Opinions About This Situation Please

[MermaidMel]

I haven't had guppies for years because I had them years ago and found them quite weak and have read this can be this case since then, not sure if it's different for breeding but imports seem to be.

I have a small basic LFS nearby that doesn't sell much fancy but always stocks the basics and have had cories, tetras and angels off him before and was basically quite impressed, so last Monday bought 8 guppies and they were doing fine.

Saturday I went and bought 7 more and when I got home noticed the 3 peach ones had quite short and nipped tails (or were they rotting) and within hours a yellow was dead. My water is fine, as are my cories inside that same tank. The next day, I noticed one of the guppies I'd bought Monday had died and the other 2 the same colour were a bit cloudy looking, so I treated the tank and stats were still fine.

Then 2 more of those the same colour died, so I lost 4 in 2 days and the 3 peach ones have developed internal parasites, I say developed - I know he took that batch delivery on Friday afternoon and I bought them Saturday morning, so they obviously already had the problems.

I phoned today and said what had happened, the guy is normally very nice but he was defensive saying the other fish were fine, but he would replace the sick ones. Given that 4 died and 3 were sick I decided to take the whole lot back. The sick in one bag, the seemingly healthy in another bag.

They didn't like that one bit, holding up the bag saying 'they look fine to me' and 'we wouldn't have sold anything with nipped fins' and 'the other fish in the tank are fine' and 'have you had your water tested lately' to which I replied, be my guest and test it right now, but funnily enough they didn't and didn't really want to take back the bag of 'healthy looking' fish because they 'would have to treat them' - oh but I thought they LOOKED fine to you?

I said look, I am usually very happy here, I just don't want to keep waking up to dead fish and risking my cories health and my little dwarf plec.

I know it could be argued I added a lot of fish in one week, but I had removed other fish to make way, so the bioload wasn't sudden and they were young small males.

Anyway I accepted a refund on the 7 fish I bought Saturday and drew a line under it, leaving the healthy 8 fish with them to do as they please and I won't be going back there again.

However, what do you guys think - am I right, wrong, indifferent? I haven't lost fish in this way in my mature tanks for years, I've added and removed stock regularly. The only mass loss I had was in a new tank (with a cycled filter but that's another mystery), so given that the cories and pleco and shrimps are fine, I do believe the guppies were the issue.

Thoughts are welcome.

 

[saz326]

Its just pants isn't it.

You can run without troubles for ages and then suddenly you buy something/someone and everything goes to pot.

I havent personally had guppies for a long time much for the same reason as yourself. Maybe the shop you bought them from have so much turnover of these fish (as feeders) that they have simply never noticed nipped fins.

Next time you buy, just be sure to look in the bag as the fella is catching them up for you. You can easily ask the fella to pop any injured or dodgy looking fish back into the main tank. Its much harder to ask them to put them back once the bag is sealed up.

 

[Gilli]

I dont keep guppies anymore for the same reason. When I restarted the hobby about 1 1/2 years ago I bought 2 which I had for over a year. They both died so I bought another 4 to replace them. Same problem as you - they looked fine in the shop but within 24 hours their tails had turned transparent , disintegrated and they died. My tank was healthy and all my water stats were fine. I thought it must be the shop so I purchased another 4 from a different shop and same thing happened!

Its a shame because they are such colourful little fish but I wont buy any now.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i bought mollies that later developed columaris (( within hours and they looked fine in the shop too))- went in on the saturady to get treatment and a few other things totalling about £25,also had this all for free when i explained that i was treating sick fish that i had got from them.
i returned a dead guppie to the shop to show them that it had infact been killing a few of my fish ( lost about 8 in total) and i wrote down everything that i had done regarding treatment etc, my water stats and even took a sample of my water...i was firm with the manager of the shop and asked for £85 compensation ( thats the amount that i had spent to date on fish from them) and new filter media ( was just pushing my luck with that but i got it)

fish are not quarantened for long enough in these places i know it would take up a lot of room, but its no excuse for selling fish that could have potentally wiped out your tank.
if your the kind that gets flustered when you need to complain, write everything down.. but dont let them get away with it.

good luck mel

shelagh xxxxxx

 

[drobbyb]

You were within your rights in my mind.

 

[Inchworm]

Saturday I went and bought 7 more and when I got home noticed the 3 peach ones had quite short and nipped tails (or were they rotting) and within hours a yellow was dead.

Hi MermaidMel

I've said this many times on this forum and will say it again. You are responsible for what you buy at the lfs. Take your time and look each fish over carefully before you let them put it into a bag for you to take home. Then, for their own good and the safety of your other fish, put them into a quarantine tank for a few weeks.

No matter how good the lfs is, they will sometimes get a shipment of less than healthy fish. It's your decision if you want to take a chance with them. Fish are stressed during shipment and could become sick from exposure to bacteria (in the shop tanks or even your tanks) they would otherwise be immune to. You cannot reasonably expect an lfs to be responsible for them once they are sold, although some will take them back or give you a refund.

 

[spectrum]

Hi,
Well, i dont know much about rights and whatever, but basically guppies from fishstores are usually so inbred that their imune systems are virtually non-existant, so any small amount of stress e.g tank transfer can cuase a whole load of problems in them.
I bought 8 recently and 4 had died within the first 3 days.
I am never gonna buy any again.

Hope this helps
Spectrum

 

[paw-paw]

well when i first bought guppies i got 8 and 7 died within week and a half. But the females had fry like two days after i bought them. Tho there was only one adult female survivor fry all lived (the fry was from diferent females) and I have them to this day (and their offspring)...
I know that if I ever bought guppies again than I would buy pregnant females only so i would get the fry at least