GoldenGardner Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Well, against better judgement I bought fish from a fish store in Cary, that I should not have bought. Here's the story. We moved from the Aquarium Coop vicinity in Seattle to North Carolina. When we came to visit back in June, I visited a local fish store, The store was so cool. So much variety. Smaller tanks, but a lot of them, and not too many fish per tank. Everything looked great. So yesterday, my husband and I drove down to get some more fish. This store had a lot of variety, A LOT, when we went before, so I thought it would be cool to get some unique colored fish. Well, they still had a lot of variety, but the tanks had a lot more fish, and a lot of dead fish. I shouldn't have bought any there, but I felt bad that we drove all the way down to not get any. I also wanted some floating plants and snails, which my local REALLY NICE Petco did not have. So I selected 2 sets of platy's from tanks that didn't have any dead fish in them. 2 red platy's and 2 Dalmatian platy's. I also got 2 nerite snails, another plant and a floating plant whose name escapes me. I later talked to a guy, that is from the area and he confirmed my fears that I should not have bought fish from that store. He said to be sure to quarantine and treat them for ICH. Well last night I put everything in my quarantine tank but didn't start treating them yet. Today I woke up to one of the Dalmatian platy's dead. I treated the tank this morning, and will definitely tank my time adding them to my main tank. I was pretty disappointed in myself, I had a bad feeling and didn't go with it. For the plants and snails, will it be safe to add them to my main tank? I really need a snail and my local petco doesn't have any. BTW, the Petco in Chapel Hill, does have a really excellent selection and clean tanks. I was really surprised how nice it was. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 it sucks to go to the lfs with big ambitions of getting a fish you really want, only to find unhealthy stock. even though you feel dejected, learn to walk away. hopefully the rest of them pull through okay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalmedByFish Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 What a bummer! No, I wouldn't put anything from the QT tank into the main tank yet. Ich's life cycle involves a stage of development that's on surfaces, instead of on fish. There easily could be ich on the plants, so *maybe* even on the snail shell. I'm guessing treating ich in your main tank would be worse than the problem you want the snail to fix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGardner Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Oh yes for sure. I also have all healthy fish in my main tank. I wouldn't want to contaminate them. So bummed. I was hoping to get more Neon Tetra's soon, but this is going to really put it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 That’s a bummer but I wouldn’t give up on them. During the online club meeting Cory talked about the med trio and how he developed the process. Part of the reasoning behind it was the high death rate among incoming fish in the days after they arrived from the wholesaler. If you decide against shopping there again I bet there’s some other good LFS in the Triangle area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flumpweesel Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 Ick needs a host to live so put the plants in a fishless container for couple of weeks and they should be ok. Greater minds than mine might have a more accurate time frame. And know if snails can get ick or not Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 .....this is a bummer. But I have to hesitate and say Ich can happen at ANY LFS or big box store. Of course it sucks eggs to have just spent money on fish and have them die there's no denying that. I frequent an LFS that I purchased 7 of my Otos from (who bred btw)- they ALL had Ich when I got them home (didn't look too closely at them at the store that was MY BAD). I have to say it would have been hard for them to spot the Ich as the Otos are kept in a planted tank. This was my 2nd batch as 6 of 7 died of my first from a DIFFERENT LFS, they died for a completly UNKNOWN reason and I didn't like that LFS's customer service. Anyhow, I called my 2nd LFS and told them, they had Ich- they immediately offered to take them back. I didn't want to take them back as they were already in my QT tank and I'd fought that fight before so I didn't mind treating the Ich- it's actually IMO one of the easiest to spot and treat of all the aquarium diseases. (all of them survived QT) After my call- I believe that they put an NFS on the Oto planted tank and treated them- this is why: I went back not too long ago to get some Ember tetras and as the gal was catching them she noticed Ich. She said, I'm sorry these have Ich I cannot sell them to you- she immediately told the manager (who I believe is the owner's son). An NFS was marked on the tank. All this to say is that not all LFS can be like Aquarium Co-op and treat the fish before sale- have you seen their videos? Holy moly they've got a back room. My LFS is a very tiny store so they are limited on space- plus I live in CA I cannot imagine their overhead. Ich happens- to stressed fish in ANY tank. Maybe don't count them out yet. