Shame on You, Local Big Box Pet store

[Crazyfishlady77]

I am so disappointed in my local Fish store. Last week I bought 4 otocinclus catfish from them. They looked healthy, nice rounded bellies, actively eating and swimming around the tanks. Well, they came down with ich yesterday. Today I stopped in for more sand for another tank and looked at the fish I was considering for the future. They were in the same tank where I bought the otos from. There were 2 dead fish in the tank, obviously they were there for a long time because there was mold and they were 1/2 eaten by the snails. All the other fish were bobbing at the top and the 2 otos were at the bottom and they looked close to death. The fish store should take better care of their fish.

[1midniterider]

Never buy fish when there are dead fish in the tank and quarantine new inhabitants. I've seen mass extinctions at Fish Store A and Fish store B and when I do I keep on a walking.

[Crazyfishlady77]

A week ago all the fish looked great. It was a drastic change from last week. The ich was contained to my quarantine tank.

[Brookster123]

Sometimes they just get a bad batch.. I rarely ever buy from big box stores, heck I rarely buy fish anymore.. a certain store where i go for frozen foods/dog/cat food and squeaky tennis balls (lots!), this store gets electric blue acara in every so often and I have a weak spot for those little goofballs. Half price and it's on. I got one last week and all the tanks looked clean and healthy, no dead fish or odd characters. Today I went in and it looked like someone conducted a science experiment under the cover of darkness, the Chernobyl type, my eba is doing great. Sometimes they just get a bad box. You should really qt fish and have meds ready, kordon rid ich primarily.
It's not their fault, the store or employees, they get orders in and the product goes in the tank. They sell what swims. It's a business. Sometimes employees catch it and they flag the tank. Mostly it's up to the consumer to mitigate potential outbreaks.

[Crazyfishlady77]

Originally Posted by Brookster123

Sometimes they just get a bad batch.. I rarely ever buy from big box stores, heck I rarely buy fish anymore.. a certain store where i go for frozen foods/dog/cat food and squeaky tennis balls (lots!), this store gets electric blue acara in every so often and I have a weak spot for those little goofballs. Half price and it's on. I got one last week and all the tanks looked clean and healthy, no dead fish or odd characters. Today I went in and it looked like someone conducted a science experiment under the cover of darkness, the Chernobyl type, my eba is doing great. Sometimes they just get a bad box. You should really qt fish and have meds ready, kordon rid ich primarily.
It's not their fault, the store or employees, they get orders in and the product goes in the tank. They sell what swims. It's a business. Sometimes employees catch it and they flag the tank. Mostly it's up to the consumer to mitigate potential outbreaks.

They really should remove the dead fish before it gets moldy and half eaten by the snails.

[1midniterider]

So very true!

[Autumnsky]

Originally Posted by Crazyfishlady77

I am so disappointed in my local big box store. Last week I bought 4 otocinclus catfish from them. They looked healthy, nice rounded bellies, actively eating and swimming around the tanks. Well, they came down with ich yesterday. Today I stopped in for more sand for another tank and looked at the fish I was considering for the future. They were in the same tank where I bought the otos from. There were 2 dead fish in the tank, obviously they were there for a long time because there was mold and they were 1/2 eaten by the snails. All the other fish were bobbing at the top and the 2 otos were at the bottom and they looked close to death. They should take better care of their fish

Alert a manager to get it fixed.

Sounds like a bad couple days there at the store.

Sometimes stores get short staffed. If the fish seemed good the week before it is certainly possible someone who really looks after them was missing from work.

I stop in there to the fishstore near me and mostly look good. You can tell when the employees at least care a lot about the fish even if they might not have all the right info to give out every time.

At a different big box store I was at today I complimented the associate because she was telling the other worker that she didn't sell some Goldfish to a person with a 3G tank.

I would tell a manager, that you really care about the conditions that the fish are in and you are very surprised by what you saw. Call them up - share the experience with the store manager. This helps them to gain focus on things their customers care about!

[Crazyfishlady77]

Originally Posted by Autumnsky

Alert a manager to get it fixed.



Sounds like a bad couple days there at the store.



Sometimes stores get short staffed. If the fish seemed good the week before it is certainly possible someone who really looks after them was missing from work.



I stop in their stores near me and mostly look good. You can tell when the employees at least care a lot about the fish even if they might not have all the right info to give out every time.



At a different big box store I was at today I complimented the associate because she was telling the other worker that she didn't sell some Goldfish to a person with a 3G tank.



I would tell a manager, that you really care about the conditions that the fish are in and you are very surprised by what you saw. Call them up - share the experience with the store manager. This helps them to gain focus on things their customers care about!

I will next time.