Raising The Dead

[Inchworm]

Well, buying fish sight unseen has its up and downs. I've had my share of wonderful fish delivered to me, so I guess it must have been my day for a strange situation.

While browsing online I found this website and have been watching it in the hopes some interesting corys would appear. This is the live fish part of Drs. Foster & Smith's online store.

http/www.liveaquaria.com/default.cfm?sit...=3392&subref=AA

This time they had C. elegans and C. schwartzi. I've been hoping to get some C. elegans, but it's been one that no one seemed to be offering on AquaBid, so I ordered them.

They arrived today and here's the story:

The box looked good when it arrived:

It looked good inside too. There was plenty of water and air in the bags.

But what's this? Could it be an ice pack? It was 56 degrees F. outside and I found an ice pack in the box!

Moving right along............... I unpacked the bags and OH NO!!!!!! Every single one of the schwartzis was dead.

It's too bad because they looked like very nice fish too. But they were all dead.

The little, and I do mean little, C. elegans were cold, but alive. The temperature in the bag was just 66.5 degrees and one of them looked pale. The rest of them looked active though.

But since they advertised that they guaranteed their fish, I called their 1-800 number and told them what happened. It was a conversation I won't soon forget!

 

[Inchworm]

The customer service woman was very nice and polite. When I pointed out that their water was quite cold, she explained that they were shipped from Florida or California and that it was probably much warmer there. That made sense and I will have to ask around and find out how other fish sellers deal with that kind of thing.

She told me that she would make a note that I called immediately and said that they would honor their guarantee. But, first I had to acclimate them to my water and see if that would revive them. I told her that they were indeed dead, belly up dead, but she insisted that I give it a try. That was the condition that had to be met for their guarantee.

So, here it is. BTW, I did actually make an earnest attempt at acclimating them to my water by adding a little at a time to theirs at the same time I was doing it to the C. elegans. It doesn't seem to be working though.

They were dead at 3:52 p.m.:

At 4:17 they were still dead:

Well, nothing's happening and it's 4:55 already:

I'm still trying............. Do you think a miracle will happen?

 

[bunjiweb]

Have they got cloudy eyes and stiff fins? If so then you have yourself some D.O.As.

Shame that they decided to put an ice pack in! This seems a ridiculous idea.

Ben

 

[cometcattle]

Sorry about your cories, Inch.

I'm surprised they didn't ask you if you had access to a car battery and jumper cables.
At least you're getting them replaced.

 

[yvez9]

that's a ridiculous condition to honor a warranty... oh well.

I really hope they honor

lots of companies are good at saying they will honor a warranty under a few conditions. then when all conditions are met they say that it wasn't their fault, that you did something wrong, that you didn't call right away when you got them and since you openned the bag there's no proof they were dead when you got them....

i've been there and after 11 months, still waiting for a callback from a manager

 

[dwarfgourami]

Oh, that's awful, poor little things. And what an attitude, as if dead wasn't dead?

 

[pica_nuttalli]

i'm sorry to hear about your experience, inch. but i can confirm that yesterday in AL was 85 degrees in the shade. this time of year is probably pretty awkward for shipping fish across country.

hope they honor the guarantee; buying fish from Dr F&S isn't cheap.

 

[Barracuda518]

Any updates? I was looking at their webpage last night. They have some nice cories and loaches for sale. I hope they give you your money back or replace the fish.

 

[Polardbear]

Inchworm - Don't know if you've ever tried this place, but I bought 5 Schwartzi's from them a couple of weeks back and they arrived in perfect condition. They are located in Lancaster, PA so they wouldn't have to ship as far. Interestingly, they have the same policy for D.O.A.'s - you still have to attempt to acclimate them. Their shipping rate is pretty reasonable as well - standard overnight is $24.99 for orders up to $174.99 and free for orders over that amount. The prices for the fish that I was interested in were really good to! My Schwartzi's were only $1.99 a piece.

Thatpetplace

 

[Annastasia]

So sorry to hear about your Cories, Inch. The C. elegans seemed to come out good though.

The place that Polardbear mentioned...I'd definitely recommend buying from there. I went up to that store about a week ago, and saw NO diseased, or sick fish. They had very nice tanks, very clean water. Their Cories were all very healthy and active too. It's a huge store, about Walmart size, devoted over half of it to fish. They really know what's going on there too, they were advising people about fishless cycling ( ) and the tank sizes for some of the bigger fish...it's a great store, I'd definitely, definitely say you will get good fish from there.

 

[Betterbettas]

Inchworm,

Sorry to hear about your issues ! This time of the year in Florida we are putting away the cold packs and getting ready the heat packs !

Unfortunately, when dealing with the two places linked to in this thread your dealing with the middle man as they both are using a certain Florida fish farm that simply imports this stock weekly, gets it in on Friday's and sends them out to you the next week !

Incidentally, if you look at their offerings you will see fish that are not even known yet in the hobby such as C.ornatus which even in their photo is C.pulcher ! Their C.julii is the same thing as it is C.trilineatus.

Sadly, these companies sell stock without quarantine nor care for their condition. They buy them so cheaply that if they die and have to replace them they still are making money without a care about the fish.

P.S. If you wanted C.elegans all you had to do was ask as I've got them here as well !

 

[jollysue]

Hi. Inchworm,

I don't buy fish from Drs. Foster and Smith, although I have. (I have better connections for better cared for and bred fish ) They are prompt to honor their warranty in both supplies and live stock and ask no embarrassing questions. I managed to kill off a whole shipment of marthae silver hatchets, beautiful little things, like a flock of little sea gulls. It was my first experience ordering live fish online They arrived alive and vital. A few days later they were gone, all 11 of them. Fosters and Smith comforted me and proceeded to honor their warranty. I have had merchandise break in shipment or stop working too soon. They never ask. Sometimes they ask for the product back, sometimes they don't. They always give me credit.

But like BetterBetta said, they are shipping fish around, and the people you talk to don't see the fish. They're in an order office. They aren't even in the same state. There is no personal connection to the stock. When I ordered the fish were in California at a holding facility, but the people who helped me were in the central US.

They do in their acclimation instructions direct that the fish be acclimated and given a chance to revive, that they may be in shock.

Buy from BetterBetta. and suppliers that know and care for their stock, their customers and their business.