LFS Selling Known Diseased Fish? Right/Wrong?

IMO you should Put $ towards heater instead of fish...


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Having worked in 3 fish stores, I can assuredly say that virtually every store has to deal with ich on a semi-regular basis. These fish come from wholesalers with huge systems. Each massive system contains hundreds to thousands of fish from all around the world...so it's no wonder that the fish might pick something up there. Additionally, the handling stress of being shipped to a wholesaler and then a store can weaken a fish's immune system and open it up to infection. It's not the store's fault for getting ich, but you are right that they should be taking measures to treat it.

At every store where I worked the policy was to let the customer know if the fish looks sick or infected. Sometimes you even have to recommend that they don't buy any fish in that tank or system. However, If they still want the fish after knowing this information then we would sell it to them and provide treatment instructions. Sometimes the rare fish you want just happens to be sick, and it may be worth it to treat it rather than wait for another to show up. I've done this in the past.

All 3 of the stores I worked at favor quick cure and salt as a treatment option for ich. High temperatures are often difficult to maintain in a large system because you tend to lose a lot of heat due to evaporation, but when small or individual systems are used then I favor heat. Here in Florida you won't see heaters on large systems because you are basically creating a battle between your tank heater and your store's AC. Not having AC in a retail store is like shooting yourself in the foot. Nobody will browse your stock unless they are diehard hobbyists. And I won't even get into humidity damage!

From my experience I can safely say that honesty is the best policy for a store. It's how you get your repeat customers! I tell them everything I just explained here. All it takes to lose most customers is a few unexplained dead fish. But I can't tell you how many people have come back on a regular basis after telling me "you're my fish guy now".You can't get mad at them for having sick fish, but get mad if they lie to you!

For the record, no good store will ever tell you to add fish before you're cycled either. I can't tell you how many people have had that problem with Petco/Wal-Mart/Petsmart and, after killing fish, they eventually migrate to a better store.

Sorry for the DP, but I just wanted to add (for all readers, not necessarily directed towards the OP) that just because a fish doesn't look like it has ich, does not mean it is ich-free. Some species and individuals do have more immunity than others, but the white spots you see on the fish aren't the parasite itself, but merely a reaction to the infection. Fish can have ich and not necessarily show it.

Ich is present in most aquatic environments, but you rarely notice it in wild fish because they lack a lot of the stressors associated with aquarium life. A couple of parasites here and there on a fish isn't going to hurt anything, but when the fish become immunocompromised it can cause a lot more damage. Add that information to the fact that you're keeping a fish in a box where these protozoans are free to multiply and continuously affect the same host, and you get an ich outbreak. I have collected thousands of fish. I have seen a brand new aquarium setup with wild fish break out with ich. It's the most common disease in the aquarium trade and you can expect to battle it from time-to-time throughout your fish-keeping days. Always be sure to properly quarantine your fish before you introduce them to your tank...or face the consequences!

Sorry I didn't take the time to look and see you were in the sunshine state .... I apologize


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79 degrees shouldn't be a stressor for most tropical fish, but it has to be at least 83-84 to kill ich.

Im in so cal and I have 3 300 w heaters in my 150g and 1 300w in my 30 gal unless you have a digital thermometer its hard to know for sure what the exact temp is and even then its not exact. My tanks all ways stay at 80 degrees in 5 years I have never seen them go up or down even 1 degree. In my opinion temperature is one of the most important things, there is no way your tank can stay at exactly 79 degrees 24/7 and it only takes a couple degrees up or down to stress your fish out witch makes them more prone to sickness. It would be a good investment you can get a really good one on amazon for like 15$ and its not like they run all the time only when the water temp goes below your desired temp.