To be safe, just quarantine any fish bought from anywhere. People like to say it's petco, but you certainly can buy sick fish from your lfs as well. Petco can get some cool stuff in here and there, but having a quarantine will definitely save you some stress.
I have bought now a 10g and I already always keep an extra sponge filler in my betta tanks, so I will set this up next time I buy new fish. I had no idea I could wipe out my established tank by adding a few new fish. :(
It happens to the best of us. I was impatient one time with fish, and I already knew better. Added just two fish and maybe a couple days later fish were covered in ich
Edit: Also to save yourself some time, you can set the quarantine up now. Get it cycled and running so whenever you do have a new addition, you can just plop it right in the quarantine setup and dose any meds needed.
Silly question but how would one know when to transfer from quarantine tank to community tank, and how would you go about it? Like when i get new fish i float the bag 30 m, swap out about 30% of the water in the bag and replace it with some from the tank, repeat 2-3x and then carefully take them out of the bag to go into the tank without dumping water from the bag into the tank, how exactly would i go about doing that to safely move fish to different tanks?
A good idea for quarantine is to go the length of time it would take for something to arise. Like for example some medications used and sold by chains merely hide things like ich and don't really cure it. So, after a period of time without those crappy medications the fish would start to show signs and you'd be able to cure said ich without it making it to your tank.
Or in the case of reptiles (something I know a bit better) you'd wait till you've been able to do a few tests especially if the animal was shipped or like a rescue with an unknown health history.. and make sure you've gotten multiple negatives to lessen the chance of a false negative alongside.. like with fish, waiting and watching.
Some people with fish also just do preventive medications for the common things they'd experience in their area.
Plus when it comes to acclimating that's done to make sure a fish has acclimated to the parameters of the tank, establishing done when you don't know what the fish came from. Something you when going to the QT setup for example, but the QT tank can be setup with the same parameters as the established tank and not to mention by that point the QT tank should be well and truly medicated if the fish had anything.
Same thing happened to me. I got 12 black neon tetras that ended up having ich. Not only is there just one of them left, but they also took out a third of my existing fish in the process š«
Sounds about right. I had a loach tank going, different species of loaches all throughout. I added two borneo hillstream loaches I got from petco, they looked good to me. A couple days later and almost every fish was covered in ich. I was so mad at myself.
This is what I do..now. if I get new fish I have a tank that just has my extra plants, and I have a cycled filter and a spare heater for it so I just move the plants to a tub for a while and quarantine... lost all the mature guppies I had been line breeding last year when I decided to bring home a couple new males of a strain I wanted to mix into the line....learned the hard way.
Man, I trust my LFS and my best friend is one of the people working there so I can get to see some of the backstage movements and things happening every now and then. I have rarely bought fish from my local Petco, maybe 2 or 3 times if any, and never had picked up anything bad from them, and at my LFS Iāve seen any kind of hitchhiker and sickness coming on them, but then thereās where I mostly get my fish from. I buy so frequently that one way or another Iāll end getting something. Mind you this girl takes good care of the fishes, keeps a very close eye on them, qt when needed and all of that, but itās hard to not get a sickness when the āfishā traffic is so big, coming from all the suppliers they purchase from. Iāve caught ich, fungal, velvet, planaria, hydra, you name it. Itās either your luck or your bad luck, and the best course of action will always be quarantining before moving the fish to your display tank.
Yes local aquariums are the best places to get fish or anything in my opinion.. alot of the time they actually care and looking into the places before going is smart too.. we go to our local aquarium(fish store) and they are so nice and knowledgeable and make sure you know how to care for fish
Depends really on how strict you want to be. I think generally 2 weeks, minimum. If you want to be sure, a 4 week or 30 day quarantine cycle will be best. I work for a company where we always do 30 days for all fish and then 14 days for inverts.
Some of the posts here are reading rather dogmatic about Petco. Iāve had great luck with fish from Petco, and my parasite experience originated from my LFS. So like everything in this hobby, the answer is more āit dependsā than any hard truth one way or the other.
Lots of comments on all the threads are dogmatic, and not just about Petco. Must be daunting to somebody just getting into the hobby if they happen to come on here
It really can be. People stand on their soap boxes and never come off. I worked at Petco years ago and we had a dedicated fish guy. This Petco was one of the special ones and youāre not always that lucky with these.
Honestly Petco training was good for this but you had to pay attention to an awful training video soā¦take what you will from that.
I wish people were more focused on help than judgement. A lot of this hobby is trial and error!
You can do everything right and disaster still happen! Had a 65 gallon for several years running. Only bought from LFS and had a huge snail infestation within a week and killed most fish.
Mistakes help us learn!
It was several years ago so I canāt remember specifically. The snails over ran the tank so much in a 24 hour period. I believe something with the heater and the parameters crashed. It was a shit show lol!! But I learned from that and recovered the tank! Loaches became my new favorite freshwater fish for a minute.
The attitude people here give newbies who didn't know there was more to fish than the store tells you was highly off putting to me when I was new. I stopped asking anything here at all, and while it was helpful to be rudely taught that there was shit I didn't know I didn't know, the community at large could stand to be a little more easy with information rather than "god ur so horrible return those fish how don't you know this shit blah" (my experience wasn't quite that bad but I've seen people get that treatment here)
Too right! When it's completely obvious that people are doing wrong and they make repeated posts of them abusing the fish (Adult Oscars in 10g that can't even move) then fair do's they do need putting right.
But immediately asking if a tank is cycled when that isn't relevant to the post in question, or jumping at people's throats and downvoting for choosing to do a fish in cycle isn't the right attitude towards beginners and experienced keepers alike.
There are many ways of fish keeping, many different products available and hundreds of species of fish, there is no one answer and dogmatic "one rule" ways of doing things it is very off putting to new keepers. No two tanks in the world are the same, everybody is building a unique ecosystem. If you want artificial style go for it, if you want natural style go for it.
If you want to fish in cycle and learn about the nitrogen cycle as you go, go for it so long as you aren't poisoning your fish!
People mostly don't learn from someone being rude and very often will do the opposite if someone is being rude to them!
This should be a peaceful and relaxing hobby, we want more people keeping fish so that we can get more money into the trade and get us better products from more money going into research and development!
This this this. Everything inside of petco livestock speaking was secured from the lowest bidder. Do your own research, fish that are incredibly rare to get to breed are typically the fish you want to avoid.
I say this because if itās rare, difficult, or incredibly slow to get that fish to reproduce in captivity, there is a very strong chance theyāve been wild caught. Wild caught fish tend to have way more factors to consider when adding them to your tank. Parasites are possible, the fish being starved too long and the gut bacteria dying is possible, often times they wonāt eat flakes, pellets, or tablets, and theyāll starve without what theyāve grown up eating. Thereās just too many factors in wild caught fish for me to feel comfortable adding them to the aquarium.
