care of little over 50 tanks that are extremely over-crowded and the only filtration they get are two box-filters per 10 gallon.. which simply suck. I set up another 75 gallon in the back to spread out some of the larger aggressive fish and had to put Fluval and some other accessories and writing them up as store use without telling anyone or else they would of found the cheapest thing in the store to put on it.

The people they hire do not have any background in fish or any animal care what so ever so the things they tell people and sell are just so far off and the way they take care of these animals are even worse. Had to deal with everything from all the tropical water tanks being filled up with FREEZING water, to extreme over feeding, to simply not rinsed carbon turning the water completely black.

Its not just fish, same thing goes for the rest of the pet store animals and products for that matter. I am going to have my own pet store some day, do it right.

I feel so sorry for anyone who doesn't have access to a good LFS. I have one by me called Absolutely fish, and let me tell ya, its like gonig to SeaWorld. All the employees have years of fish experience and there is always 1 of the managers or owner there who have degrees in fish hatcheries and all that. I must say, I never see dead fish in there tanks and they are spotless. Of course they always have a 6 man staff at all times. The link below is for Absolutely Fish, check it out.

Absolutely Fish

Jtd724 said:

I feel so sorry for anyone who doesn't have access to a good LFS. I have one by me called Absolutely fish, and let me tell ya, its like gonig to SeaWorld. All the employees have years of fish experience and there is always 1 of the managers or owner there who have degrees in fish hatcheries and all that. I must say, I never see dead fish in there tanks and they are spotless. Of course they always have a 6 man staff at all times. The link below is for Absolutely Fish, check it out.

Absolutely Fish

Click to expand...

I will try to visit that place some time this week.

Wild caught fish also bring in a lot of parasites and diseases as well. Quarantining is very important. The fish industry isn't going ot change its ways to produce healthier fish, so you have to take measure yourself (Q tank)

Saltwater fish are largely wild caught. So they could have diseases from the wild.

Freshwater fish mainly come from farms, breeders and hatcheries.

That is why you see the same species every week at Petco or Petsmart.

Crowded conditions breed disease and dead fish.

There are two LFS where I shop and sometimes see dead fish but these folks know fish and it's definitely not like a large chain store like Wal-Mart or Superpetz.