Ruination of dozens of fish - impatience stricks again!

[leebca]

This is the story:

A friend wants me to help him stock his large tanks. He wants to order fish online. He tells me what he wants, I order. I receive fish and go through QT. I turn fish over to him when they are 'clean' and he puts into his tanks. So far, so good. I have so far stocked his tanks with 48 fishes.

On "Day 1" he sees disease symptoms - Marine Ich. He begins a Stop Parasites treatment along with an antibiotic (Maracyn Two for Saltwater). A couple fish die during treatment. At end of treatment (5 days) he calls me in.

I ask what's going on? He says he couldn't/didn't want to wait longer for more fish. So he ordered some fish (I won't say where from) and put them in the tanks (no quarantine).

I make the following diagnosis: His tanks have BOTH Marine Ich and Marine Velvet, along with Black Ich. What a combo!

I don't have to make "a long story short" because it is a short story. . .In 48 hours all but four fish were dead. From Day 1 to the end of that 48 hours, 52 fish were killed by one or more of those diseases.

What a tragedy.

 

[Puffer Queen]

Lee,

How sad - sorry for the losses. Another example how impatience and not quarantining equals disaster.

Hope your friend learns this valuable lesson.

Kelly

 

[Angela Short]

I just hope people will read this and "implement" it. So many people just don't care are uninformed and/or are too impatient to do it the right way. We spend tons of $$ on our tanks and will not fork over a tiny amount on a QT that can easily be taken up and down as needed. What is sad people don't want to spend the money on a QT or time but keep loosing tons of fish. I think the QT would be the cheaper methode in the long run in time, money and stress on the hobbiest! Thanks for sharing this horrible (but all to true on a smaller scale for most) story.

 

[leebca]

I'm ashamed to say that I lost my temper. I am still apologizing to the guy. But, you see, I had watched some great fishes settling into their new home. I got a PBT and Achilles Tang to get along with each other AND a Clown Tang. And so many other interesting combinations. Anyway. . .I slapped him pretty hard.

 

[Angela Short]

I would suspect he is slapping himself about now, if his wife hasn't already . We all have done some silly things in the past. Learn the hard way.

 

[BTTRFLYGRL]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6529559#post6529559 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leebca
I'm ashamed to say that I lost my temper. I am still apologizing to the guy. But, you see, I had watched some great fishes settling into their new home. I got a PBT and Achilles Tang to get along with each other AND a Clown Tang. And so many other interesting combinations. Anyway. . .I slapped him pretty hard.

I think you have every right to be upset with him. You spent time qt his new fish and now their dead



How big was this guys tank BTW?

 

[leebca]

The time investment was, so far, about 9 months. All wasted.

He has three tanks all on one system: 100g, 180g, and 300g.

 

[Triggerfish]

Re: Ruination of dozens of fish - impatience stricks again!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6527796#post6527796 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leebca
I turn fish over to him when they are 'clean' and he puts into his tanks. So far, so good. I have so far stocked his tanks with 48 fishes.

On "Day 1" he sees disease symptoms - Marine Ich

i'm a bit confused here.. so if the fish were 'clean' like you mentioned then his system already was infected..
how long has his system been running?
did you inquire about current tank conditions,,disease, fish deaths, parasites?

all 48 fish were not added simultaneously, correct?

 

[leebca]

My QT is 70 gallons, divided into 7, roughly 10-gallon compartments.

Fish were quarantined at a rate of about 10 for 6 weeks. Each 'batch' of quarantined fish were added at one time.

His 'Day 1' was the day he first noticed disease in his system. That was about 8-9 months after his tank was set up and run-in.

The disease came from him adding fishes to the system that weren't quarantined (i.e., they bypassed the QT process I was performing for him to give him the 'clean' fish). He added these (by-passed) fishes a few days before he noticed the disease in the system (Day 1).

 

[Angela Short]

Nice QT set up Lee!

 

[Triggerfish]

i misread the post... that blows bigtime bro...
the oodinium wiped out the entire system-happened last month at the store. 40-60 dead within 5 days.

 

[billsreef]

Hopefully he learns from his mistake.

 

[baobao]

Marine velvet is deadly - i've had similar experiences were i acclimate incoming fish to hypo environment and by the time you diagnose velvet, it's almost certain too late - moral? probably i should get a microscope and a fish disease book with pics of the trophants to diagnose gill/scale samples of all incoming fish.