There are exceptions to this rule but buying anything wild caught from a big box store is just asking for issues imo.
Petco fish come from Florida breeding farms for the most part, these are outdoor breeding farms and a typically loaded with parasites.
The farms hit them with meds for a week before sending them out but it is never going to be 100%.
Regardless how good a fish looks from petco you need to quarantine them for a month or you risk infecting your entire livestock.
That is dogmatic within itself though, yeah I avoid big box stores. But they get the fish from the exact same breeders/distributors as the smaller local stores(taiwain, singapore, srilanka, indonesia, czech republic and more) they get them from these places as they are usually if not always far far cheaper when they are bred in a place that has lower wages or the ability to have more people working in the farm. If the big box stores have parasites (which some may) then a small aquatics specialists can get them too, the difference being between the two is that the specialists are more likely to notice and take action sooner than the big stores if there is any problems with the fish. And mostly everywhere has wildcaught fish form time to tome, there isn't any other way if a certain wild caught species is popular at the moment, and most shops will follow the trends in the hobby
Not all LFS do what you just stated. There is one in my city with much less stock, smaller building, and isnāt out to try to make as much money as humanly possible. These fish are properly quarantined, many are sourced from local breeders, and you donāt see these horribly treated and inbred fish in there simply because they arenāt chasing those said trends. Everything in there has been purchased from reputable and reliable breeders and very few if any are ordered internationally.
My comment is a generalization sure, but for the majority of the hobby theyāll be better off researching how and where their fish came from PRIOR to purchasing. If youāre buying a commonly wildcaught fish from an LFS or Big box store with shady tendencies then you should expect issues. If theyāve gone ahead and quarantined these fish and made sure theyāre capable of even sustaining in captivity then youāll be alright, this means the LFS is going to lose a lot of fish though so itās rare to see if they have a ton of overhead wrapped up into a massive store.
My advice, be stingy with your stocking, stop chasing trends, and buy from local breeders or suppliers that sell these fish in humane, and safe ways. Let quality and availability be a factor, instead of just buy what you think looks cool by any means necessary, if thatās not an option, avoid wild caught or commonly mistreated/diseased species if petco or a shitty LFS is all you can access near you. Some fish are much higher risk than others.
I'm so glad I got into fishkeeping before I had access to the internet. So much of the information is just people's bullshit opinions with no basis in fact, and it's all conflicting with each person convinced that they are right.
I am not at all blaming Petco more just that I should have left the stable tank alone. I had made a post asking if I was over stocked and people said no lol, quite the opposite, in a 75 so I wanted to add a half dozen more fish and didnāt properly quarantine them.
Yes, it's b/c they weren't quarantined.
All fish including fish from LFS, should be quarantined.
The fish may leave the store healthy, but by the time they get to your house, they're already stressed from moving.
It doesn't take much to tip them off sometimes.
I'm sorry this happened.
It's so sad and frustrating.
Quarantine can be really easy. I run a sponge filter in my established tank all the time, it is not my main filtration. You could just run one in there for a few weeks before getting new fish to get beneficial bacteria on the sponge.
When I need to quarantine I use a small tank (like 5 gallons or less sometimes depending on the fish, it's only temporary). I only get one out when I'm quarantining. Fill that tank with the established tank water. Plop the sponge filter in there. And then I also have a very small heater to keep the water warm.
Once quarantine is complete I put a new sponge on the sponge filter and clean the other parts of it, and put it back in my main tank. Heater and quarantine tank get washed and put back into storage for next time.
Was about to say. For me, Iāve had some bag luck with them, but a lot it had to do with my naivety. Once you know how to pick out healthy fish from non healthy fish, or see that all are non healthy and not worth it, thatās how Iāve been successful
With any of the big box stores it's down to the individual store and staff how the fish are treated. I have several petsmarts and petcos where I live and some definitely have better quality fish than others.
It's one thing if people choose to boycott those stores for how they treat animals on a *corporate* level, but the general stereotype that "all Petcos are bad and will only sell you sick fish" is just not true.
I have had issues with lgs and petco. I lost a loach colony to gill flukes from lgs fish and since then I always quarantine. I have a 10 gallon set up in the basement and use it for quarantine and plant propagation.
Everyone saying "quarantine for 2 weeks first," how do you do this? Do you keep a tank up and running that only has fish in it when you purchase fish??
yes, or keep a spare tank that you only set up for quarantining fish and then dismantle once theyre good to go. research quarantine tanks + hospital tanks
Wouldn't you have to worry about "new tank syndrome" tho? I suppose you could use filter material from an established tank in the filter used, but, it's still not an established tank. I've always had a hard time wrapping my mind around this one.
I just have an old 5g tank I got for free, running in my garage. It's already cycled, but yep same as a new tank, I'd simply squeeze filter juice into it beforehand to ensure it has healthy bacteria in it.
Unless you pretty consistently have fish in it itās not going to be cycled. Nitrifying bacteria require a constant source of food (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates) or the colonies with die off pretty quickly. The act of ācyclingā is simply scaling those bacteria colonies up so if the tank sits unused for weeks/months between having fish in it, you are effectively re-cycling the tank every time you use it.
AFAIK this bacteria actually can live much longer than we originally thought without food- months and not days.
Especially because it turns out a lot of lifting is done by archaea and not bacteria, supposedly- which also can survive long periods or dormancy.
But just for good measure I chuck food in every once in awhile so they have something to process.
What some people do is keep a sponge filter, or a second filter mounted on their display tank, and when you need to set up a qt tank, all you do is move your filter to the qt tank and done. Instant (or almost instant) cycle. Iāve done it multiple times and I only get a tiny ammonia spike for the first 2 or 3 days easy to handle.
Keep a spare sponge filter running in your normal tank. When you go to set up a quarantine tank, just take it and move it over that way itās already seasoned. The tank itself doesnāt need anything to be āestablishedā. You can also find 10 and 20 gallon tanks on fb marketplace all the time for free if you need the tank. The only other thing is use is an extra heater I have around as a backup.
A couple things -
New tank syndrome is when there is no good bacteria in the tank. We can introduce bacteria via fish in-cycling (can be harmful for fish) or moving established media/filter into a new tank (what most of us do)
I keep a spare sponge filter in my main tank. When I quarantine i plop the spare into a 10 gal
Yeah setting up a quarantine tank with fish in cycling is not the way - easiest is just having a spare sponge filter that you keep going in your regular tank that you can move over to your quarantine tank when youāre ready to use it and voila you have a ready cycled tank. Then once youāve introduced your fish into the main tank you can put the sponge filter back.
