did anybody ever contact their local store after getting a fish that may have caused disease in your tank? If so what type of store?, chain, privately owned. What did they do when you contacted them? If you read my other post in this thread i had the same problem. I did lose 3 african 3 striped catfish, tuquoise rainbow, mickey mouse platy, serpea tetra, and a diamond tetra. Still infected is 3 serpea tetras, 1 diamond tetra, turquise rainbow.
stores spreading diseased fish?
- Thread starter fireman5214
- Start date
mellowvision
Seafood Lover
It is not great when a store sells you a diseased fish... but it is your responsibility to quarantine all fish before introducing them to your tank, and the safe bet is to treat them for common illnesses at that point, sometimes without symptom.
It is nearly impossible to determine if the new fish is the cause of the disease, unless they showed signs of symptoms before introduction... in which case they shouldn't have gone in the tank. I realize that in a lot of cases, the new fish are carriers, but you could have had sick fish already, and the stress of new fish may have gotten their immune systems down, or you could have had a mini-cycle from the new bio load, and the backed up ammonia could have given the illness a boost. There are so many potential causes of disease, that without a clear indication that the new fish were sick, you'd be hard pressed to prove it.
In any case, I do not think it's worth while to contact the store looking for them to make it "right". You'll end up unhappy with the result, as they are not responsible for your lost fish... At the most, you'd end up with replacements for the fish you bought that you believe were the cause of the illness, and they might be sick too.
Instead, I'd use your energy to build a QT tank for next time.
It is nearly impossible to determine if the new fish is the cause of the disease, unless they showed signs of symptoms before introduction... in which case they shouldn't have gone in the tank. I realize that in a lot of cases, the new fish are carriers, but you could have had sick fish already, and the stress of new fish may have gotten their immune systems down, or you could have had a mini-cycle from the new bio load, and the backed up ammonia could have given the illness a boost. There are so many potential causes of disease, that without a clear indication that the new fish were sick, you'd be hard pressed to prove it.
In any case, I do not think it's worth while to contact the store looking for them to make it "right". You'll end up unhappy with the result, as they are not responsible for your lost fish... At the most, you'd end up with replacements for the fish you bought that you believe were the cause of the illness, and they might be sick too.
Instead, I'd use your energy to build a QT tank for next time.
You would be hard pressed to prove that you were sold an infected fish. You may know, but proof is another thing. Proving your fish were not the carrier is also a difficult.
The only thing you can do is to quarantine for 4-6 weeks before adding to your display tank. It's the only way to protect your investment.
The only thing you can do is to quarantine for 4-6 weeks before adding to your display tank. It's the only way to protect your investment.
In the 1970's a large portion of aquarium fish were imported, if this has changed, I don't know. But, I do remember thinking, back then, "I hope more fish end up being domestically raised and disease free."
The guy running the LFS has been in the fish business for over 30 years. He most often has disease free fish. If possible, he buys from local suppliers and as close as possible. But, he still needs too purchase fish coming from overseas fish mills (equiv. to "puppy mills" IMHO.)
The chain stores here are most likely to sell me diseased fish, indeed, you can walk in and usually observe diseased/dead/dying fish right in the tanks! (ask 'em when the UV unit was last replaced, they say, "Huh?" Ask 'em if they run 1 micron filters, they say, "Huh?" But, every once in a while, these stores have "something I just can't live without." And, every once and a awhile, even after quarantine, de-worming/de-lousing, and treating for disease, if necessary, one gets through and sets off disease in a tank.
You'd think I'd learn ... really stoopid here, I don't ...
Regards,
TA
an update on my tank the ich is starting to go away, 1 serpea tetra has t really bad, another not as bad, a 3rd did have it but not anymore. I did lose my final 4th catfish. No other deaths as of today. I will contiue treating the tank for 10 days like it said on multiple boards and information i gathered from the net. I am not sure how often to do a water change, some say dont do any some also say do one every 2 days......
water changes depend on treatment
if using salt treatment then when changing water add salt to the same level as dosing. x? tsp/gall
as far as the stores spreading disease/infestation
in part they do ..they are getting new fish in all the time.. many don't QT as they expect to turn the fish asap.
others may Qt but the time is generally less than recommended.
also many use a common/shared sump filtration.
if disease or infestation is present in one tank on the shared system.. there is a good chance other tanks on the same sump may also be infected.
with Ich..you may always have low grade infestation stressed fish are generally more prone to getting the infestation.
if using salt treatment then when changing water add salt to the same level as dosing. x? tsp/gall
as far as the stores spreading disease/infestation
in part they do ..they are getting new fish in all the time.. many don't QT as they expect to turn the fish asap.
others may Qt but the time is generally less than recommended.
also many use a common/shared sump filtration.
if disease or infestation is present in one tank on the shared system.. there is a good chance other tanks on the same sump may also be infected.
with Ich..you may always have low grade infestation stressed fish are generally more prone to getting the infestation.
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I've been lucky so far that I've yet to run into disease with store bought fish. But the one that I've worked at definitely does not put much care into their stock. Rest assured I will never buy live animals from them.
When the time comes where I have multiple setups again I'm definitely getting at least one QT setup. I've pushed my luck for far to long. Something is bound to go wrong eventually...
When the time comes where I have multiple setups again I'm definitely getting at least one QT setup. I've pushed my luck for far to long. Something is bound to go wrong eventually...
Lupin
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- Sep 21, 2006
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It has to be noted however that there are many diseases that cannot be detected. A few you can name which I have encountered in my experience so far are ich, flukes and mycobacteriosis. Even the general 3-4 week quarantine period recommended is not all that fool-proof against these issues especially where environmental conditions are concerned. Some pathogens take a long time before they appear suddenly when your temperature is the lower 70s. The life cycle rate influenced by temperature and even health conditions of the fish makes it harder to detect the issues almost immediately.
Fireman, in answer to your query if I ever contact the stores upon noticing the incoming problems, sometimes I don't. Why? I find it a waste of time for most stores to bother addressing the issues that have stricken the fish. It depends on the store where I shopped. I sometimes buy fish in stores where the reputation is not necessarily impeccable especially if I have no other options where to get the particular fish I coveted. The only time I ever contacted for an issue was from a goldfish breeder when I found out the goldfish I bought from them had ich. I still have not known the breeder fully well yet but I got word that they immediately tried to treat their fish for possible ich infestation. I do not know yet how they address the issue.
Fireman, in answer to your query if I ever contact the stores upon noticing the incoming problems, sometimes I don't. Why? I find it a waste of time for most stores to bother addressing the issues that have stricken the fish. It depends on the store where I shopped. I sometimes buy fish in stores where the reputation is not necessarily impeccable especially if I have no other options where to get the particular fish I coveted. The only time I ever contacted for an issue was from a goldfish breeder when I found out the goldfish I bought from them had ich. I still have not known the breeder fully well yet but I got word that they immediately tried to treat their fish for possible ich infestation. I do not know yet how they address the issue.