Lfs Shrug Off Responsibility For White Spot And Deaths

[pixelpefekt]

Hi all.

My local shop offers a 48hr policy - if the fish dies within 48 hrs, you need to return with the fish and water sample to store. If sample is okay, a new fish can be arranged. I'm guessing this is probably fairly standard.

That seems fine but when I bought 8 Neons on the Saturday and then spotted white spot on 6 of them Tuesday night it was already too late for the 48 hour rule. Thing that annoys me is that when I mentioned I thought that they had introduced white spot into my tank, they agreed it would have come from the shop as they were having a large outbreak in multiple tanks! They did not offer as much as an apology. This has resulted so far in the deaths of 7 of the 8 neons and 2 guppies I had in the tank. Needless to day, they won't get any more of my business.

Just looking for your opinion and/or experience of what happens when you buy fish from your LFS that turn out to have a disease. What sort of come back have you had? or perhaps support for the disease etc?

I understand that if there was no sign of the white spot at the time of purchase that they could not have prevented it. This isn't even about not getting a refund exchange as the monetary value of these fish isn't that much. It's more about the way they seem not to care about the problems they have caused in what was a healthy tank.

Cheers.

 

[moll]

Wonder if the sale of goods Act comes in to play the fish were not fit for the purpose they were sold.

Any other product you are given more than 48 hours if I bought shoes and after a week they split then they would have to give me my money back.

If a fish is infected then you take it home you should be able in theory to return it.

Interesting point to look if animals are excluded from the law.

I've never though about this but it might be worth looking into

 

[Miss Wiggle]

sadly all too often the case to be totally honest. very few shops i know have any sort of guarantee.

 

[ox5477]

lesson needed to be learned here: Quarentine any new fish from any lfs for atleast 2 to 3 weeks

This should mitigate any chance of introducing an unwanted disease into your main tank. It won't solve the issue that the shop knowingly sold you sick fish... but atleast it will save the aggrevation of havint to treat your whole tank.....

 

[pixelpefekt]

lesson needed to be learned here: Quarentine any new fish from any lfs for atleast 2 to 3 weeks

This should mitigate any chance of introducing an unwanted disease into your main tank. It won't solve the issue that the shop knowingly sold you sick fish... but atleast it will save the aggrevation of havint to treat your whole tank.....

- Makes good sense but isn't really a viable option for noobs to fish keeping like myself.


Any one had a similar problem?

 

[Straydum]

Quarentine any new fish from any lfs for atleast 2 to 3 weeks

just what i was going to say

 

[england]

fish being moved to different tanks lowers the ammune system and obviously they probally on been in the store a short while so obviously there ammunes low anyhow, then you go and buy them and move them somewhere again,,,,whitespot is an all to ommon diesease thats quite common in new to you fishes!!!!

as someone earlier once said,,,,YOU HAVE TO Quarentine new fish for a few weeks as this is when if any dieseases will break out,,,

the shop may not have sold you a knowingly diesased fish<they offer this return service and to sample your water so i wouldnt say theyre a bad shop as most do not do this,, it could possibally not shown any signs of being sick or was just at that time was carrying

If you do not quarentine new fish then your basically playing a game of russian ruolette!!!!!

 

[2excitedkids]

we are quite lucky and not only do our 2 lfs quarantine their new arrivals but offer a 7 day guarantee if you return fish with sample of your water. Not had to do yet.

 

[Darkstar]

Makes good sense but isn't really a viable option for noobs to fish keeping like myself.

then carefully checking the fish before you buy and making sure you only buy healthy fish is the next best option.

 

[kj23502]

How isn't it viable? It's really easy. A 10 gallon tank with a sponge filter works. Hide the sponge filter behind your stuff in your main tank and then when you have fish to qt, take it out and put it in the 10 gal with the new fish. (put it very simple, but you get the idea)

 

[ox5477]

This doesn't necessarily stop illness infecting your tank. Alot of diseases might be in early stages or just starting to grow and you might not be able to even see it... so this by no way a sure proof way off checking for disease. Having a QT tank lets the disease surface so that it can be dealt with

 

[kj23502]

I've been QTing my new arrivals for 4 weeks No probs yet. * fingers crossed

 

[Saedcantas]

Hi all.

My local shop offers a 48hr policy - if the fish dies within 48 hrs, you need to return with the fish and water sample to store. If sample is okay, a new fish can be arranged. I'm guessing this is probably fairly standard.

