Dealing with fish diseases at stores as customers

[MRTom]

What do you do when you see sick fish at a fish store? The topic came up in a store review, and I thought it would make for a good conversation. What are your opinions? What experiences have you had? Recommendations?

Now for what really disgusted me. Lots and I mean LOTS of sick/dead fish. One of their neon tetra tanks had over 20. Yes 20 dead and rotten carcases stuck against the filter intake. Most of the bodies were long gone and it was obvious that they had been like that for a good day or two. I also counted 8 tanks with major Ich outbreaks. Not a single one of these Ich/dead tanks were marked NFS btw which brings me to my final gut wrenching negative.

2 of the staff sold fish from the Ich infected tanks to a few "new" customers to the hobby. I watched in shock as a few fish that were netted were caked in white spots and the staff KNEW IT. But sold them anyways to the poor customers who had no clue. I wanted to say something but I'm not one for confrontations. It made me sick to my stomach though. =[

Sorry MOD's gotta do it.
I would have said something.... Actually I have @ Jones & Co, even at Bridges! There isn't anything wrong with going to a clerk and saying " hey, those fish are sick. What are you going to do?" I would have NO problem going up to the customer and pointing out the ick- educate them, perhaps shame the clerk, that's just wrong!

Personally, if I like the store and the people, I'll point it out to the staff. If I don't know the store, I'll say "uh oh, dead fish" and wait to see the staff's reaction. If I don't like the store or someone on staff, I'll find another customer and say "oh look, that is one sick guppy! and they want 20 bucks for it???".

 

[poffman]

I point it out to the staff, if they don't respond by dealing with it, I'm not coming back, and would post a review similar to that above

If I saw sick fish with no NFS on the tank, I'd have no problem making a scene.

 

[Madness]

I agree with the clerk, I will admit, I am not one to keep my mouth shut and confrontation is not an issue.  

With that said, I do it at every single store I visit, and have many times.  I would have to say that usually the store reps get on it or say, "thank you, I will get right on that".  But the last time I was at Sierra, I pointed out several tanks with ICH and no signs on them.  I pointed it out to the skinny  dude with a goatee looking thing, and his response was, "if you want to take care of it go for it, otherwise let me do my job".  I was so freakin irritated, that comment flipped my switch so fast.   He then comes over and asks if I needed assistance with any of the fish I was looking at, so I turned to him and in a calm voice said, "Not from you".  I then went to the head guy and told him, and continued to go up the chain of command and told that person, "I am well known around here and I share my comments on several forums, you have 2 choices, fire that individual, or I spread what happened all over this state".  Like I said, I dont mind confrontation, and I have never gone back to Sierra since.  This was about 1.5 years ago.

 

[poffman]

I agree with the clerk, I will admit, I am not one to keep my mouth shut and confrontation is not an issue.  

With that said, I do it at every single store I visit, and have many times.  I would have to say that usually the store reps get on it or say, "thank you, I will get right on that".  But the last time I was at Sierra, I pointed out several tanks with ICH and no signs on them.  I pointed it out to the skinny  dude with a goatee looking thing, and his response was, "if you want to take care of it go for it, otherwise let me do my job".  I was so freakin irritated, that comment flipped my switch so fast.   He then comes over and asks if I needed assistance with any of the fish I was looking at, so I turned to him and in a calm voice said, "Not from you".  I then went to the head guy and told him, and continued to go up the chain of command and told that person, "I am well known around here and I share my comments on several forums, you have 2 choices, firs that individual, or I spread what happened all over this state".  Like I said, I dont mind confrontation, and I have never gone back to Sierra since.  This was about 1.5 years ago.

Unfortunately I believe some stores have that mindset so high up that the new people they hire are the same. I had the same experience there with dead fish, and won't be back either. Not trying to turn this into a single store flame fest, but I will never go back there again unless the owners change.

