help! whos liable?

S

samathena

Small Fish
#1
Apr 9, 2007
17
0
0
#1
hi all. im hoping someone can help!
here goes. i bought 10 neons from a pet shop last week, put them in my community tank.
within 48hrs they had all been eaten but now some of my fish are covered in white spot.
i just called the shop but they say because i dont have their noens with white spot as evidence its not their problem! is there anything i can do? im in the uk. hope someone can me so givemy some advice? thanks sam x
 

S

samathena

Small Fish
#3
Apr 9, 2007
17
0
0
#3
whitespot

else colld they havew caught it? ive had my tank for about 5yrs now and i have NEVER had anything wrong with any of my fish or other things in my tank!also i cant get to shop until tomorro, will they all be ok til then? thanks for reply. sam x
 

Pure

Pure

Elite Fish
#4
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
7
0
Jacksonville, FL
#4
Hi Sam, As an hobbyist it is your responsibility to quarantine new fish in a separate tank. Any diseases brought in by new fish is your fault.

Ich can appear on fish that have been healthy for years. It is normally caused by something like drastic temp change.

Your fish should be fine just make sure you go ahead and turn the heat up to about 86F.
 

bunker_1

bunker_1

Large Fish
#6
Mar 24, 2008
584
0
0
Cincinnati
#6
The only thing that could save you is if you told them what types of fish you had and they did not warn you against your fish eating the new fish. They might accept "some" responsiblity for that.
 

S

samathena

Small Fish
#7
Apr 9, 2007
17
0
0
#7
whitespot

i all. thanks for ur responses. i no i should of quarenteened them! been using same place for years, never had any probs before and got lazy, my fault i know!!! so ive turned temp up. should i just go get white spot treastment tomorrow... and be more careful in future. seems to be only my blue acara and 1 of my 3 upsidedown cat fish showing symptoms so far, thank god. sam x
 

M

Mercury

Large Fish
#14
Jun 11, 2008
325
0
0
31
Illinois
#14
Employees won't bend for you. They want to keep their jobs. Have a chat with the manager, and he'll probably let it slide just because you exerted the extra effort to talk to him and show that you aren't lying.
 

ishar

ishar

MFT Staff
#15
Jul 27, 2007
1,490
0
36
36
Hamilton, ON.
#15
Pure said:
She's fighting ich and needs to speed up it's life cycle. As you know that won't cut it.
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Oh yeah :S. When I posted I actually let the ich slip my mind... you know.. the whole topic of this thread? Sorry about that everyone. Yeah Pure is right and I was wrong. Up to 86F/30C
 

S

samathena

Small Fish
#16
Apr 9, 2007
17
0
0
#16
Ich

HI ALL. well i did wot u all suggested. death toll now up to 6! 1 adult blue acara. 3 full grown angels.1 weather loach. and one silver shark.i have 1 upsidedown catfish who was starting to look better but seems to be losing some skin on 1 side. ive put all my casualties in the freezer to show shop owner. i had a friend go in shop the other day and tanks are blue so he knows hes guilty and hes treasting fisdh. im gonna take dead ones down tomorrow. if he doesnt sort it out im going to contact trading standards! i hope u all have a good weekend. sam x
 

DesignsOnYou

DesignsOnYou

Large Fish
#17
Jun 21, 2008
493
0
0
#17
I think that reporting the fish store, (I'm assuming that's what contacting trading standards means), is excessive. Sometimes fish get ich. It happens. Just because he's treating his tanks now it doesn't imply guilt on his part, it just means he's dealing with the problem. Ultimately it is your job to either quarantine them or take your chances. I agree that they could maybe be liable for not warning you about your neons getting eaten, but it also seems like if you've had fish for 5 years you should know to do your research ahead of time. So maybe he owes you for the cost of the neons, but probably not anything else. I'm not trying to come across as harsh, and I am really sorry that you lost your fish, but I don't think that reporting a fish store owner for selling you fish with ich is a good use of time. It's not gross negligence on his part, it's something that happens in the hobby that we're in. I just bought clown loaches. They had ich. I'm dealing with it. I hope you get it all sorted out, but I think ultimately you're just stressing yourself out if you try to prosecute him in any way.
 

brian1973

brian1973

Superstar Fish
#18
Jan 20, 2008
2,001
3
38
Corpus Christi, Texas
#18
DesignsOnYou said:
I think that reporting the fish store, (I'm assuming that's what contacting trading standards means), is excessive. Sometimes fish get ich. It happens. Just because he's treating his tanks now it doesn't imply guilt on his part, it just means he's dealing with the problem. Ultimately it is your job to either quarantine them or take your chances. I agree that they could maybe be liable for not warning you about your neons getting eaten, but it also seems like if you've had fish for 5 years you should know to do your research ahead of time. So maybe he owes you for the cost of the neons, but probably not anything else. I'm not trying to come across as harsh, and I am really sorry that you lost your fish, but I don't think that reporting a fish store owner for selling you fish with ich is a good use of time. It's not gross negligence on his part, it's something that happens in the hobby that we're in. I just bought clown loaches. They had ich. I'm dealing with it. I hope you get it all sorted out, but I think ultimately you're just stressing yourself out if you try to prosecute him in any way.
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Have to agree here..sounds like your grasping at revenge for your own mistake..sorry to sound harsh, but as was said if you had them so long you should have known better, you took a chance and came out on the losing end, it happens, chalk it up to experience and move on.
 

Avalon

Avalon

Superstar Fish
#19
Oct 22, 2002
2,846
10
0
Ft. Worth, TX
www.davidressel.com
#19
For informational purposes, you should ALWAYS believe that the fish you purchase carry ich, because for the most part, they do. It's pretty much impossible for a retailer to keep ich-free fish. While they can carry it without symptoms, they only become infected/diseased when stressed. Fish are most typically stressed when being introduced to a new environment. The best way to combat this is to provide a lot of cover for them to hide until they can acclimate. Learning how to treat it quickly and effectively is essential, and you'll learn quite a bit about fish in the process.

Your ich problems are nothing new to an amateur hobbyist. Shoot, I think most everyone here has had ich problems and lost some fish due to it at some point or another. Once you gain experience, you'll rarely, if ever, have ich issues. brian1973 hit the nail on the head; chalk it up as a learning experience and move on.
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#20
Aug 26, 2003
15,115
13
38
Southern California
home.earthlink.net
#20
Sorry to hear you've lost fish. :(

If you turned up the temperature and added medications, it's very important to increase surface agitation in the tank. Medications and heat both reduce the amount of oxygen the water can hold, which can suffocate your fish. I personally used medications at normal tank temperatures, as it's usually what's recommended on the medication packet.
 

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