Dealing with fish diseases at stores as customers

PokeSephiroth

PokeSephiroth

Member
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
 
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strider

New Member
The individual who posted the J&c review is not a past employee or customer with an ax to grind.. I know that for a fact. What was reported happened. I dealt with Jones and company when they were originley in Lynnwood. I was still with them when they opened the store in Marysville. Top flight store and people. I met the original owner of Petpoure when she worked for J&C in Lynnwood. I am sure the current owner is concerned with bad ink but please inform her that this is not a sour grapes issue. To even intamate that raises my antenae that maybe there is a bigger issue here. It is not my intention to trash J&C at all. I would be very happy and available to sit with the current owner to discuss fish and bussnes in general if she would like (with no anamosity what so ever). I would like very much for this store to succeed as there are very limited good resources in this area. Please don't discount the fact that the issue actually occured. I apoligise for my rant and bad spelling here, but I felt it should be brought forward.
 
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CrazedAce

New Member
I work at a pet store in Lacey, and the way I deal with sick fish that we get in is by taking them home and putting them into quarantine and treating daily with whatever meds they need. Occasionally our MARS system will get a huge outbreak and we will have to treat the entire system, but that rarely ever happens. The only deaths I've noticed lately is from female guppies giving birth and then dying, which is unfortunate; but if you factor in stress of being relocated to a more crowded tank, change in food, and different water parameters, it isn't surprising.

My fellow coworkers don't know a lot about the fish here, so it is still a hit and miss if someone is to come in and say "Hey this fish is sick, do something about it". Usually that involves a phone call to me and another day or two before I start work and am able to bring it home to medicate it.
 
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