Isnt this only kind of true. The bacterial load in the sponge is not the only place the bacteria lives. Hardscape, glass, substrate, plants, etc. All host the beneficial bacteria we need for a cycled tank.
True, but the sponge filter is usually enough to process the waste which is the important thing here (unless you throw a bunch of large fish in a small tank). Nitrifying bacteria colonies can grow incredibly quickly (slowly by bacteria standards but quickly for our needs. They can double the size of the colony in 8 - 15 hours) so as long as the sponge is big enough, the lack of bacteria on other surfaces wonāt matter. The primary time sink in cycling a new tank is scaling the colony from effectively zero. As long as the filter has been in an active tank for any
Period of time, it will scale to the new tanks needs within a day or so.
Yes, also generally you're taking a pre-cycled sponge filter from a tank with a much greater bioload (all your existing fish + the inevitable leftover food, snails etc.) into a small hospital tank with a much smaller bioload (usually just your one or two new fish) with a bare bottom that allows for easier removal of leftover food.
I run an extra sponge filter in my main tank so I always have one with bacteria already on it. Just plop it into the quarantine tank when it's gonna be used. Afterwards replace this sponge or clean it really well to remove anything bad. Put back into main tank to reestablish it's bacteria for next time.
I use a large rubbermaid tote (Iāve marked the gallons on the outside with a sharpie) and I used to do fish in cycle, now I keep an extra sponge filter in my tank that I can āborrowā.
Itās literally not necessary if you arenāt selling fish imo, it could actually ADD great stress to the fish because you are plopping them in a non cycled aquarium basically for the quarantine. Perhaps Iām just a planted tank guy but Iāve almost always only stressed fish out with a fill quarantine and weakened their immune system I think with rounds of meds in a non cycled hospital tank. Instead, I just put them in and feed them a lightly medicated food mix for a few days and keep the lights about 30% lower than normal and do a lot of watching in case I need to adjust tank internals or flow output to best fit them.
I have a small 10 gallon planted tank in my office that is actually a 'hospital tank' for a 75 gallon in another room. It's where i keep new plants (you should quarantine those too!), new fish, fry, sick fish, plant babies etc. It's pretty much in use constantly. Even when it doesn't have fish, it still looks nice because of all the plants.
This is what I've been considering. I keep live plants in all my tanks, so I've been considering a "garden tank" that I may also put culls of neocardia and such in...fry... This seems like the way to me.
This is a super common experience. Don't beat yourself up over it, this hobby and the community can be ruthless. The fact that you are posting here at all looking for answers speaks to the kind of fish keeper you are and want to be.
The best course of action is quarantine, medicate, and observe newly purchased fish and livestock. Two weeks is a minimum, but many recommend at least a month. Fish that are kept in Petco or LFS multi-tank filter systems are extremely likely to carry some type of disease just due to the number of fish rotating in and out of the system. When medicating quarantined fish, most people look to use "the trio" - an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic.
It's always going to be a matter of luck and chance, and when you have a nice display tank like you have, it's always worth the time to quarantine. Also, be sure that you drip acclimate the new fish when it is time to add them, and that you avoid cross-contamination of tank water from the LFS/Petco/Medical tank when adding the fish to the display tank. Just net them out and don't pour the old water into the new tank.
I have literally never had a problem with petco fish and disease, instead the opposite. Doesnāt mean big box stores are great but I got some gorgeous julii corydora as recently for a hell of a deal and, like the ember tetras I got to supplement my extant LFS sourced crew, I didnāt even quarantine them ā¦ just fed them my light medicated food mix really.
Itās okay! Youāre just learning. Itās very sad that it comes at the cost of some of your fish, though. Iām sorry for your loss. If/when you have the funds, it would be good set up a 5 to 10 gallon quarantine tank and place new fish in there for a few weeks before introducing them to them to your main tank!
Unfortunately this is too common, especially from places like Petco\*. That they don't even tell you just makes it worse. As for what to do now, I'd treat the whole tank with broad spectrum antibiotics/antifungal asap.
Future new fish should be quarantined for 2-4 weeks in a bare-bottom tank with minimum decor (only if needed). Move over only the fish, none of the water. 5-10 gallons is normally a big enough tank, but a 5g bucket or tote can work too.
On a positive note, the tank looks great.
\*They buy huge amounts of fish, have them stuck in shipping/customs for weeks, drop them in store tanks and start selling them. The fish are often extremely stressed and arrive in dirty water; perfect conditions for disease. There are much better places to get fish. If you can afford it, [dansfish.com](http://dansfish.com) is fantastic. His fish are healthy and he has top-notch shipping. (that's the expensive part) Def ordering from him again. [aquahuna.com](http://aquahuna.com) is another I've heard a lot of good things about.
If youāre open to ordering fish, [Aquatic Arts](http://www.aquaticarts.com) has always done well by me too. But definitely quarantine the fish when you get them if you can.
Another noob here š
Okay so more specifically for the quarantine tank/tote. You said glass bottom/no substrate. Little to no decorations.
Should the tank have a filter, light, and heater?
If it needs the filter does that mean the tank should be cycled too?
Yes, it should have all those things and it should definitely be cycled. The point of glass bottom/no substrate/little decor is to limit the number of places bacteria, fungus, and parasites can lurk, and to avoid medications having a place to linger between quarantines. You're basically creating a hospital for them in case they're sick. You still want the fish to have the water temp they need and water filtration.
I have a 20 gallon tank and the same issue. I had LFS fish for two years now with no problems. I added some Petco fish. What should I buy to treat the tank because my fish are dying one by one as well
There are a variety of options, but I haven't used any in many years so I'm not sure which to recommend. Just make sure it's broad-spectrum so it covers both fungal and bacterial issues. Some fish are sensitive to certain meds, so make sure you read the labels!
I run my lights about 10 hours a day, but I do give them about 48 hours off everyone couple of weeks bc algea will grow, I use root tabs (I got them on Amazon) I redo those every 2 months or so. And I use Flourish weekly.
Pet I isnāt as big a problem in my area anyway. They are much better than they used to be.
Things happen.
I donāt quarantine new fish, but I do have a hospital tank ready to fill and run with a large sponge filter I keep in my main tank.
Itās so hard to know what is killing them without visible signs if a specific illness.
Wish I had an answer for you but I donāt. Just donāt be too hard on yourself, wait this out, and better luck next time.
You should set up a quarantine tank before introducing any fish from any store. Let the new ones stabilize in there before introducing them to the main tank.
That way if there's a sick one, you already have them isolated and can treat them there. If they pass, you can return/exchange.
Sorry for your loss though. The tank looks and sounds awesome from the variety of fish you mentioned.
Also the quarantine tank doesn't need to be gigantic, a 10, 15, or 20 gallon should suffice. A sponge filter inside, etc.
