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I have a general opinion question; I hope I post it in the right section (as it is illness related).
Yesterday, I went to our LFS to add some Neons to my lonely guy/girl. As I marched through
the isles I discovered that about 1 in 10 tanks were under quarantine and the fish inside clearly
showed severe signs of Ich. These tanks were not in a row, they were distributed throughout the
store. A date listed on the quarantined tanks was from the previous day and two days before.

Well, I decided not to buy my Neons that day, although the tank with them seemed just fine,
actually they looked very nice. I did not ask the personnel for their opinion because I am sure
they would have said that there is nothing to worry about. I do not have a quarantine tank at
home, so I would have had to introduce the fish directly to the one and only tank
(I know - shame on me ]:| ).

What do you think? Am I over-precautious?

The previous (and only) Neons that I bought there developed Ich within 2 days, but that could
have been easily my fault.

Thanks,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I personally wouldn't buy them. Not only are they ill, they can spread the ich to your other fish. Also, if they're anything like my work (an lfs), there will be no guarantee on the sick fish. If the neons die after you buy them, you won't get money or store credit back.

Neon tetras are easy enough to find; one of the fish stores near you should have some disease-free ones. Even if that isn't the case, you shouldn't have to wait long before one of them gets in a new shipment of neons. I don't think it was at all unreasonable for you to not buy the fish; I wouldn't buy any fish that I knew were sick.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

It would seem to me that the shop is probably quite good as they had actually quarantined the fish and treated them instead of doing nothing.

I would probably have taken the risk depending on how easy the shop was to get to.

When we bought our Oscar at 2 inches he was in a tank with others which had ich, we picked one with no spots and treated the tank when we got him home as a precaution. He is now a healthy, hungry 10 inch fish.

Also, Did all the tanks have there on seperate filteration system. Are were they all contected to one large wet dry filteration system like at the large retail stores and pet stores. If so this would be another reason not to buy fish out of any of those tanks as they aren't even really being quarantine and the filtration system could in fact possibly spread ick spores into all the other tanks infecting all the fish.

Last edited by Cichlid Keeper at 19-Jun-2005 21:53

At least your LFS quaratines instead of assuring customers that the ich will clear up on its own and that their fish are not sick.

LITTLE_FISH

No way would I buy any from that LFS reason if they are not 100% clinicaly safe in their house keeping (using catching nets in sick tanks and then into a so called clean tank) It does seem strange to have so many tanks "1 in 10 tanks were under quarantine"

I have seen at LFS nets in so called cleaning water but using the same container to get the water from tank to tank without ever worring about them.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Thank you all,

First off, I don’t think that their tanks are all hanging on one or two major systems (I saw that once at Pet... and literally the left half was under quarantine for Ich), but as keithgh points out correctly, they use nets and containers across multiple tanks.

zachjc_14, is that what they told you, it will clear up by itself?

Anyway, I did yesterday what sirbooks suggested, I went to a different store and bought 6 Neons there. Usually, the quality of fish in my “normal” store is better, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that they are ok too.

Thanks for your advice and for confirming my concerns,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

My LFS is an importer and imports 3-4 thousand Cardinals at a time all small, reason it is easy to raise the smaller size than import the larger ones as he has discovered over many years too many losses with the larger size. By doing this his stock are established and very healthy.

I personally would never buy from a LFS that does not practice good & clean house keeping.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Keith,

I am jealous of your LFS. In my immediate area (about 20km radius) I don’t
have a store where I haven’t seen at least one tank with Ich. Also, they all use
nets and containers across multiple tanks. I would really love to bring a fish
home from my LFS and be sure that it is healthy. Instead of admiring my fish
right away I have to do a lot of keeping my fingers crossed that they will be ok.

Having had a period recently where I lost one fish per week (in particular my last
batch of Neons) I could eliminate the LFS as a potential source for the illness and
focus my mind completely on my own mistakes.
And I am sure I make a lot of them.

Thanks,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

There is one LFS in my general area that I refuse to by from as each time I've been in the store they've had ich in almost every single one of their tanks, sw included....and did not have them markes as under treatment and were selling without warnings to customers.
Even if I were to buy from them with plans to quarentine and treat when I got them home, I'd still be supporting a business that didnt look after their animals properly. I'd rather drive elswhere to a store that @least marks a tank as "not for sale" when being medicated.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Has someone taken your faith? It's real, the [link=pain]http://babelfish.qwertydigital.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] you feel.
The life, the love, You die to heal.
The hope that starts, The broken hearts...
I’ve got another confession my friend, I’m no fool.
I’m getting tired of starting again, Somewhere new."

Just a note of caution: even the best LFSs can recieve ich outbreaks.

yup...i wouldnt be tempted to buy any fish if i see one with ich...no matter how much i like it..ill just wait and return some other time....i cannot afford to let my other fish get sick.

indeed, even the "best" lfs is not "ich-free".

Most good stores will not sell fish under quarantine. It would not be good business practice to do so. If stores do sell, why would be the incetive to get fish well.
It is stores like that, turns people away from hobby.
jacnyr

i would agree, dont buy fish from tanks with any sign of illness, however at my shop we use the same nets from tank to tank and store them in a bucket but the bucket has a very high dosage of medicines in it so dont be too worried about this .