Pet Smart Not So Smart....

[Ishin]

i just wanted to come here and rant a little bit about petsmart. i have had my fish tank for over a year now, i have been slow to learn some things, but i do try and read from people with more exp than myself. I recently killed 5 of my 7 fish by doing something really dumb (long story) but anyway, so i have 2 fish left, im feeling crappy, my kids are kinda upset about my 1 high fin tetra being all alone. so i go to petsmart, talk to the people and decide on 3 mollies. i talked to the ppl at pet smart about do there fish have ICH, do they test for and treat all the fish. she says yes there fish r healthy blah blah blah. so off to home, put the bag in the tank to make sure no stress when i ease them into there new home. next morning wake up and 1 molly is dead. next morning my daughter runs in to wake me up saying the fish have ICH!!!. So im treating the tank now and have raised the water temp up some.
but i have gotten to the point where i dont want to deal with fresh trop fish any more because of stupidity. granted the one instance was my fault, but since i started i have had probly 30 fish die within 2 to 7 days after i brought them home from petsmart. it got to the point that petsmart made me bring them water from my tank because they did not believe me when i told them all my water lvls(ph, nitrate, ammonia) were fine.

Is saltwater tropical fish this much trouble?
is it me?
is it petsmart?

 

[karlp]

A: Petsmart

Unfortunately, when you deal with staff at Petsmart, the chances are that they are not experienced fish keepers themselves. A dedicated aquatic shop however is likely to be run by an experienced fish keeper.

When you choosing your aquatic supplier look for the following things:

- Are there any dead fish in their tanks ? If the answer is yes and more than one or two, then don't buy anything from there.

- Are there any visible signs of disease on their fish ? If the answer is yes, then don't buy there.

- Ask the staff about what's needed to set up a new tank and if they don't mention the nitrogen cycle / cycling, don't buy there.

- Ask the staff about quarantining and if they don't quarantine their fish, don't buy there.

Follow these guidelines and you should find a good supplier and have a lot less problems.

Good luck!

p.s, Keeping salt water (marine) fish is a lot more trouble and only for the dedicated, so stay away from these if you're finding fresh water frustrating.

 

[dwarfgourami]

To answer your questions in the correct order:

Yes
No
Yes

Saltwater by all accounts is a LOT more difficult.
And from your account it sounds like the fish you have brought home have brought infection with them.

The best you can do is inspect the shop's tanks carefully (remembering that they are likely to be running off one filter system, so infection in one tank will spread), and to minimise shock to the fish when you bring them home (float the bag in the tank for half an hour, gradually add small amount of tank water to the bag at 10 minute intervals, once you release them in the tank keep the ligths off for the rest of the day), as stress can make them more vulnerable to infection. But if they've had a stressful time at the shop, and been exposed to infection, there is only so much you can do about it. Sadly.

Is there no other shop you could try instead? I refuse to buy fish from my local pet shop, because there are too many dead bodies in their tanks; fortunately there are a couple of small owner-run shops within reach.

 

[Lexie3787]

If you had 30 fish die from Petsmart- you should know not to go there =P

Find another shop then

 

[Ishin]

thxs for the replies, no more fish have died and it looks like the ICH is gone. I am in a better mood now, it was just very frustrating having another fish die and the rest get infected again. so im a happy fish keeper now.

 

[gadazobe]

First of all, sorry to read of all your troubles. Secondly can I just explain why a lot of fish get Ich as soon as they reach home even if there is no sign of it in the shop. Ich is present in practically all fish tanks, even the most healthiest of them. Transporting fish, the change of temperature and different water conditions all add to stressing the fish completely. Stressed fish are much more suspectable to catching diseases, especially Ich. The best way to keep stress to a minimum is to transport the fish as quickly as possible, making sure that they have enough oxygen in the bag and that they are in the dark (their bag should be put into either a closed container or a dark bag) and once at home, float them in their bag for about 20-30 mins to enable the bag temperature to even up to the tank temperature, turn of the tank lights for a day or so and keep feeding to an absolute minimum. Hope this helps for the future.

 

[pauly]

keep feeding to an absolute minimum

I thought feeding soon after putting new fish into a tank helps them mingle with the other fish

Oh and what's ICH?

Pauly (a noob)

 

[gadazobe]

Oh and what's ICH?

Ich is a disease that looks like fine grains of salt on the fishes body. If not treated it will eventually kill the fish. It's one of the most common fish diseases and new fish keepers often come across it when starting their first tank.

 

[tttnjfttt]

That is wierd. usually i have really good luck at the local petsmart. I've (almost) always gotten good advice from them, and have always gotten healthy fish from there. I've had such good luck with them that i rarely quarentine my fish from that store.

 

[Chri$]

keep feeding to an absolute minimum

I thought feeding soon after putting new fish into a tank helps them mingle with the other fish

when you add new fish you should turn off the lights and not feed them untill the followind day

OK how do you guys get them quote box's, never seems to work?

 

[tttnjfttt]

if you take out

it will work.

 

[Chri$]

I thought feeding soon after putting new fish into a tank helps them mingle with the other fish

when you add new fish you should turn off the lights and not feed them untill the followind day

OK how do you guys get them quote box's, never seems to work?



didn't work again

 

[pica_nuttalli]

btw, if you just had one (or several) fish die from disease in your tank, wait 2 or more weeks after the last death before buying any other fish.

it's like quarantining in reverse; you don't know what illnesses your tank may or may not contain, so you don't want to risk exposing your brand new fish to disease.

 

[LEB2006]

btw, if you just had one (or several) fish die from disease in your tank, wait 2 or more weeks after the last death before buying any other fish.

it's like quarantining in reverse; you don't know what illnesses your tank may or may not contain, so you don't want to risk exposing your brand new fish to disease.

I dont like the way petsmart actualy presents there fish.. I dont know if its my petsmart by me but it just looks so boring and bland. I went to petco today to get a new light and a plant there fish look much more happy and pretty. I got a blue light for my tank along with some glass stones that look like opals (very pretty) My tank is at about 84 deg right now and I was told thats ok is this true?

Im sorry I probably should have also added that I have a betta.

 

[tttnjfttt]

Its the exact oposite here. I avoid petco, too many sick fish. Petsmart is way better here.