That seems fine but when I bought 8 Neons on the Saturday and then spotted white spot on 6 of them Tuesday night it was already too late for the 48 hour rule. Thing that annoys me is that when I mentioned I thought that they had introduced white spot into my tank, they agreed it would have come from the shop as they were having a large outbreak in multiple tanks! They did not offer as much as an apology. This has resulted so far in the deaths of 7 of the 8 neons and 2 guppies I had in the tank. Needless to day, they won't get any more of my business.

Just looking for your opinion and/or experience of what happens when you buy fish from your LFS that turn out to have a disease. What sort of come back have you had? or perhaps support for the disease etc?

I understand that if there was no sign of the white spot at the time of purchase that they could not have prevented it. This isn't even about not getting a refund exchange as the monetary value of these fish isn't that much. It's more about the way they seem not to care about the problems they have caused in what was a healthy tank.
Cheers.

Rules is rules matey...

If they've clearly stated the guarantee they offer (and last time I checked UK shops were under no obligation to offer ANY guarantee on fish) and your mishap fell outside of it, as they say, hard cheese.

As for them not caring.
It's not their responibility to care about the ensuing woe now happening in your tank. Adding new fish is a choice YOU make, they just provide you with them.

Sounds unfair but thats how it is, it's your responsibility to consider all the possible rubbish outcomes of adding new fish and deal with it when they happen.

Better luck next time matey!
Lotte***

 

[Bignose]

Hi all.

My local shop offers a 48hr policy - if the fish dies within 48 hrs, you need to return with the fish and water sample to store. If sample is okay, a new fish can be arranged. I'm guessing this is probably fairly standard.

That seems fine but when I bought 8 Neons on the Saturday and then spotted white spot on 6 of them Tuesday night it was already too late for the 48 hour rule. Thing that annoys me is that when I mentioned I thought that they had introduced white spot into my tank, they agreed it would have come from the shop as they were having a large outbreak in multiple tanks! They did not offer as much as an apology. This has resulted so far in the deaths of 7 of the 8 neons and 2 guppies I had in the tank. Needless to day, they won't get any more of my business.

Just looking for your opinion and/or experience of what happens when you buy fish from your LFS that turn out to have a disease. What sort of come back have you had? or perhaps support for the disease etc?

I understand that if there was no sign of the white spot at the time of purchase that they could not have prevented it. This isn't even about not getting a refund exchange as the monetary value of these fish isn't that much. It's more about the way they seem not to care about the problems they have caused in what was a healthy tank.
Cheers.

Rules is rules matey...

If they've clearly stated the guarantee they offer (and last time I checked UK shops were under no obligation to offer ANY guarantee on fish) and your mishap fell outside of it, as they say, hard cheese.

As for them not caring.
It's not their responibility to care about the ensuing woe now happening in your tank. Adding new fish is a choice YOU make, they just provide you with them.

Sounds unfair but thats how it is, it's your responsibility to consider all the possible rubbish outcomes of adding new fish and deal with it when they happen.

Better luck next time matey!
Lotte***

I agree with a lot what Saed said here. Buying fish (and indeed a lot of things) come without much in the way of guarantees. I mean, everyone knows that there is a chance that the fish from the LFS won't be completely healthy. You either quarantine, or take the risk that whatever the newly bought fish have will be spread to the main tank. Whether you were aware of it or not, you chose the second choice there.

I kind of think that this is similar to buying a new car, and then never changing the oil, and expecting the dealership to fix it for you. Or buying a vacuum cleaner and never changing the bag and expecting the store to fix that. Or buying a new tractor and not performing the engine break-in procedures the company tells you to do to ensure long life. When you buy things, certain maintenance/precautions automatically come with them -- should you choose to ignore the recommendations, then you assume the risk in not following them. It is not the company's fault you chose not to do what you were told would make things best.

And, even as a new fish keeper, you've been a member of this forum since March -- surely you've read several threads where the importance of quarantining was stressed -- and you chose to ignore that advice and took the risk anyway. Unfortunately, it didn't pay off. But, it's not the LFS's fault that the risk you took didn't pay off. Anymore than it is the casino's fault when you take the risk to place a bet on black and the roulette wheel comes up red. You risked it, and you payed the price when it didn't work. Learn from the mistake and next time do the steps to minimize the risk instead of just hoping.