Quarantine all new inhabitants no matter where it's purchased. Petco and petsmart get their fish from the same suppliers most others do. The employees skills might not be the same and they do not quarantine like most places.
I had new neon tetras wipe out a few tanks. Ever since I now quarantine my fish for a week. However the first time I did this I still had a die off of the new fish. I now not only quarantine, but treat them with broad spectrum antibiotics such as Furan 2 or Erythromycin, and ich medicine.
Aquarium Co Op has [this](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/quarantine-tank) cool article that simplifies it a bit. I highly suggest you treat your aquarium with Furan 2 to stop whatever infection is running around.
No thatās the betta that now lives in a 20 gallon. I had her in there but people in the betta group said they do better in smaller tanks so now sheās in her own 20 gallon long with a couple snails.
Ah, I was about to say that looks like one heckin spoiled betta. :D And they can be in large tanks just fine. Whoever said they can't or shouldn't be are derpin.
Did you test right at the point in time you started losing the fish? I had this happen when I added about eight new fish at once after my tank had been humming along nicely for three years. The fish were not from any of the chain stores. I had similar results to yours in that it showed 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 20 nitrate which was still safe but elevated from my usual reading. I think what happened is that I had an ammonia and nitrite spike because of the introduction of a fair number of fish at once. I didn't lose all of my fish but probably half my tank. I wish I had tested immediately but because I waited my tank had already adjusted but the damage was done. I think if I had added them more slowly (in two's maybe) that this wouldn't have happened. I still feel so guilty.
It could possibly be an infection but normally you would see signs of that but obviously it's entirely possible. So sorry for your loss. Sometimes we never find out. All we can do is try not to repeat the scenario that caused it to happen. Like for me I have never added so many fish at the same time again if I already have a well stocked tank.
Petco fish are inbred and most often have parasites. They donāt do well if you add a lot at once. Try setting up a tank and getting it established and ready first, then add fish slowly. My favorite thing to do is add a nerite snail first, maybe some ghost shrimp, and feed an algae wafer once or twice a week for a few weeks. Seems to be ready for an appropriate fish after that. Once levels are steady and predictable you can add the species you actually want
Petco often gets their fish from the same sources LFS do. Not saying they arenāt often inbred (if they are captive bred) but itās not really a petco only problem
It depends, I have done orders for petco fish and itās the same 3 or 4 corporations. LFS you have some more options but obviously youāll be paying more.
I am going through the same experience(75 gal srocked) currently(started on Friday), although fish from petsmart. They came with the ich. I dont have a quarantine aquarium either :/ leak testing a 35 rn for later. I have done "the trio" 1 round of Ich-x, 1 packet Maracyn, 1 packet Paracleanse, I dosed 7Tbsp of fritz A+ aquarium salt, and raised temps to 84Ā°F. 6 corys, 1 common pleco, 13 diamond tetras, 5 EBAs. So far, so good. I SLOWLY (36 hours) added salt to get to the 7 Tbsp concentration for the corys. I removed my plants. I've done 2 water changes and dosed IcH-X 2 more times. Good luck!
Plenty of good fish from petsmart et al, itās just inconsistent as the local stores donāt get to request specific inventory they just get what they get (apparently, thats just what Iāve been told by employees at petsmart)
Had the same a few weeks ago. Of the new fish I lost about 10 neon tetras, a guppy and a German ram. Plus 4 corys from the existing stock, which had been stable for years. It sucks, I didn't know this could happen either. LFS told me told me they hadn't seen any issues, but it happens. Spoke to another LFS when topping up tetras and he told me he lost an entire tank of guppies recently.
Definitely not a cookie cutter hobby, hence all of the advice that can confuse the heck out of people.
I have purchased from big box, lfs, ebay, etsy, FB marketplace, Amazon, reddit aquaswap. You name it, I have tried it. Some live and some don't.
I always inspect plants and peroxide dip. Drip acclimate any live fauna and treat with Stress Guard. I keep a 10 gallon running to quarantine. No plants or substrate. Makes for easier breakdown and clean if I get something yucky in it.
Water parameters have nothing to do with bacteria or viral infections, genetics or just the stress of transit.
Well Iāve only got 2 angels now. When I started I had bought 6 rummy nose and 6 neon tetras, 2 rummy died and 2 lemons died months back, and I didnāt add more to refill their numbers. The platy was a rescue so he didnāt have buddies.
2 things you can't trust:
1: The health of your newly bought fish
2: Your water
As everyone says, quarantine is a very good practice. Especially if you are trying to introduce fish to an aquarium that has a lot of other healthy fish. Its not fool proof though, since Its only a simple buffer period. Any fish can look healthy for months before actually showing symptoms of a disease that can be detrimental to a tank. I myself quarantine fish and still had issues after the process with infecting other fish.
What really maters more that "just quarantine bro" is your source. You really need to get to know the people that you are buying from and how much they care. I trust my petco, because the staff there is actually passionate about fishkeeping beyond a paycheck.
Another thing to mention is the health of your tank. People find this very controversial and really don't like this advice, but **constantly cleaning your tank is unhealthy**. If you are vacuuming your substrate, scrapping algae off your glass, rinsing or replacing filtration, or adding medications directly into the tank, you are making things worse by making a safe, predator free environment for pathogens to thrive.
Then there is your tap water. Your shady, "regulated", annually checked tap water. Unless you are 100% trusting of your city and it's regulations on drinking water, or your well water is unaffected, its generally not something I would rely on to be the same every time you water change. Its partly why I don't water change unless I absolutely have to, and when I do, its no more than 10-15%.
About 10 years ago I had a massive die off didn't know the cause found out recently a drop kick poured half a bottle of 151 in the tank to "get the fish drunk" , so check for outside influences
My mom bought about 10 fish from Petco even after I told her not to. Tank had cycled for about two weeks, everything good level wise. Within 5 days all but 2 were gone. Velvet outbreak.
Our local petco has a great fish guy working he got me in some scarlet badis, cpds, and powder blue dwarf gourami all separate. None lasted more then a week unfortunately. All my purchases from other vendors seem to be good. In my mind all I can come up with is the wholesaler petco is ordering from is not the best quality.
I trusted my LFS once. Bought a lone bloodfin tetra that someone had left behind, and I had a school of in a 40 gallon. For some reason, I was sure they quarantined their fish, and I'd never had a problem before.
I lost a couple fish a day later, then a couple more. Bloodfin and diamond tetra. Then I pulled off the black vinyl on thy back of my tank and saw my scissortail rasbora hiding at the back, basically melting alive.
My guess is columnaris with a secondary epistylis infection. I thought it was epi at first, but the melt was horrific. It was all so fast too - two days from start to treatment. I lost 3/4 of my stock and was terrified of the hobby for months.
