Choosing a healthy fish? How can I tell?

[CandyHouze]

I've had a couple bad experiences buying fish from a store that looked healthy and later discovering they were sick.
My last incident was just a week ago, I bought an adorable itty bitty fantail goldie that looked fine and was swimming around like normal, and it was from a very nice aquarium store with a good reputation. It developed fin rot and mouth fungus once I put it in my tank, and none of my fish have ever come down with a infection so I know it started at the store. It died even though I tried my best to get it healthy and luckily my fish are strong and none of the caught it.

Ever since then I've been paranoid with buying new fish. I've only bought one since then and I examined every single fish extensively, I wouldn't consider any fish that was too slow, had anything resembling any kind of injury, or wasn't shiny enough and I made sure to ask the people working there how long they've had the fish, and didn't bother with any new fish.
Its an issue for me because I desperately want to give those slower puttering fishies a chance, or those one's missing and eye or with lackluster scales, but I'm too scared to end up having another one die only days after it becomes part of my family.
Any advice on how to tell if a goldfish is sick? Or is it a hit and miss kind of thing?

 

[BigJim]

First, look for the fish to be active and swimming well. Then look to see if the fish is damaged in any way or has any signs of disease.

Second, look at the other fish in the tank. If there are any dead or ill fish in the tank, move on.

Third, ask what kind of filtration systems the store uses. Many big box stores use one system for all the tanks. I know the Petsmart by me does this. They claim to use a UV sterilizer, but I'm still skeptical. The one filter for all the tanks means all the fish are exposed to a sick fish in any tank.

If you like trying to rescue fish, set up a couple of 10g hospital/quarantine tanks. You can try to nurse the fish back to health without exposing any others to that particular illness.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I agree with bigjim but i would also make sure your tanks water is in order and i would highly suggest getting a qt tank because once you get your tank up and running one of those "poor" store fish could wipe out your whole tank.

 

[logansmomma1228]

+1 on the QT. Also +1 on doing some diggin to what kind of filtration and practices the stores you get your fish from use. There is a place up here called Soldan's that sickens me. There is always dead and sick fish everywhere. I would also chat with the LFS workers, see how much they really know. I always test them when I go into the store by asking a few questions. If you get a blank stare it would be best to move on to a different store if possible. If they can have a good conversation with you about fish and aquariums without trying to sell you everything on the shelf then I think they are worth getting fish from Good luck!

 

[William470]

Third, ask what kind of filtration systems the store uses. Many big box stores use one system for all the tanks. I know the Petsmart by me does this. They claim to use a UV sterilizer, but I'm still skeptical. The one filter for all the tanks means all the fish are exposed to a sick fish in any tank.

I'm glad you answered that Jim. I wanted to know myself. I have been to Petco and Petsmart. Petsmart's fish tanks near me look healthier then my local Petco but with some issues. Petco had atleast a dead fish in every tank I looked at. While Pestsmart only had 1 dead fish in all the tanks they have. My concern was the frogs they had in with the Danio tanks. Some of the frog's had some of feet missing. So I have been purchasing from my local lfs.

 

[Mark Hewitt]

I find even with chain stores (Pets at Home is the UK version of Petsmart). That it depends on the store in question. There are two branches within a few miles of each other near me, and one always has pristine tanks and very healthy fish because it's run by a guy who really knows what he's doing.

The other the tanks look horrible and there's usually dead fish everywhere, no surprise that trying to get advice you usually get a spotty teenager who can only read from his script.