 

[MorganEA]

If its petco or petsmart I don't bother pointing it out I know they wont do anything. If it is a local fish store then I like to point it out nicely and if I get crap about it then I simply tell them that I wont be buying fish from them. I love that this forum has a rating section for stores so I have an idea of what I'm getting into before I go there.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a circumstance at Jones and co once before. The situation got to the point the owner contacted me. It was about integrity and $30 . Anyway, it ended well and I was thanked by the owner and led to policy change (so they said).  After reading above post I emailed the owner of Jones & co and gave her a link to the thread.

One thing I like to consider is sometimes these larger places like Jones & co is family owned and rely on staff managers. Sometimes they dont know what's going on. If the owners do know wants going on then shame on them. I have to say that i used to frequent Jones and co and after meeting the owner I hate to see the place get ran down by employees that dont give a crap.
 
The owner is an avid saltwater hobbyist I dont think she knows about the conditions.


I only get obnoxious after i realize no one gives a crap, then i start getting loud. If i already have $$$ in it, watch out!!

 

[hyp3rcrav3]

I just go and tell them they are sick and if I know what it is, I tell them.

 

[hyp3rcrav3]

Petco seems to have systemic problems with their breeders. They probably accept the lowest bids for stock and as anyone with sense knows, the lowest bid isn't usually the best deal. Petco consistantly has bad animals whichever store I've visited. I once bought fish from Petco and it wiped out all but two fish in a tetra tank. Never again. However, their hardware is well priced.

Pet Smart seems to rely more on local management. There are PetSmarts I trust because their employees know what is going on and their tanks are clean. Sick fish tanks are darkened and listed as NFS. Other Pet Smart stores the management could give a damn and the results demonstrate this. The one on 145th and Aurora is pretty good for healthy fish and knowledgable employees (one guy is working on his masters in ethnobotony so has background in biology). However, it is still a good idea to have a quarentine tank.

 

[Madness]

Aren't all PetSmarts tanks all filtered together? So one bad tank, now an entire bad system. So just because they darken one tank does not mean the entire system is not compromised, because it is and all tanks should be shut down.

 

[hyp3rcrav3]

They do it in stacks. 2 or 3 tanks across from top to bottom for just that reason. I asked once. For instance, the koi and goldfish can't be on the same sytem as the tropicals due to temperature. It isn't the best system but it sure beats out petco.

 

[Anthraxx]

lol its like 3x3 tanks per filter system, one petsmart i know of actually filters their cichlid section on the same setup as the goldfish.. pretty horrid, all this being said i have no problem whatsoever trying to help people in the store, even if theres customer service agents nearby. most of the time people listen, are stoked to hear they dont have to buy some 50$ hunk of junk, and leave with more then they needed in the first place. i cant imagine its an easy job, ive seen some of the stupidest people walk in there. Ex. (lady walks in, tells fish guy she has a tank, guy asks what kinda tank supplies do you have?, she rebuttals oh its just a tank sell me some fish for it. so the fish guy actually turned her down stating she needed a lid/light filter heater etc first.) point is most of the time its store policy to screw people over, gotta look for the guys in the know who wont sell you up the river.

 

[MRTom]

I have to second Anthraxx's comment about some employees doing a good job in spite of the place. I've seen many petco people actually guide customers the right way. A few of the guys in the Lynnwood store care a lot about the fish. Others just get dragged from other departments to help and don't give the best advice. And I remember a guy in the Redmond store rushing in to pick up a sick guppy from a tank when a customer made a comment to someone else. So there are good stories in there too.

Do you guys think the stores give the employees some overall training on how to run the fish department? Or is it up to the manager to train individuals? Either of these imply there is some mandate from above about how to run the department... which may not exist at all.

 

[NightFury]

anyone go so far as to call and let them know the fish are sick? picked up a few tetras and rams from midway, rams all have ick and all but 1 tetra died in the quarantine tank. looked healthy in the store

 

[Anthraxx]

actually its rather crummy what the stores mandate in terms of policy, they quaranteen all the fish together in a big vat in the back, then the ones that are clean move up to the store (clearly flawed if theyre all mixed together...) also most of the stores mandate how much decor can be in each tank. its a system completely run on maximizing profits and minimizing losses nothing more. ive had many talks with my favorite petco employee who is now a manager btw . he has to break rules to actually provide fish with the necessary structure.. just something to think about when you live even remotely close to a decent mom&pop (or cory&poke w.e the case may be)

 

[Betty]

If I see sick or dead  fish, I normally point it out to an employee and I don't buy any fish from the store.  However, if I came across a fish that I really wanted and couldn't find elsewhere, I wouldn't let ich stop me from purchasing it. I'd put it in a quarantine tank and treat it myself -- that's only with ich; no other diseases.

