Deadfish In Lfs

[curiousgeorge]

Yesterday visited LFS, usually find a reason to pop in twice weekly

Always see a 'few' dead fish, however this visit i must have seen over 100 dead fish, one tank all occupants dead or dying

Now what would you do in this situation?, ive mentioned it before to staff to be told 'oh its natural selection'

Im certain i will not buy any livestock from said shop!!

 

[luque]

they can'y always help it though because they get shipped over (stressful) but i do agree they should do there best to get rid of them


luke

 

[Torrean]

you probably came right after a poor shipment came in. I'm sure it happens in every lfs. Lots and lots of fish die in our hobby.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hit them where it hurts, in the wallet. do not shop there any more.

all shops will occasionally have a fish die or outbreak of disease, and sometimes it's the customer who spots it before the shop assistant. this is fine but it's how they react to you telling them that matters.

To give an example of our favourite lfs, we spotted an outbreak of whitespot in some new arrivals, pointed it out to the manager who inspected them and immediately marked the tank up as quarantine and not for sale. As soon as he had a free minute he then started treating the tank and it remained not for sale until the outbreak had completely cleared up.

however if they just ignore you when you point things like this out then just stop shopping there and you have to hope that other people will do the same and eventually they'll get the message!

 

[celaeno]

my lfs usually puts sick fish on sale. for example, there was a tank full of balloon mollies that were just hovering over the gravel. something was definitely not right.

 

[archamfr]

miss wiggle.. i just LOL at ur avator, my mum gave me a shifty look.

any way, dead fish in fish shops happens, fact. however, if your saying hundreds, it could have been your timeing ( after a bad delivery, maybe an outbreak or something) or it could be bad careing, if your concerned, go somewhere else

 

[guppymonkey]

I work in a pet store and have a lot of experience with sick fish. In my store I do a check every hour to pull any dead fish. Every pet shop has dead fish every single day. There is no way to avoid it because of the stress that fish undergo during the shipping process. An entire tank of dead fish is a major problem that should not be ignored. It is a sign of a poorly run shop and should be a good sign to buy fish somewhere else. There is always a chance of buying a fish that will become sick but the odds are more in your favor if you check the conditions for all the fish in the store and see how they are cared for.

 

[Joviella]

Most fish shops we visit have new arrivals labelled as not for sale for at least 48 hours. I don't think you can blame poor shipments for this,as if the shop is open,the dead fish should be dealt with,as should sick fish. It makes the shop look really bad otherwise,as you have seen.

 

[cane76]

i have been going to the same lfs once a week for almost 2 years and i have only seen about 10 dead fish in there the whole time.

 

[matug]

every time i go to my lfs i see a dead fish. I find its better not to buy a fish from a tank with a dead one in. Every fish shop gets them - they just need to take them out when they see them!

 

[dwarfgourami]

I agree with miss Wiggle- it's all in the reaction. The shop that told me that it's good and natural for the other fish to eat their dead got no custom from me, but the ones where I occasionally spot a few recently diseased fish still have my trust, and the ones that do something about it when I point out a problem.

Also, take a peek at the state of the dead. Semi-dissolved corpses that have obviously been floating around for days is a BAD sign. Tanks where obviously sick fish are still for sale also a bad sign.

 

[guppymonkey]

I was just thinking about this some more after my earlier post. Everyone gets upset about seeing dead fish in a pet store but really should we expect anything else? There are very few pet stores that are high quality. They are businesses and their intent is to make money. To make the most money they usually do it as cheaply as possible. How many times have you inquired of a pet store employee and realized that this person is absolutely clueless and making answers up or just parroting the line taught to him in training? The fish are crammed into tanks and usually not quarantined for any amount of time before being up for sale. There are some stores that do but they are rarities. The majority of pet stores just put the fish up for sale immediately because to do otherwise would lower their profits. So if fish die it is to be expected. Fish die from stress in pet stores all the time. If they are left to rot in the tank that is a bad sign. Unless you rush into the pet store the minute the store opens there shouldn't be rotting or half eaten fish in the tanks. Everyone needs time to get going in the morning! But if you are that concerned about the care in your local pet stores why not buy from private breeders? There are literally thousands of private breeders who would quite willingly show you the conditions that they breed their fish in and ship fish to you at home. The quality of these fish is usually a lot higher than from pet stores and the stress on them is less because they are crammed hundreds to a tank or bag.

 

[jarcher1390]

i work in my local fish shop and we pull out around 10 dead ones more if new fish have come in. the fish become under a lot of stress when they are being caught

 

[Amunet]

Geeze.. and I thought the LPS were bad here, can't say they're really any better though.
Lots of dead fish most of the time we go into them. Especially the fish shop.. the place you would think would care more about having healthy fish.
But nope... in the majority of their tanks are dead fish being eaten... something looking as if they've been in there for a while.
Then at the Petsmart I had thought was good... one of the employees was cleaning out and tank and GOOD GOD was it NASTY. She disturbed the gravel and the water got so cloudy with gunk you couldn't even see the fish any more.

 

[ant0]

my lfs usually puts sick fish on sale. for example, there was a tank full of balloon mollies that were just hovering over the gravel. something was definitely not right.

many balloon mollies i see in LFS dont look good because firstly they are a man made hybrid and secondly... they need salt! Many mollies i see already have the shimmies or are looking rough. There should be laws to protect the fish IMO