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 9:42 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said: All this to say is that not all LFS can be like Aquarium Co-op and treat the fish before sale- have you seen their videos? Holy moly they've got a back room. My LFS is a very tiny store so they are limited on space- plus I live in CA I cannot imagine their overhead. Ich happens- to stressed fish in ANY tank. Maybe don't count them out yet. Yeah, good point. The have a quarantine room in the retail area and in the space next door. This should be the standard for all new LFS, but I understand why it’s not possible. Not every LFS has a larger online business backing it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 (edited) @Patrick_G OR a YouTube following. And to his credit, Cory tells us to shop out LFS and support them when it comes to fish. You can't start out doing what Cory does until you have the $$ to do it. I'm positive Cory didn't start his business that way. Edited October 20, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGardner Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 Good points of course. I know that any store can have Ich, but I think it was more about going against my better judgement. I look at this as a learning lesson and my kids will learn this later when I let them know one died. I'm glad I still have three and I have three more platy's in my other tank too. So if they all bread and make little cute platy babies I'll be pretty psyched. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnarok12 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 I live in Carrboro, NC and you are 100% correct, the local PetCo in CH is NICE. They clearly have someone on their staff who knows fish because they stock excellent and super interesting stuff. I saw Furcata rainbows in there the other days and was shocked. I've never bought fish from there, but I definitely would. I may know the lfs you are talking about in Cary. If they have a large focus on cichlids and a sizeable selection of saltwater fish and corals, then we are on the same page. I'd recommend trying out their sister store in Raleigh, I was impressed when I went there last and preferred it to the Cary location. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGardner Posted October 20, 2021 Author Share Posted October 20, 2021 On 10/20/2021 at 2:39 PM, Ragnarok12 said: I live in Carrboro, NC and you are 100% correct, the local PetCo in CH is NICE. They clearly have someone on their staff who knows fish because they stock excellent and super interesting stuff. I saw Furcata rainbows in there the other days and was shocked. I've never bought fish from there, but I definitely would. I may know the lfs you are talking about in Cary. If they have a large focus on cichlids and a sizeable selection of saltwater fish and corals, then we are on the same page. I'd recommend trying out their sister store in Raleigh, I was impressed when I went there last and preferred it to the Cary location. You got the store right. We found a guy in Morrisville who repairs and makes custom aquariums and he was the one that confirmed my fears yesterday after buying the fish. I got some bubble bee platy's, and our pleco at the Petco in Chapel hill and they were in great shape. Last time I was in they had some 24KGold Minnows that were so tiny and cute. I haven't had a chance to look into how they would do in my community tank yet, but I would love a school of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted October 21, 2021 Share Posted October 21, 2021 @GoldenGardner, I hope you won't get too discouraged, you're in a hard part but it does get easier. When I was first collecting fish to stock my new community tank, I had a set of mollies that were in QT for something like 5 weeks being treated for ich, then parasites. It felt like it was taking forever and I couldn't use the tank to QT other fish until they were ready to move out. I actually got so frustrated I added a second QT tank so I could keep making progress. That's a dangerous path, lol, so I wish you more patience than I had! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoldenGardner Posted October 28, 2021 Author Share Posted October 28, 2021 My dalmation platy does not seem like he's doing better. He hangs out at the bottom of the tank most of the time. One morning I even thought he was dead. I've been doing the Ich Treatment and the Maracyn treatment. I also added salt to the tank yesterday. I'm not quite sure what to do with him. There are 2 other red platy's in the tank with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted October 28, 2021 Share Posted October 28, 2021 What are your water parameters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PineSong Posted October 29, 2021 Share Posted October 29, 2021 On 10/28/2021 at 3:41 PM, GoldenGardner said: My dalmation platy does not seem like he's doing better. He hangs out at the bottom of the tank most of the time. One morning I even thought he was dead. I've been doing the Ich Treatment and the Maracyn treatment. I also added salt to the tank yesterday. I'm not quite sure what to do with him. There are 2 other red platy's in the tank with him. I recently brought home some guppies that had been chewed up by cichlids at the store 😞 along with one red crystal platy. The platy was not chewed up but he was hiding and sitting still a lot, never coming to the feeding corner when I fed. I started them on Maracyn and saw no improvement at all after 24 hours, and one guppy died, so I switched to Maracyn 2. The guppies perked up within 24 hours of the Maracyn 2 starting. It was a few days on the Maracyn 2 before the platy had a normal activity level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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