Inexperience and some words of wisdom

HI ALL,

just a little moan up here (and maybe a lesson to other fellow sufferers) as im not very happy and think i now have a grudge against ALL my lfs!!!;D

it started about 3 weeks ago when i bought a foxface from my lfs...

basically,and rather stupidly of me i placed the fox straight into my dt.

after 24hours i noticed a slight *BUMP*ON HIS SIDE. i then phoned the lfs where i got him and they told me it was nothing.....he was eating etc

a few days went by and i noticed the *BUMP* gone...

then the whitespot/ich/ick appeared in the tank.

without going into the whole story i was informed by another lfs that i needed a chemical called OCTOZIN,as it meant i didnt have to strip the dt down to get fish out as its coral safe..

after 4 days of treating it seemed the ick was worse, so i stripped the tank and placed fish in a small qaurantine tank,treating them with a product called cuprazin(i did my own homework on this,(copper based so will kill corals etc))

four weeks now have passed and although my fox,jawfish and watchmen gobies are fine now, i sadly lost my yellow tang and a pair of percula clowns which i had in my first tank 3years ago.. i think the ick crossed with stress of quarantining done it, tbh.

the thing that really pees me off is that i havn"t ever come across ick/whitespot in the 3 years i have kept marine(yes im still an amateur)and feel that i have been taken advantage of at my lfs"s.

i really dont like the plain facte that the bulk of people who work in fish stores appear to be nothing else other than salesmen or plainly dont know the subject at all. they also seem to have a habit of selling you something when your down on your luck..!!
one of the chumps at lfs was even bragging to me that hes doing a university course on marine life yet he doesn"t even have a fish and had to refer to his pals there for advice!!

my experience here has taught me a few things,firstly if possible quarantine all new fish,secondly dont listen to fish stores they are salesmen, look online,forums,3 reef etc for research, thirdly watch sick fish closely and as often as possible and thirdly COPPER (in my experience) appears to be the quickest way to get rid of marine whitespot/ick...

i hope i dont sound to ANGRY on this thread and i know that there are many good fish store owners/workers out there i cannot wait now to find you!!!!!!

thanks for reading this ad and i hope it might just help 1 person out of a situation or better still,avoid one!!!

 

I constantly battle between 3 LFS near me and each one has it's flaw. The guy that sold me diseased damsels to use when breaking in tank told me the worst place to buy anything was online. I found that ironic since online fish haven't had problems but the ones there do. I guess you have to pick your battles and put the fish on watch for a couple days before taking it home. A lot of the times they get the fish and sell that day or the next so there isn't really time to tell if the disease came from them or from their supplier. That's my take on it.

Sorry to hear about the clowns though, I would cry if my oldest goby was dead from an outside invader disease!

 

I'm sorry this happened to you.

This is why people believe so much in QTing all fish from any source. That could be a LFS, an Internet supplier, or even a friends tank. If they have any ich at all, the process of netting a fish, putting it into a bag, and then putting it into a completely new environment often stresses them enough for ich to take hold. Even if that fish is very strong, because ich has a life-cycle that includes some time on the fish, some time in the water, and some time sitting in your sandbed, you can introduce ich to a tank that didn't have any previously.

At your LFS, always ask to watch a fish eat, ask how long it has been at the store, and inspect it fully before purchasing it.

 

i have found that the lfs will say anything to make a sale. which is there main objective! i have learned to investagate befor listning to them. sorry for your loss and may your friends r.i.p i have been there. allways refer to 3reef for info for the crew here has never let me down!!!! good luck to all

 

This is a good article. Sorry to here about your fish. I have found this to be true of most LFS's. Except for one Pet Supplies Plus, in Findlay, OH. Just this one branch is who I trust. I've looked around at several FS's. This company is not great all around. I found a branch that didn't know what they were looking at in there own DT's even while looking at a binder of all fish they kept... But the one in Findlay I really trust. They know what they are talking about, have info to back it up, and simply say they don't know the answer if they don't know something. These guys are great and have good prices too. As far as online, 3reef sponsors are good and I really like Foster & Smith.

 

Foster and Smith are awesome! Their customer support is incredible and answer your emails quick. That is so hard to find for online retails.

 

thanks for the replies already guys, sometimes its good to share your misfortunes to help others.im already planning a new setup for a quarantine. i think it really is a case of research/study before you buy. im just gutted they didnt say anything regarding the initial*bump* as looking at everything this was one waiting to hatch!!!!!

nothings going back in my main tank for a good 60 days,which is horrible cos the tank looks wrong without fish!!!

 

The shame is that more than likely, this could have been fixed with a proper freshwater dip so that the ich dropped off the fish in the bucket instead of your tank. The reality is that people only know what they know. I'm not familiar with the product they recommended. I don't think they were lieing to you. I'm sure they've used it before and felt it was effective.

 

Ich is the enemy to saltwater fishkeeping! I have found one product that is reef safe and worked. It's called Kick-Ich and it's not all that cheap, I'm sure I probably paid a lot more than if I bought it on ebay or some other online store. I paid $34.99 for a container. It says it's a 15 day medication but I used less then what was outlined and the ich was gone in a few days.
Quarantine tanks can be tricky for some including me. I have a 210 gal tank in a small condo so I've devoured way too much space already so I built a quarantine area in my tank using eggcrate and tiedowns. I plan on making a bigger one for the next fish.
Anyway It's so sad to hear stories of woe with LFS's and the help that's there. It pays to know who your salesman is and how knowledgeable he is. Really, the trick is to be smarter than they are. Reading on 3reef and other reef sites will enhance your chances for success. Most of us learn the hard way and that's because the hobby has many variables and that's just the way it is. Here's some pics on what I mentioned.

 

+ 1 to you marlin man.thanks for product info and help. i got to say i wish there was a BIBLE book/rules that everyone could go by because there is definately too many VARIABLES. i do agree with you inwall regarding a freshwater dip but again and i will confess(no bible pun included!!lol) that i know nothing regarding freshwater dips.....that said i wasn"t exactly informed of them at the lfs either and thats what annoys me. considering i informed all of them that i had a spare tank that option didnt even crop up in any of the conversations. whats done though is sadly done, and i will certainly know what to do next time and i hope anyone who has never experienced this problem is learning something reading this!!! on a last note aswell my other fish have now made a full recovery and are anxiously waiting to get back into the big dt!!!onlt 40 days to go!!!!!!!!!!!!