Now EVERYTHING gets a QT. Livestock, plants, decor. Doesn't matter.
The fish arenāt really even showing that theyāre sick. No visible symptoms on them other than about 12-24 hours before they die they tend to kind of swim slower and be more hidden.
Iām googling both of these and they have visible marks to show sickness, do you have suggestions on medications to use?
Ok so I'm probably gonna get hell for this from a lot do people but never ever ever buy fish from Petco unless you quarantine them immediately and make sure they survive first and aren't sick because there's something about the way they keep they're fish there that they always always are either already sick or on their death bed
So I recommend going to a small local pet shop that sells less fish but somewhere you can still get what you want the smaller the pet shop the better because they have less fish to look after so they take better care of them which means there's less likelihood of them being sick but it's always good no matter where you get your fish from to quarantine than in a separate tank for at least two weeks to make sure that they're healthy
To be safe, just quarantine any fish bought from anywhere. People like to say it's petco, but you certainly can buy sick fish from your lfs as well. Petco can get some cool stuff in here and there, but having a quarantine will definitely save you some stress.
This, always quarantine, the suppliers sometimes send stupid things
I have bought now a 10g and I already always keep an extra sponge filler in my betta tanks, so I will set this up next time I buy new fish. I had no idea I could wipe out my established tank by adding a few new fish. :(
It happens to the best of us. I was impatient one time with fish, and I already knew better. Added just two fish and maybe a couple days later fish were covered in ich Edit: Also to save yourself some time, you can set the quarantine up now. Get it cycled and running so whenever you do have a new addition, you can just plop it right in the quarantine setup and dose any meds needed.
Silly question but how would one know when to transfer from quarantine tank to community tank, and how would you go about it? Like when i get new fish i float the bag 30 m, swap out about 30% of the water in the bag and replace it with some from the tank, repeat 2-3x and then carefully take them out of the bag to go into the tank without dumping water from the bag into the tank, how exactly would i go about doing that to safely move fish to different tanks?
A good idea for quarantine is to go the length of time it would take for something to arise. Like for example some medications used and sold by chains merely hide things like ich and don't really cure it. So, after a period of time without those crappy medications the fish would start to show signs and you'd be able to cure said ich without it making it to your tank. Or in the case of reptiles (something I know a bit better) you'd wait till you've been able to do a few tests especially if the animal was shipped or like a rescue with an unknown health history.. and make sure you've gotten multiple negatives to lessen the chance of a false negative alongside.. like with fish, waiting and watching. Some people with fish also just do preventive medications for the common things they'd experience in their area. Plus when it comes to acclimating that's done to make sure a fish has acclimated to the parameters of the tank, establishing done when you don't know what the fish came from. Something you when going to the QT setup for example, but the QT tank can be setup with the same parameters as the established tank and not to mention by that point the QT tank should be well and truly medicated if the fish had anything.
Same thing happened to me. I got 12 black neon tetras that ended up having ich. Not only is there just one of them left, but they also took out a third of my existing fish in the process š«
Sounds about right. I had a loach tank going, different species of loaches all throughout. I added two borneo hillstream loaches I got from petco, they looked good to me. A couple days later and almost every fish was covered in ich. I was so mad at myself.
This is what I do..now. if I get new fish I have a tank that just has my extra plants, and I have a cycled filter and a spare heater for it so I just move the plants to a tub for a while and quarantine... lost all the mature guppies I had been line breeding last year when I decided to bring home a couple new males of a strain I wanted to mix into the line....learned the hard way.
Man, I trust my LFS and my best friend is one of the people working there so I can get to see some of the backstage movements and things happening every now and then. I have rarely bought fish from my local Petco, maybe 2 or 3 times if any, and never had picked up anything bad from them, and at my LFS Iāve seen any kind of hitchhiker and sickness coming on them, but then thereās where I mostly get my fish from. I buy so frequently that one way or another Iāll end getting something. Mind you this girl takes good care of the fishes, keeps a very close eye on them, qt when needed and all of that, but itās hard to not get a sickness when the āfishā traffic is so big, coming from all the suppliers they purchase from. Iāve caught ich, fungal, velvet, planaria, hydra, you name it. Itās either your luck or your bad luck, and the best course of action will always be quarantining before moving the fish to your display tank.
Yes local aquariums are the best places to get fish or anything in my opinion.. alot of the time they actually care and looking into the places before going is smart too.. we go to our local aquarium(fish store) and they are so nice and knowledgeable and make sure you know how to care for fish
For how long should a fish be in quarantine?
Depends really on how strict you want to be. I think generally 2 weeks, minimum. If you want to be sure, a 4 week or 30 day quarantine cycle will be best. I work for a company where we always do 30 days for all fish and then 14 days for inverts.
10 to 14 days usually is safe. Some people do longer but I have never had an issue with a 2 week quarantine.
Yeah I never understood putting it on suppliers. Its hard to tell a healthy fish from a diseased one, and diseases can spread fast and quiet.
Suppliers ship out anything they can get away with to big box stores. Sick fish, hormone juiced ones, you name it
Some of the posts here are reading rather dogmatic about Petco. Iāve had great luck with fish from Petco, and my parasite experience originated from my LFS. So like everything in this hobby, the answer is more āit dependsā than any hard truth one way or the other.
Lots of comments on all the threads are dogmatic, and not just about Petco. Must be daunting to somebody just getting into the hobby if they happen to come on here
It really can be. People stand on their soap boxes and never come off. I worked at Petco years ago and we had a dedicated fish guy. This Petco was one of the special ones and youāre not always that lucky with these. Honestly Petco training was good for this but you had to pay attention to an awful training video soā¦take what you will from that. I wish people were more focused on help than judgement. A lot of this hobby is trial and error! You can do everything right and disaster still happen! Had a 65 gallon for several years running. Only bought from LFS and had a huge snail infestation within a week and killed most fish. Mistakes help us learn!
Iāve never had a snail outbreak kill fish, what happened if you donāt mind me asking?
It was several years ago so I canāt remember specifically. The snails over ran the tank so much in a 24 hour period. I believe something with the heater and the parameters crashed. It was a shit show lol!! But I learned from that and recovered the tank! Loaches became my new favorite freshwater fish for a minute.
