Purchasing sick fish?

falconut

falconut

New member
Would you consider purchasing a fish that shows signs of either ich or flukes, but looks healthy otherwise? And by showing signs I mean a couple tiny spots on the pectoral fins or twitching/flashing on rocks. My answer would normally be no way, but I now treat with PraziPro and Cupramine during QT.

The fish in question are:

Larger Pearlscale Butterflyfish (about 4") it looks beautiful, full color and both the body and the area above the eyes is very full. I haven't seen it eat, but it would have to before I'd purchase. Over a few days, they tried frozen mysis, frozen blackworms & live blackworms. Now when the guy did the live blackworms, he keep his hand semi in the water, so I think that didn't help. It's been at the LFS for 2 weeks. It has 2 spots on it's pectoral fins and occasionally twitches & flashes on the rocks.

Medium Pearlscale Butterflyfish (about 3") it looks beautiful, full color and both the body and the area above the eyes are full. Not as much as the larger, but definitely full. I haven't seen this one eat either, but I haven't asked as I was concentrating on the larger one during my visit. This one has no visible spots, but does the occasional twitch and flash on the rocks.

So, if either was eating, would you consider either, knowing it requires treatment?
 
It depends...
A) if I knew precisely what the infection is and I know for sure that I will be able to treat it successfully. So if it is truly just Cryptocaryon I would consider it. Flukes come in many forms (species) of which not all are easily treatable. So there is a higher risk.

B) the fish is otherwise healthy and eating.

C) the store offers a substantial rebate to compensate for the risk and required treatment efforts.

From your description you just assume that the infection might be Cryptocaryon or flukes but there is also the possibility of it being something more serious. Then the fish are not eating...
So unless the store gives you the fish basically for what they paid, and/or it is a super rare/hard to find species you always wanted, and you have the time and money to spare I would rather pass.

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I'll try and answer your questions:

A) I'm not that good, can only assume it's the typical ailments.

B) It's currently half, looks healthy. But wouldn't even consider until it was eating.

C) Unfortunately, they don't issue discounts or guarantee on SW fish. All they would do is say not to purchase.

It's not a rare fish, they do get the periodically, so I could always wait. But, I've bought fish that looked perfect and ate great, only to loose them 3 weeks later. So, wasn't sure if maybe it didn't matter if I was just going to treat it anyway.
 
like ThRoewer said, it depends:

if you're set up for it, and the store is willing to do a nice deal on the fish, i think it could certainly be worth a try. there is no better instructor than experience, and being to able to practice your medication protocols could be useful. You might even be able to save a life.

even if their policy is that they don't issue discounts, etc... it might be worth leaving it open ended. "hey i see this fish isn't doing well. i'm set up to treat these guys, so i'd be happy to take them off your hands if we can reach a good deal" and let them decide. they might not take you up on this one, but planting that seed for the future might not be a bad idea.
 
Yeah, if it isn't hard to find and the store doesn't want to give a discount on a clearly sick fish which is on top of that also not eating, I would walk away from it and rather wait for a healthy specimen that eats.

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Like ThRoewer said, there's gotta be a deep discount involved and the fish can't be on death's door. You should believe there is a reasonable chance of successfully treating the fish. Many LFS won't budge, because of their pride and they figure another customer may not notice what you are seeing. To me that demonstrates unscrupulous business practices, and I'd never step foot inside that LFS ever again.
 
I had really good success over the last few years with treating fish, after my tank got infected by a few fish sold as already treated & fully QT'd at a different LFS. That's why I even considered s fish that showed any signs of disease.

The employees at this current LFS are pretty young & i doubt have the authority to offer discounts. The other thing is these fish look in perfect health, except for the occasional twitch (which you need to watch for a while to catch most times) & the couple tiny spots which are difficult to see. A lot of times my wife doesn't see what I see. Yes, i really study them before purchase. In fairness to the employee one of the times I was there, when he saw the fish twitch, he said not to purchase & he would fw dip it later that day.

What I'm hearing from everybody here, is just to wait for a better one to come along.
 
A sick fish that eats is one thing, but a sick fish that is on top of that also not eating is a far greater risk.
Also, with things like this, I would ask to speak with the owner or manager, someone who has the authority to give you a discount.

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Agreed, I've tried fish in the past that weren't really eating (just a bite hear and there) and it almost always ends with a dead fish (sometimes 2 months later). Apparently, some fish can go a while without eating. The purchase would have been based on the fish starting to eat at the LFS. From what I've heard, sometimes it takes BF fish a little time to start.
 
I did this years ago. Buy a sick fish thinking I could save them. Not worth the time and trouble. I commend you if you do.
 
A couple of years ago I bought 2 severely malnourished juvenile Regal Angels, but they were otherwise healthy and also going after food, just slowly and had not been fed enough at the store. And I got them for a really good price. After a couple of months I had them eating ferociously and back to a healthy weight. But unfortunately they would not get along with each other so I gave one of them to OrionN. I still have the other one and he is doing fine.
But these were eating and healthy and just not given the attention they needed. And I got a serious discount because the store owner knew that it was unlikely someone else would take them in that condition.

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I tried a Regal a while back, but unfortunately it didn't make it. It was only picking at the LFS. I thought he'd do better in my care, but no matter what I tired, he never really ate much. I even tried zoas, which he ate in the beginning, but they stopped shortly before passing, after 2 months. It was the only one I've ever seen at my LFS. You're lucky yours made it, they are one of my favorite fish.
 
At one time I had a deal with a Petco that was only 10 mins away from my house. The manager would text me whenever they had a sick fish, I would go down & take a look, and if I wanted it I got it for 1/2 price. They would even try feeding it.

It was such an awesome arrangement, because I was able to experiment and figure out better treatments. I also made a point to sell/rehome the fish for EXACTLY what I paid, so no one could say I was trying to turn a profit off of this. I'll probably never have a good setup like that ever again...
 
falconut said:
I tried a Regal a while back, but unfortunately it didn't make it. It was only picking at the LFS. I thought he'd do better in my care, but no matter what I tired, he never really ate much. I even tried zoas, which he ate in the beginning, but they stopped shortly before passing, after 2 months. It was the only one I've ever seen at my LFS. You're lucky yours made it, they are one of my favorite fish.
Click to expand...
Did you try algae? They seem to like caulerpa, at least mine do.
 
I never had them go after nori. But all of mine pick at fresh caulerpa growth. Photosynthetic sponge is what the larger ones should go for (it's what they eat in the wild).
 
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