 

[Anonymous]

From Jones & Co;

"Hi Chad,
I did take a look at the recent posts. Very alarming. That is not how we care for our fish here and my manager assured me we have one tank that is labeled not for sale right now and is being medicated. Not the Neon Tetras.

I am reviewing all of documentation on health of the fish over the weekend and I will let you know what I find out.

But, I also can assure you than none of our staff in the aquatics room are going to sell anyone sick fish. Everyone is extensively trained on recognizing ick. At first glance at the current reviews, I would say that one of my past terminated employees is on part of your forum. "

.....

 

[MRTom]

But, I also can assure you than none of our staff in the aquatics room are going to sell anyone sick fish. Everyone is extensively trained on recognizing ick. At first glance at the current reviews, I would say that one of my past terminated employees is on part of your forum. "

Says a lot of things to me...
1. It is important to be accurate in store reviews.
2. When you leave reviews, it can be good to let the store know. In some cases it might affect change or at least get a better response.
3. If doing so gets store folks to get more engaged in forums, that would be great. How cool would it be to have a store get engaged on the forum describing what they are doing to change their situation and improve feedback?

 

[Anonymous]

But, I also can assure you than none of our staff in the aquatics room are going to sell anyone sick fish. Everyone is extensively trained on recognizing ick. At first glance at the current reviews, I would say that one of my past terminated employees is on part of your forum. "

Says a lot of things to me...
1. It is important to be accurate in store reviews.
2. When you leave reviews, it can be good to let the store know. In some cases it might affect change or at least get a better response.
3. If doing so gets store folks to get more engaged in forums, that would be great. How cool would it be to have a store get engaged on the forum describing what they are doing to change their situation and improve feedback?

 :iagree: 

 

[Gizmo]

I have to say, as a lurker, that this is a great thread. I had a LFS back in Utah called Fish 4 U that was a mom&pop and the husband and wife actually managed and worked behind the register. I witnessed a guy bring in a clownfish to return and the wife put it immediately in one of her tanks. After a few minutes of observation she freaked out a little because the clown was obviously sick and she was worried it had infected the rest of her stock, after which she promptly quarantined the clown in the back. The best part? She gave the guy a refund anyways, even though he had probably known the clown was sick and tried to pull a fast one on her.

I miss that store, PetsMart and FarmLand are the only ones close to me, and both have their issues.

 

[PokeSephiroth]

It's tough for us people on this side of the Puget Sound (Kitsap County) with stores being limited to Petco, Petsmart, Farmland, and Pet Town (there's also Shark Reef, but they're purely saltwater). That being said, it's really hard to find out what goes on in a petstore until you've been there long enough to see what's REALLY going on.

It's really unfortunate that a lot of people don't know how to properly quarantine fish in the store, or even care about the fish's well being... That being said, I'm glad that there ARE some stores out there that do practice good ways with dealing with sick fish, whether it be medicating them promptly, or quarantining them, or both.

Whenever I see a sick fish, I try to mention it to the workers in the politest way I can. Unfortunately, big box stores are NOT allowed to treat/medicate their fish (a friend of mine that works at Petco, mentioned this to me), if they're caught treating their fish with anything that's not "natural" they can get in trouble for doing that. Shame on those big box companies. It's really sad.

Locally owned business are hit and miss with me. I've approached some of the staff at Farmland about sick fish before, and I've had good and "meh" experiences with them. Just depends who is currently working and whatnot, but really, it shouldn't depend on who is working, and who isn't. It should be the entire store's general responsibility to keep fish healthy. At least, in my opinion. =P