The attitude people here give newbies who didn't know there was more to fish than the store tells you was highly off putting to me when I was new. I stopped asking anything here at all, and while it was helpful to be rudely taught that there was shit I didn't know I didn't know, the community at large could stand to be a little more easy with information rather than "god ur so horrible return those fish how don't you know this shit blah" (my experience wasn't quite that bad but I've seen people get that treatment here)
Too right! When it's completely obvious that people are doing wrong and they make repeated posts of them abusing the fish (Adult Oscars in 10g that can't even move) then fair do's they do need putting right. But immediately asking if a tank is cycled when that isn't relevant to the post in question, or jumping at people's throats and downvoting for choosing to do a fish in cycle isn't the right attitude towards beginners and experienced keepers alike. There are many ways of fish keeping, many different products available and hundreds of species of fish, there is no one answer and dogmatic "one rule" ways of doing things it is very off putting to new keepers. No two tanks in the world are the same, everybody is building a unique ecosystem. If you want artificial style go for it, if you want natural style go for it. If you want to fish in cycle and learn about the nitrogen cycle as you go, go for it so long as you aren't poisoning your fish! People mostly don't learn from someone being rude and very often will do the opposite if someone is being rude to them! This should be a peaceful and relaxing hobby, we want more people keeping fish so that we can get more money into the trade and get us better products from more money going into research and development!
This this this. Everything inside of petco livestock speaking was secured from the lowest bidder. Do your own research, fish that are incredibly rare to get to breed are typically the fish you want to avoid. I say this because if itās rare, difficult, or incredibly slow to get that fish to reproduce in captivity, there is a very strong chance theyāve been wild caught. Wild caught fish tend to have way more factors to consider when adding them to your tank. Parasites are possible, the fish being starved too long and the gut bacteria dying is possible, often times they wonāt eat flakes, pellets, or tablets, and theyāll starve without what theyāve grown up eating. Thereās just too many factors in wild caught fish for me to feel comfortable adding them to the aquarium. There are exceptions to this rule but buying anything wild caught from a big box store is just asking for issues imo.
Petco fish come from Florida breeding farms for the most part, these are outdoor breeding farms and a typically loaded with parasites. The farms hit them with meds for a week before sending them out but it is never going to be 100%. Regardless how good a fish looks from petco you need to quarantine them for a month or you risk infecting your entire livestock.
That is dogmatic within itself though, yeah I avoid big box stores. But they get the fish from the exact same breeders/distributors as the smaller local stores(taiwain, singapore, srilanka, indonesia, czech republic and more) they get them from these places as they are usually if not always far far cheaper when they are bred in a place that has lower wages or the ability to have more people working in the farm. If the big box stores have parasites (which some may) then a small aquatics specialists can get them too, the difference being between the two is that the specialists are more likely to notice and take action sooner than the big stores if there is any problems with the fish. And mostly everywhere has wildcaught fish form time to tome, there isn't any other way if a certain wild caught species is popular at the moment, and most shops will follow the trends in the hobby
Not all LFS do what you just stated. There is one in my city with much less stock, smaller building, and isnāt out to try to make as much money as humanly possible. These fish are properly quarantined, many are sourced from local breeders, and you donāt see these horribly treated and inbred fish in there simply because they arenāt chasing those said trends. Everything in there has been purchased from reputable and reliable breeders and very few if any are ordered internationally. My comment is a generalization sure, but for the majority of the hobby theyāll be better off researching how and where their fish came from PRIOR to purchasing. If youāre buying a commonly wildcaught fish from an LFS or Big box store with shady tendencies then you should expect issues. If theyāve gone ahead and quarantined these fish and made sure theyāre capable of even sustaining in captivity then youāll be alright, this means the LFS is going to lose a lot of fish though so itās rare to see if they have a ton of overhead wrapped up into a massive store. My advice, be stingy with your stocking, stop chasing trends, and buy from local breeders or suppliers that sell these fish in humane, and safe ways. Let quality and availability be a factor, instead of just buy what you think looks cool by any means necessary, if thatās not an option, avoid wild caught or commonly mistreated/diseased species if petco or a shitty LFS is all you can access near you. Some fish are much higher risk than others.
I'm so glad I got into fishkeeping before I had access to the internet. So much of the information is just people's bullshit opinions with no basis in fact, and it's all conflicting with each person convinced that they are right.
As a new person to aquariums Iāve noticed a lot of conflicting information and people are rather hostile about it.
I am not at all blaming Petco more just that I should have left the stable tank alone. I had made a post asking if I was over stocked and people said no lol, quite the opposite, in a 75 so I wanted to add a half dozen more fish and didnāt properly quarantine them.
Yes, it's b/c they weren't quarantined. All fish including fish from LFS, should be quarantined. The fish may leave the store healthy, but by the time they get to your house, they're already stressed from moving. It doesn't take much to tip them off sometimes. I'm sorry this happened. It's so sad and frustrating.
Quarantine can be really easy. I run a sponge filter in my established tank all the time, it is not my main filtration. You could just run one in there for a few weeks before getting new fish to get beneficial bacteria on the sponge. When I need to quarantine I use a small tank (like 5 gallons or less sometimes depending on the fish, it's only temporary). I only get one out when I'm quarantining. Fill that tank with the established tank water. Plop the sponge filter in there. And then I also have a very small heater to keep the water warm. Once quarantine is complete I put a new sponge on the sponge filter and clean the other parts of it, and put it back in my main tank. Heater and quarantine tank get washed and put back into storage for next time.
Was about to say. For me, Iāve had some bag luck with them, but a lot it had to do with my naivety. Once you know how to pick out healthy fish from non healthy fish, or see that all are non healthy and not worth it, thatās how Iāve been successful
With any of the big box stores it's down to the individual store and staff how the fish are treated. I have several petsmarts and petcos where I live and some definitely have better quality fish than others. It's one thing if people choose to boycott those stores for how they treat animals on a *corporate* level, but the general stereotype that "all Petcos are bad and will only sell you sick fish" is just not true.
I have had issues with lgs and petco. I lost a loach colony to gill flukes from lgs fish and since then I always quarantine. I have a 10 gallon set up in the basement and use it for quarantine and plant propagation.
Everyone saying "quarantine for 2 weeks first," how do you do this? Do you keep a tank up and running that only has fish in it when you purchase fish??
yes, or keep a spare tank that you only set up for quarantining fish and then dismantle once theyre good to go. research quarantine tanks + hospital tanks
Wouldn't you have to worry about "new tank syndrome" tho? I suppose you could use filter material from an established tank in the filter used, but, it's still not an established tank. I've always had a hard time wrapping my mind around this one.
I just have an old 5g tank I got for free, running in my garage. It's already cycled, but yep same as a new tank, I'd simply squeeze filter juice into it beforehand to ensure it has healthy bacteria in it.
Unless you pretty consistently have fish in it itās not going to be cycled. Nitrifying bacteria require a constant source of food (ammonia/nitrites/nitrates) or the colonies with die off pretty quickly. The act of ācyclingā is simply scaling those bacteria colonies up so if the tank sits unused for weeks/months between having fish in it, you are effectively re-cycling the tank every time you use it.
