lfs Question

[subie41ife]

I was just wondering a few things about you lfs. Anyone on here that might own a lfs, pleace comment. A few months ago I upgraded my fish tank, so now I have been getting into my tank a lot more and been going to my lfs a lot more. They have always been great! Very helpful, great prices ect. I have been there twice in the past week. First I went there on saturday and it looked like a couple of the tanks has ich, or somththing like that. I think they got a new stock in a few days before that. Then I went there yeasterday and saw a orange spotted goby with looked like sometime of burn or rash on its side. also in that tank there was a purple firefish that was just laying on the sand, with a bunch of fish and shrimp also in that tank that seemed fine...among the fish was another purple firefish(looked and acted fine) that my girlfriend wanted to get for the longest time. I didnt get it for her because of how the other two fish were in the same tank. There was another tank with a angel on the ground and on its side. I know that it wasent there when I went on saturday...
So when I went there yeasterday they had just got a shipment in hours before...So heres the questions
1. Should I be "scared" of this store and never go back?
2. Do most lfs get a bunch of dieoff?
Ughhhh i'm upset that im seeing this at this store! everyone there if very helpful and I love shopping there!

 

[btldreef]

This is why everyone should have a QT tank. LFS's get in huge orders so it's inevitable that some fish will arrive in poor health. It's a loss of money to try to bring the fish back up to health for most LFS's and they just hope that some poor sap will take the sick fish and nurse it back to health (I have been this poor sap many a time). Most LFS's have ich, they also tend to run copper, a question you should ask. Whenever purchasing a fish, of course you want to look for a healthy specimen, but even the healthiest looking fish can have issues, which is why they should be placed in a QT before they ever go in your DT.
There is a LFS near me that moves stock extremely fast and when they get in orders, which are huge, there are always sick fish and floaters. It happens. It's part of the business. Just try to make the smartest purchases you can and quarantine, quarantine, quarantine!

 

[gemmy]

Quarantine Quarantine Quarantine...most times when fish shipments get delivered they are not in the best condition. Sometimes the fish will be in the boxes for three to four days and be extremely stressed, which leaves them open to all sorts of disease.

 

[spanko]

Important to be aware that most fish stores tanks are interconnected. So what you see in one tank like parasites can move about to other tanks with water flow. I try to frequent stores that have the least die-off anytime I go in. Also cleanliness is big so look at the condition of the tanks, lots of algae, cyano, ich, dead fish lying around, are all indicators to me that the store either doesn't care or that they don't have enough help to keep their live stock in the best possible conditions prior to sale.

 

[handbanana]

it really stinks when you see a few super sick fish in one tank, and the owner goes on to tell you that that tank is connected to every tank on that side of the store.
I once bought a sick FW puffer because it was in the tank alone and pretty much forgotten. It appeared to be starving and was in very poor health. I fixed him up and now Ive had it for about two years. SW fish I would imagine to be more difficult to bring back though.
One LFS I frequent focuses a lot on husbandry and the further education of its customers by holding labs and meetings about fragging and fish health. they even perform dental work on puffers. However they are very pricey but the quality of their selection reflects this. They quarantine all their livestock in an off site Lab by the airport that they welcome people to visit. However my other fav LFS is a huge warehouse with bulk supply's and huge amounts of livestock at a much cheaper price. However they seem much less concerned with the well being of their livestock, have no reef display tanks to gaze at and also specialize in FW fish, so there are fifty million 30 lb catfish swimming in tanks all over the place. But they have an insane amount of dry stock, and if I ever wanted a $20,000 five thousand gallon tank that would be my place.
I'm sure I have a point to this ramble...Oh yah... I guess LFS cant be perfect and practically economic at the same time. I wouldn't stop going to your store... just setup a QT tank and watch the habits of their fish.
Sometime you might just save a fishes life by taking him home and nursing it back to health. It sucks but think of how much more that fish would mean to you.