Your opinion on buying fish which was sick?

[kashif314]

So I ordered some German blue rams. Lfs didn't realise the heater is not working and they got ich. Now is it ok to buy them once they are ick free or avoid them at all cost? I don't have GBRs in any other stores. What would you do in my situation. Please advise.

 

[Toad]

I mean, of they're your only option I'd just get them. Ick is usually a a symptom of a weakened immune system, once they are fully clear they should be fine unless something other than the heater not working was the cause of them being weakened.

 

[Delapool]

I guess with QT for a bit would be ok. Depends on the store quality I guess in general but every so often even the good ones here get white spot in tanks. Must admit I’d be pretty wary.

 

[Andy Sager]

Under no circumstance would I not QT these fish when/if you buy them. Ick is a temporary disease in that it's a parasite that lives on the fish then off the fish. So if the fish is "clean", that may only mean that the parasite has left the body for the substrate. The problem is that the next stage for this parasite is to release offspring so the fish can still have parasites in areas like the gills or under scales that are not easily seen with the naked eye. A 6-8 week qt period should allow enough time for you to know what is on and in the fish.

 

[King Fisher]

Honestly, id let your LFS deal with the ick. If they can get it under control in a couple months then buy them.

 

[V227]

Since the manager knows that you are aware the Rams were sick, make a less than half price offer on a group of the damaged Rams. If a purchase is made, bring them home to a waiting QT tank already dosed with Rid Ick, Coppersafe or what ever parasite med available. Otherwise, just wait on the next shipment.

 

[kashif314]

I mean, of they're your only option I'd just get them. Ick is usually a a symptom of a weakened immune system, once they are fully clear they should be fine unless something other than the heater not working was the cause of them being weakened.

I guess with QT for a bit would be ok. Depends on the store quality I guess in general but every so often even the good ones here get white spot in tanks. Must admit I’d be pretty wary.

Under no circumstance would I not QT these fish when/if you buy them. Ick is a temporary disease in that it's a parasite that lives on the fish then off the fish. So if the fish is "clean", that may only mean that the parasite has left the body for the substrate. The problem is that the next stage for this parasite is to release offspring so the fish can still have parasites in areas like the gills or under scales that are not easily seen with the naked eye. A 6-8 week qt period should allow enough time for you to know what is on and in the fish.

Honestly, id let your LFS deal with the ick. If they can get it under control in a couple months then buy them.

Since the manager knows that you are aware the Rams were sick, make a less than half price offer on a group of the damaged Rams. If a purchase is made, bring them home to a waiting QT tank already dosed with Rid Ick, Coppersafe or what ever parasite med available. Otherwise, just wait on the next shipment.

Thanks a lot for the advise. I don't have a QT tank. The Rams were not having white spots when they were brought in. Also I want to tell one the incident I had. I bought some rams like an year or more ago and when they reached to me they were having white spots but like very little here and there. My wife didn't check and put them in tank. I came and saw but I didn't do anything and its very strange that within like three days they were clear of ick and stayed healthy forever. So is it possible thay sometimes fish gets heal without doing anything when fish feels safe and no stress? I remember watching a discus at store who got ick only because of stress and LFS didn't do anything (at least that's what he told me) and let the fish settled in and soon she was cleared from ich.

Suppose I go to LFS and find them without ick so you suggest I still wait for long? But in the meantime he may find customers. As I said I don't have a qt tank.

 

[Fresh2o]

Your tank, your choice. Personally, I would setup QT for all new arrivals.

Some ich info:
From https://mobile.petcoach.co/amp/article/ich-in-freshwater-fish-causes-treatment-and-prevention
The life cycle of Ichthyophthirius is complicated but very important in understanding the treatment and prevention of ich. Once the ich protozoan attaches to the side of the fish, it begins feeding on the skin and tissue causing irritation. The fish's body begins to wall off the parasite to try to limit its damage. The protozoan continues to move around in the cyst feeding and growing, while the body continues to further encapsulate and wall it off. This encapsulation by the body is one of the reasons that ich is so difficult to treat during this stage of the disease because medications cannot penetrate through the wall of the cyst to reach the ich parasite. During this stage, the ich protozoan is called a trophozoite. The trophozoite eventually matures and is termed a "trophont." It will burst through the cyst wall and then fall to the bottom of the aquarium. It then begins to divide into hundreds of new ich-infecting units called tomites. This stage is very temperature-dependent within its capsule, with the fastest replications occurring at warmer temperatures near 78-80 F. At optimum temperatures, the replication will be completed in about 8 hours. At lower temperatures, the replication takes longer making the treatment time for eradication much longer.
Once the replication is complete, the trophont bursts and releases the newly-formed tomites into the water. The tomites are motile and swim around the tank searching for a fish to attach to. Once they attach to a fish, the cycle will start over again. It is during this stage that ich is most susceptible to treatment. Many of the available medications will kill the tomites, thereby stopping the cycle of ich in your tank. It should be noted that these tomites will only survive for 48 hours, if they do not find a fish to attach to. These tomites will also attach to plants, filter material, etc. So if you move a plant from an infected tank into a clean tank, you have just infected the clean tank with ich. Depending on the water temperature, the whole cycle can take from 4 days to several weeks.

