Clown gobies with ich

[ecophilia]

Hi there,

Should I notify my LFS that they are selling fish with ich?

The reason I'm asking this question is that I'm unclear about LFS accountability. This store is reputable where I live, and that is where the ich came from. My tank has been fishless since February, and it got its inverts too - I'm 99% sure my tank did not have ich.

Plus the store is impossible to get ahold of, their phones don't work & they don't answer their emails, so I have to physically go there to tell them.


Background:
On Thursday, I got a pair of clown gobies for my reef tank.. On Friday morning, they were both had a salt grain-sized spot each. As the day progressed, they got worse and they look pretty ragged this morning (Sunday).

They're the first fish inhabitants, so I didn't QT. Won't happen again.

 

[kmbyrnes]

I'm sure your LFS knows that they sell fish infected with ich. Due to the volume of fish that pass through their system, they are bound to get a sick fish occaissionally. There is nothing they can really do about it. As you learned the hard way, the only safe assumption is to assume every fish is sick and to act accordingly.

A new tank is exciting and there is a desire to quickly fill it with pretty fish. Many newcomers either don't take the time, won't justify the expense or can't get the extra space approved by their better half to do proper quarantine. Experienced reefers will tell you that QT is the best insurance you can get to prevent disease from reaching your display and threatening your livestock investment.

Please do some reading on the ich lifecycle and take the right steps to make and keep your reef disease free.
Good Luck!

PS, if your LFS is hard to reach and unresponsive by phone or email, you might want to look for a new one.

 

[ecophilia]

I'm sure your LFS knows that they sell fish infected with ich. Due to the volume of fish that pass through their system, they are bound to get a sick fish occaissionally. There is nothing they can really do about it. As you learned the hard way, the only safe assumption is to assume every fish is sick and to act accordingly.

A new tank is exciting and there is a desire to quickly fill it with pretty fish. Many newcomers either don't take the time, won't justify the expense or can't get the extra space approved by their better half to do proper quarantine. Experienced reefers will tell you that QT is the best insurance you can get to prevent disease from reaching your display and threatening your livestock investment.

Please do some reading on the ich lifecycle and take the right steps to make and keep your reef disease free.
Good Luck!

PS, if your LFS is hard to reach and unresponsive by phone or email, you might want to look for a new one.

Thank you! I have read up on the life cycle and am familiar with the treatment methods. My question was more in terms of what the right course of action is vis-a-vis the fish store - should I let them know as a matter of courtesy? And alternatively, do other fish stores typically reimburse for sick/dead fish?

I am a little sad about this LFS, it is the primary LFS in Manhattan and I had high hopes for it.

 

[Reefingmark]

Fish stores typically will not refund for ich unless you have a really good reputation with them. Ich is a really not that hard to cure, especially if you only have two fish in your system. As far as the LFS goes, always carefully examine your fish before you purchase them. It's worth a try if you want to return them but just know they may reject you. My advice to cure the ich is turn your heater up to about 78-80 degrees, feed the fish 3-4 times a day. Also soak the fish food in a garlic base extract. Your lfs will have it.

Hope this helps.

 

[CindyK]

Thank you! I have read up on the life cycle and am familiar with the treatment methods. My question was more in terms of what the right course of action is vis-a-vis the fish store - should I let them know as a matter of courtesy? And alternatively, do other fish stores typically reimburse for sick/dead fish?

I am a little sad about this LFS, it is the primary LFS in Manhattan and I had high hopes for it.

I'm sure they know....but as far as a refund or maybe store credit, you never know if you don't ask. The LFS I shop at here in Milwaukee will refund or replace if the fish dies within a reasonable time and if there is certainty it was disease VS. Hobbyist mishandling. Maybe bring a picture with you.

At the very least, asking gives the store the opportunity to act with integrity and treat you well, setting you up for a great relationship.

Sent from my SM-G935T using Tapatalk

 

[homer1475]

My advice to cure the ich is turn your heater up to about 78-80 degrees, feed the fish 3-4 times a day. Also soak the fish food in a garlic base extract. Your lfs will have it.

Hope this helps.

Please for the love of the hobby, follow the stickies on how to cure ich. Not this advise as it will do nothing for you but kill your fish. They may live through it with a good diet, but more then likely they will succumb to the disease.


FYI, garlic is not something found in the natural sea and should not be fed to your fish. There are studies that show long term use of garlic in a marine diet causes liver damage.

 

[JTL]

^ totally agree.

 

[ecophilia]

Please for the love of the hobby, follow the stickies on how to cure ich. Not this advise as it will do nothing for you but kill your fish. They may live through it with a good diet, but more then likely they will succumb to the disease.


FYI, garlic is not something found in the natural sea and should not be fed to your fish. There are studies that show long term use of garlic in a marine diet causes liver damage.

Thanks guys I did my due diligence before posting, so I yes - I will politely ignore the garlic & temperature advice.

I read most of Leebca's posts over on ReefSanctuary & countless other's.

 

[JTL]

A lot of people, myself included, use a little garlic in the fishes food. It seems to help stimulate the appetite of a picky eater.

 

[monkeysee1]

The only you're going to get rid of the ich is to:
1. Set up a small quarantine tank (about 10-20 gallons or so), heat the water to tropical temperature (78-80) and spike it with bacteria.
2. Put ALL your fish in it.
3. GRADUALLY bring down the salinity (to 1.008) over the course of 1-2 days. Watch for pH fluctuations. Have some pH booster and soda ash ready.
4. Keep the fish in there for at least 4-6 weeks after you see all the spots have disappeared. Do weekly water changes in your quarantine while keeping the salinity at 1.008.
5. SLOWLY raise the salinity again, to 1.025.
6. Keep the fish in it at this salinity for another week, and
7. LET YOUR MAIN DISPLAY TANK RUN FISHLESS FOR 8 WEEKS.
After that, you can put them back in your DT.

Either use this method or use copper - which is harder on the fish.

Keep your QT tank up and running and put any new arrivals in there and keep them there for 4 weeks.
You won't have an ich problem again if you do this.

 

[homer1475]

A lot of people, myself included, use a little garlic in the fishes food. It seems to help stimulate the appetite of a picky eater.

So in your mind then if a whole lot of people jumped off a bridge to their death, then you would too? Because you know, a lot of other people are doing it. Just because a lot of people are doing it, doesn't mean it's right.

Short term I would agree with you, it gets picky eaters to eat. Heck I've used it in QT just for that reason. But, and this is a huge BUT, I would not be using it LONG TERM because as I said there are studies that show long term use causes liver damage. And if we are thriving to reproduce the ocean in our tanks, show me where a fish in the ocean will ever be exposed to garlic in their food.