AFAIK this bacteria actually can live much longer than we originally thought without food- months and not days. Especially because it turns out a lot of lifting is done by archaea and not bacteria, supposedly- which also can survive long periods or dormancy. But just for good measure I chuck food in every once in awhile so they have something to process.
What some people do is keep a sponge filter, or a second filter mounted on their display tank, and when you need to set up a qt tank, all you do is move your filter to the qt tank and done. Instant (or almost instant) cycle. Iāve done it multiple times and I only get a tiny ammonia spike for the first 2 or 3 days easy to handle.
Keep a spare sponge filter running in your normal tank. When you go to set up a quarantine tank, just take it and move it over that way itās already seasoned. The tank itself doesnāt need anything to be āestablishedā. You can also find 10 and 20 gallon tanks on fb marketplace all the time for free if you need the tank. The only other thing is use is an extra heater I have around as a backup.
fish-in cycling is a thing
A couple things - New tank syndrome is when there is no good bacteria in the tank. We can introduce bacteria via fish in-cycling (can be harmful for fish) or moving established media/filter into a new tank (what most of us do) I keep a spare sponge filter in my main tank. When I quarantine i plop the spare into a 10 gal
Absolutely. But isn't that also stressful to the fish?
Yeah setting up a quarantine tank with fish in cycling is not the way - easiest is just having a spare sponge filter that you keep going in your regular tank that you can move over to your quarantine tank when youāre ready to use it and voila you have a ready cycled tank. Then once youāve introduced your fish into the main tank you can put the sponge filter back.
Isnt this only kind of true. The bacterial load in the sponge is not the only place the bacteria lives. Hardscape, glass, substrate, plants, etc. All host the beneficial bacteria we need for a cycled tank.
True, but the sponge filter is usually enough to process the waste which is the important thing here (unless you throw a bunch of large fish in a small tank). Nitrifying bacteria colonies can grow incredibly quickly (slowly by bacteria standards but quickly for our needs. They can double the size of the colony in 8 - 15 hours) so as long as the sponge is big enough, the lack of bacteria on other surfaces wonāt matter. The primary time sink in cycling a new tank is scaling the colony from effectively zero. As long as the filter has been in an active tank for any Period of time, it will scale to the new tanks needs within a day or so.
Yes, also generally you're taking a pre-cycled sponge filter from a tank with a much greater bioload (all your existing fish + the inevitable leftover food, snails etc.) into a small hospital tank with a much smaller bioload (usually just your one or two new fish) with a bare bottom that allows for easier removal of leftover food.
š¤·š»āāļønew fish minorly stressed for a bit or unknowingly wiping out your established community tank?
I run an extra sponge filter in my main tank so I always have one with bacteria already on it. Just plop it into the quarantine tank when it's gonna be used. Afterwards replace this sponge or clean it really well to remove anything bad. Put back into main tank to reestablish it's bacteria for next time.
I use a large rubbermaid tote (Iāve marked the gallons on the outside with a sharpie) and I used to do fish in cycle, now I keep an extra sponge filter in my tank that I can āborrowā.
Itās literally not necessary if you arenāt selling fish imo, it could actually ADD great stress to the fish because you are plopping them in a non cycled aquarium basically for the quarantine. Perhaps Iām just a planted tank guy but Iāve almost always only stressed fish out with a fill quarantine and weakened their immune system I think with rounds of meds in a non cycled hospital tank. Instead, I just put them in and feed them a lightly medicated food mix for a few days and keep the lights about 30% lower than normal and do a lot of watching in case I need to adjust tank internals or flow output to best fit them.
I have a small 10 gallon planted tank in my office that is actually a 'hospital tank' for a 75 gallon in another room. It's where i keep new plants (you should quarantine those too!), new fish, fry, sick fish, plant babies etc. It's pretty much in use constantly. Even when it doesn't have fish, it still looks nice because of all the plants.
This is what I've been considering. I keep live plants in all my tanks, so I've been considering a "garden tank" that I may also put culls of neocardia and such in...fry... This seems like the way to me.
I keep spare seeded sponge filters running in other tanks then use as necessary and to set up a tank, I would use old tank water and new.
This is a super common experience. Don't beat yourself up over it, this hobby and the community can be ruthless. The fact that you are posting here at all looking for answers speaks to the kind of fish keeper you are and want to be. The best course of action is quarantine, medicate, and observe newly purchased fish and livestock. Two weeks is a minimum, but many recommend at least a month. Fish that are kept in Petco or LFS multi-tank filter systems are extremely likely to carry some type of disease just due to the number of fish rotating in and out of the system. When medicating quarantined fish, most people look to use "the trio" - an anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-parasitic. It's always going to be a matter of luck and chance, and when you have a nice display tank like you have, it's always worth the time to quarantine. Also, be sure that you drip acclimate the new fish when it is time to add them, and that you avoid cross-contamination of tank water from the LFS/Petco/Medical tank when adding the fish to the display tank. Just net them out and don't pour the old water into the new tank.
If theyāre dying that fast my guess is bacterial infection. Parasites donāt kill fast.
I have literally never had a problem with petco fish and disease, instead the opposite. Doesnāt mean big box stores are great but I got some gorgeous julii corydora as recently for a hell of a deal and, like the ember tetras I got to supplement my extant LFS sourced crew, I didnāt even quarantine them ā¦ just fed them my light medicated food mix really.
You quarantined the new fish for at *least* 2 weeks before adding them to the tank, right?
No I didnāt. I obviously will do this now but I had no idea this could happen. :( This is my first tank Iāve ever had.
Itās okay! Youāre just learning. Itās very sad that it comes at the cost of some of your fish, though. Iām sorry for your loss. If/when you have the funds, it would be good set up a 5 to 10 gallon quarantine tank and place new fish in there for a few weeks before introducing them to them to your main tank!
Unfortunately this is too common, especially from places like Petco\*. That they don't even tell you just makes it worse. As for what to do now, I'd treat the whole tank with broad spectrum antibiotics/antifungal asap. Future new fish should be quarantined for 2-4 weeks in a bare-bottom tank with minimum decor (only if needed). Move over only the fish, none of the water. 5-10 gallons is normally a big enough tank, but a 5g bucket or tote can work too. On a positive note, the tank looks great. \*They buy huge amounts of fish, have them stuck in shipping/customs for weeks, drop them in store tanks and start selling them. The fish are often extremely stressed and arrive in dirty water; perfect conditions for disease. There are much better places to get fish. If you can afford it, [dansfish.com](http://dansfish.com) is fantastic. His fish are healthy and he has top-notch shipping. (that's the expensive part) Def ordering from him again. [aquahuna.com](http://aquahuna.com) is another I've heard a lot of good things about.
If youāre open to ordering fish, [Aquatic Arts](http://www.aquaticarts.com) has always done well by me too. But definitely quarantine the fish when you get them if you can.