 

[kashif314]

Your tank, your choice. Personally, I would setup QT for all new arrivals.

Some ich info:
From https://mobile.petcoach.co/amp/article/ich-in-freshwater-fish-causes-treatment-and-prevention
The life cycle of Ichthyophthirius is complicated but very important in understanding the treatment and prevention of ich. Once the ich protozoan attaches to the side of the fish, it begins feeding on the skin and tissue causing irritation. The fish's body begins to wall off the parasite to try to limit its damage. The protozoan continues to move around in the cyst feeding and growing, while the body continues to further encapsulate and wall it off. This encapsulation by the body is one of the reasons that ich is so difficult to treat during this stage of the disease because medications cannot penetrate through the wall of the cyst to reach the ich parasite. During this stage, the ich protozoan is called a trophozoite. The trophozoite eventually matures and is termed a "trophont." It will burst through the cyst wall and then fall to the bottom of the aquarium. It then begins to divide into hundreds of new ich-infecting units called tomites. This stage is very temperature-dependent within its capsule, with the fastest replications occurring at warmer temperatures near 78-80 F. At optimum temperatures, the replication will be completed in about 8 hours. At lower temperatures, the replication takes longer making the treatment time for eradication much longer.
Once the replication is complete, the trophont bursts and releases the newly-formed tomites into the water. The tomites are motile and swim around the tank searching for a fish to attach to. Once they attach to a fish, the cycle will start over again. It is during this stage that ich is most susceptible to treatment. Many of the available medications will kill the tomites, thereby stopping the cycle of ich in your tank. It should be noted that these tomites will only survive for 48 hours, if they do not find a fish to attach to. These tomites will also attach to plants, filter material, etc. So if you move a plant from an infected tank into a clean tank, you have just infected the clean tank with ich. Depending on the water temperature, the whole cycle can take from 4 days to several weeks.

Thanks. Very nice article. I talked with LFS and asked to get new batch of rams so I ll just wait till they have new arrivals. Once again thanks for this article.

 

[Brookster123]

Never pay money for sick fish.. simple

 

[Delapool]

I agree with Brookster. Tried it to support the local store when I should of known better and it was just painful.

I’ve had fish avoid getting white spot while other fish got it. But never knew if it was present in gills so always treated. Generally from the threads I’ve seen, would be very lucky that white spot goes away by itself imo.

 

[kashif314]

Never pay money for sick fish.. simple

I agree with Brookster. Tried it to support the local store when I should of known better and it was just painful.

I’ve had fish avoid getting white spot while other fish got it. But never knew if it was present in gills so always treated. Generally from the threads I’ve seen, would be very lucky that white spot goes away by itself imo.

Thanks. Its very frustrating when they don't do anything to fix it. Yesterday I called and he said oh I forgot to shift them. They were in still same tank and without increased temperature or medicine. He said he can't raise temperature because of some nature of plants in that tank. I said him to then shift them and treat them. Anyways I requested for new rams. But if he gets say only two rams for me and they were male then I ll have almost all males in my tank. I can sex GBR and the ones i have are males.

 

[Autumnsky]

Dealing with sick fish is not my first choice and QT with a big plastic tub in the garage, second bathroom bathtub in a plastic tote/container (something) if no other choice be creative in a way to QT.

If the lfs guy is not interested in getting them better, then let him just get you more, healthier ones. Just know he has Ich probably running around in the tanks at any time, and QT anything he sells you.

 

[Delapool]

Geez, the lfs guy doesn’t seem helpful?!

 

[kashif314]

Dealing with sick fish is not my first choice and QT with a big plastic tub in the garage, second bathroom bathtub in a plastic tote/container (something) if no other choice be creative in a way to QT.

If the lfs guy is not interested in getting them better, then let him just get you more, healthier ones. Just know he has Ich probably running around in the tanks at any time, and QT anything he sells you.

Geez, the lfs guy doesn’t seem helpful?!

He is nice and very helpful but here not every fish available like USA. So he needs to order them and if order for me only and quantity that I ask he can't guarantee his supplier will send him the gender I requested. Its only possible if he has like 10 rams and I select them myself which ones are females. He bought 10 rams last time but they have white spots so now I am sure he won't block his money and will get only the quantity I ask and I need only one female GBR and one female EBR.

 

[Delapool]

Ah, yes - not much variety here sometimes as well. The stores do try with special orders but small market and bit of a downturn in fish keeping here still.

 

[kashif314]

Ah, yes - not much variety here sometimes as well. The stores do try with special orders but small market and bit of a downturn in fish keeping here still.

Thanks.