Good news, and bad news

[thefu]

Two weeks ago I received my order from Blue Zoo of a purple firefish, a tailspot blenny, and a flame hawk.

The good: It was one of the most brilliant purple firefish I had ever seen.

The bad: Day 7 the fish started to get visible white spots and by day 9 they had morphed into 5-7 1-2mm flukes. I freshwater dipped, they came off, but the damage to the fish (visible lesions) had been done, it didn't make it through the next day.

The tailspot blenny started to become reclusive and I havent seen him since day 10.

The flame was in my 90 (the other two in my 24 nano) where I have cleaner shrimp so it may not have had the flukes or they took care of them. Last I saw him he was still alive...but hiding of course.

All my existing fish are just fine, just like they were before the shipment.

This was my first blue-zoo experience...kinda bummed me out.

 

[BlueZooAquatics]

What was the order number? I would be interested to see what shipment your fish were pulled from. Thanks.

 

[thefu]

715245

 

[thefu]

not much good now...

not much good now...

Well, here is the update...

Whatever got the firefish (some sort of flukes it came in with) seems to have got the other two fish as well. The tailspot was in the same tank as the firefish but the flame hawk I also got at the same time was in my 90.

The flame hawk never came out much but I could always see where he hung out in a hole in the rock stack. Now he has not been around for three days at least...I think he too is toast.

I acclimated all three of these fish according to the instructions, I am no noob at this. I have lots of other fish in both tanks that were and still are doing great.

I think that these fish came from an infected system or something and/or were not quarantined correctly from blue zoo...too bad, they were nice looking fish...

Unfortunately this was my first experience with blue zoo. I am sure there are many people that have had OK experiences, but for me I cannot see how I could make another purchase at this time unless they were to assure me that this was a known issue with a particular group of fish they got in and made some sort of gesture.

I know fish die...and for a myriad of reasons not the fault of the supplier...but this was 3 for 3 on fish going into healthy, well established, cared-for, and good water quality tanks.

 

[BlueZooAquatics]

Thanks for the update. If you can, shoot an email over to customerservice@bluezooaquatics.com and let us know of the problem there. At the very minimum, it looks like you will be owed a credit. After looking into your order and the time frame when your fish came in, we honestly have had no other issues with those fish. It is super unusual for dartfish to contract flukes but stranger things have happened in this hobby. As a precaution, all systems have been heavily dosed with prazi. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Take care.

 

[thefu]

Thank you for the response. I will forward a link to this thread to customer service so they can review.

As I said, all fish were acclimated according to your instructions and the fish were even eating just fine. It wasn't until the 7th or 8th day that I noticed these milkyish, undulating oblong (1-2mm) spots on the firefish. I immediately took some RO, floated it in a clean gladware in my tank until it came to the exact temp as the tank and then put the fish in there for 90 seconds by which time 6-8 of these oval shaped milky colored critters all fell off the fish. I put him back in the tank, he looked somewhat relieved but not well still...he had 3 or 4 obvious blemishes where the flukes were sucking on him. He died the next day. The other two fish have also succumbed.

As I said, there are other fish in both tanks that were and still are doing fine with no evidence of any parasites (thank goodness!)

I will contact customer service.

 

[thefu]

GOOD NEWS!

BlueZoo is awesome, they took care of me and we will see what happens on the next order...I just have to wait for the next Free Shipping offer!

Great customer service...thanks!

 

[Peter Eichler]

GOOD NEWS!

BlueZoo is awesome, they took care of me and we will see what happens on the next order...I just have to wait for the next Free Shipping offer!

Great customer service...thanks!

I treat all fish with Prazipro as a result of how common flukes have become. Honestly you're just asking for trouble not QT'ing and even treating. You should be thankful that Blue Zoo took care of you, because this could have been easily prevented in my eyes. But yes, Blue Zoo is good that way!

 

[thefu]

I agree that QT is super important. However one of the reasons I bought from blue zoo is that they have a reputation. Also I followed the instructions from blue zoo to a tee. If they thought their livestock required something else why wouldn't they tell me?

 

[ariel47]

glad they made it good for you. I've purchased 2 scribbled angels from them. 1st did great 2nd one never would eat and died a couple of weeks later. I thought they had a 15 day guarantee, but found out they have a 7 day. the guy I talked to didn't deal with the fish much. I tried to discuss it with Mike but never got to talk to him. This was a 300 dollar plus order, so I was very disappointed. But other than that my experience have been good.

 

[coralnut99]

Can't say this clearly enough. There are a VERY select few people in this business that I trust to order livestock from. Kris is one of them. Stuff happens. It's livestock. Kris knows how to work with people. Read this thread from the start and I knew how it was going to end. Never a doubt.