New fish Health Frustrations

[RightTurnClyde]

I'm getting very frustrated with the 3 LFS I have to choose from when it comes to getting new fish. When I go to the two Petcos, in my area, every tank seems to have at least one sick or dead fish in it. And I consistently lose 2/3 of the fish I buy from my locally owned LFS where they seem to actually care about their tanks.

I try to do everything right. I watch them for a long time to make sure they are acting normal. I buy at least a week after I know they've been in the store's tank. I acclimate the fish slowly for at least an hour.

Is that just how it works? Should I expect to lose half the fish I buy due to them just being bad specimens that didn't have enough strength for another tank transfer? Is it more reliable to buy online?

My tank has been cycled for 6 months and my Ammonia and Nitrite are always zero and my nitrates are always below 10. It is moderately planted with low and medium light plants.

 

[PNWaquarist]

Which fish are you trying?

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Lately, I've been trying to build up a school of Julii Corys. I lost 3 out if the first 5 I bought. Then I lost 3 out of the next 4 I bought. Maybe I just need to try something different? I bought two Oto Cats over a month ago and they are both still kicking. Plus I've had a small school of zebra danios from the very beginning that seem super hardy.


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[Imat]

I love oto cats. I have 6 in my tank. I was told they die easily but I haven't had an issue yet "fingers crossed".
They are so fun to watch when they play around. Definitely one of my favorites.


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[Gibberwatt]

It might be your other water qualities, like hardness and pH - I got five swordtails when I was still new and stupid, and put the soft water fish in a hard water tank. They all bit it. every single one.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

My PH is around 7.8 and water is fairly hard. Seems like most fish prefer more neutral or soft water. Any recommendations for fish that love high PH/ hard water?


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[PNWaquarist]

My PH is around 7.8 and water is fairly hard. Seems like most fish prefer more neutral or soft water. Any recommendations for fish that love high PH/ hard water?

How hard is it? Have you measured your GH?

I've never kept fish in hard water conditions, but my understanding is that mollies like hard-to-brackish water.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

GH is very high because I use a Wonder Shell mineral block that slowly adds a consistent supply of positive calcium and magnesium ions. This is supposed to help the health of the fish, but perhaps I need to do a longer acclimation period so they get used to the increased GH.


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[PNWaquarist]

GH is very high because I use a Wonder Shell mineral block that slowly adds a consistent supply of positive calcium and magnesium ions. This is supposed to help the health of the fish, but perhaps I need to do a longer acclimation period so they get used to the increased GH.

That may be what's killing your fish. Many species cannot live in high-GH water, even with careful acclimation. I would stop using this stuff.

Measure the GH of your tap water and see which species of fish will tolerate it.

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Maybe, but that's not really what I wanted out of this thread. Where does everyone get their fish? Do you ever get some that aren't sick or weak to begin with? Is there a reputable online dealer that has a record of delivering healthy fish?


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[ScaryFatKidGT]

I go to the LFS, petco and petsmart seem sub-par however I have got 9 rainbow fish and they are all healthy but I got 3 hillstreams and put them into a specific hillstream tank and 2 of the 3 died in 48 hours, 3rd is happy as can be tho.

 

[Gibberwatt]

I went to petsmart - fail. I went to petco, even worse fail, not sure why. I had a M&P shop, but it closed down

 

[trennamw]

I've had Petsmart fish do just fine, except Otos.

I buy locally from The Wet Spot Tropical Fish, they are amazing and they ship. I've never seen dead fish in their tanks, occasionally a sick tank in quarantine ... And I have never lost a fish bought from them, except due to not blocking a filter intake well enough for tiny curious ones.

But. My water parameters are similar to the local stores and I drip acclimate.

I'm kind of new here but I'd agree it's not the store so much as your water. It sounds like, with the wonder shells, you may be subjecting the fish to a lot of osmotic stress. I think they're a great product too and agree GH may be able to get higher than we think in some instances, but changing from water without a lot of dissolved solids, to water that has a lot, gets you osmo regulation issues.

I'd check your GH and maybe get a TDS meter if you want to keep using the wonder shells. The TDS meter might show a big difference in the fishes water before and after. I've read research that osmotic stress kills more new fish than pH, and fish can actually deal with a big pH flux if they aren't subjected to osmotic stress.


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[RightTurnClyde]

Interesting. Thanks. That's the reason I think I need to take a long time and very slowly acclimate the new guys. The hype for the wonder shells does indicate that they actually aid in osmoregulation but that it can be a shock if the fish aren't used to having so many minerals in the water.


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