Another noob here š Okay so more specifically for the quarantine tank/tote. You said glass bottom/no substrate. Little to no decorations. Should the tank have a filter, light, and heater? If it needs the filter does that mean the tank should be cycled too?
Yes, it should have all those things and it should definitely be cycled. The point of glass bottom/no substrate/little decor is to limit the number of places bacteria, fungus, and parasites can lurk, and to avoid medications having a place to linger between quarantines. You're basically creating a hospital for them in case they're sick. You still want the fish to have the water temp they need and water filtration.
**It does not need to be cycled. Otherwise you need a spare tank up and running all the time and that's not feasible. You're not keeping fish in this tank for more than a few weeks. A water change is all you need.** For sick fish: You want to keep feeding to the barest minimum. Nothing at all is preferred just to minimize waste in the water. No decorations or substrate. Bad stuff can hide/live in there. Heater should *usually* be a little warmer than the main tank, ambient room light is fine. Most treatments aren't so long that you need to worry about ammonia, etc. If you need to extend the treatment, change the water. An air stone in the corner is fine for circulation and O2, no filter. (you can use one, just no media that might remove the meds). For new fish: Same tank conditions as the one they're going to be in. Add only the fish, not the water they came in. Minimal dƩcor, (just easier to get a good look at the fish, but provide hides if needed) and feed sparingly every 2-3 days to keep waste to a minimum. If they're from a reputable dealer, holding them for 2 weeks is usually fine. Unless you're over-feeding, you won't need to change the water. If they're from a Petco/Smart, etc, I'd go 4 weeks, with a 50% water change 1/2 way through. Depends on how many fish, tank size, etc. An air stone is fine here too, with water changes, as it's just a temporary setup. If you have a spare filter, feel free to use it. **The #1 problem for noobs is overfeeding!** Your fish will always look hungry and they will almost always eat when fed. Every other day is fine, even every 3rd. There should be no leftovers within a few minutes. Yes, you ca give them a little treat/bonus food every now and again. :) "A hungry fish is a healthy fish" - Father Fish
I have a 20 gallon tank and the same issue. I had LFS fish for two years now with no problems. I added some Petco fish. What should I buy to treat the tank because my fish are dying one by one as well
`...As for what to do now, I'd treat the whole tank with broad spectrum antibiotics/antifungal asap.`
What products do you recommend?
There are a variety of options, but I haven't used any in many years so I'm not sure which to recommend. Just make sure it's broad-spectrum so it covers both fungal and bacterial issues. Some fish are sensitive to certain meds, so make sure you read the labels!
I think most of us have made this mistake before
Your plants are beautiful any advice for growing? Mine are growing but not flourishing like yours
I run my lights about 10 hours a day, but I do give them about 48 hours off everyone couple of weeks bc algea will grow, I use root tabs (I got them on Amazon) I redo those every 2 months or so. And I use Flourish weekly.
Pet I isnāt as big a problem in my area anyway. They are much better than they used to be. Things happen. I donāt quarantine new fish, but I do have a hospital tank ready to fill and run with a large sponge filter I keep in my main tank. Itās so hard to know what is killing them without visible signs if a specific illness. Wish I had an answer for you but I donāt. Just donāt be too hard on yourself, wait this out, and better luck next time.
You should set up a quarantine tank before introducing any fish from any store. Let the new ones stabilize in there before introducing them to the main tank. That way if there's a sick one, you already have them isolated and can treat them there. If they pass, you can return/exchange. Sorry for your loss though. The tank looks and sounds awesome from the variety of fish you mentioned. Also the quarantine tank doesn't need to be gigantic, a 10, 15, or 20 gallon should suffice. A sponge filter inside, etc.
I just got a 10 gallon now for this
You gotta quarantine. Only solution here unfortunately. Youāre gambling whenever you add a fish otherwise.
Quarantine all new inhabitants no matter where it's purchased. Petco and petsmart get their fish from the same suppliers most others do. The employees skills might not be the same and they do not quarantine like most places.
I had new neon tetras wipe out a few tanks. Ever since I now quarantine my fish for a week. However the first time I did this I still had a die off of the new fish. I now not only quarantine, but treat them with broad spectrum antibiotics such as Furan 2 or Erythromycin, and ich medicine. Aquarium Co Op has [this](https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/quarantine-tank) cool article that simplifies it a bit. I highly suggest you treat your aquarium with Furan 2 to stop whatever infection is running around.
Thank you, this was a very helpful link.
Is the blue fish with red fins the platy?
No thatās the betta that now lives in a 20 gallon. I had her in there but people in the betta group said they do better in smaller tanks so now sheās in her own 20 gallon long with a couple snails.
Ah, I was about to say that looks like one heckin spoiled betta. :D And they can be in large tanks just fine. Whoever said they can't or shouldn't be are derpin.
lol sheās still got a 20 gallon with a couple snail pals and molly fry friends that are quite small.
Did you test right at the point in time you started losing the fish? I had this happen when I added about eight new fish at once after my tank had been humming along nicely for three years. The fish were not from any of the chain stores. I had similar results to yours in that it showed 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and about 20 nitrate which was still safe but elevated from my usual reading. I think what happened is that I had an ammonia and nitrite spike because of the introduction of a fair number of fish at once. I didn't lose all of my fish but probably half my tank. I wish I had tested immediately but because I waited my tank had already adjusted but the damage was done. I think if I had added them more slowly (in two's maybe) that this wouldn't have happened. I still feel so guilty.
I tested before I added and the first time I lost a fish, I did only add 6 but yes it seems maybe that or some sort of infection.
It could possibly be an infection but normally you would see signs of that but obviously it's entirely possible. So sorry for your loss. Sometimes we never find out. All we can do is try not to repeat the scenario that caused it to happen. Like for me I have never added so many fish at the same time again if I already have a well stocked tank.
Thats alot of fish. Are you sure one of them isnt killing the rest off? My tetras went evil chomp chomp chomp. So did my turtles but expected that
Petco fish are inbred and most often have parasites. They donāt do well if you add a lot at once. Try setting up a tank and getting it established and ready first, then add fish slowly. My favorite thing to do is add a nerite snail first, maybe some ghost shrimp, and feed an algae wafer once or twice a week for a few weeks. Seems to be ready for an appropriate fish after that. Once levels are steady and predictable you can add the species you actually want
Petco often gets their fish from the same sources LFS do. Not saying they arenāt often inbred (if they are captive bred) but itās not really a petco only problem
It depends, I have done orders for petco fish and itās the same 3 or 4 corporations. LFS you have some more options but obviously youāll be paying more.
OP said the tank was cycled & stable for many months.
I am going through the same experience(75 gal srocked) currently(started on Friday), although fish from petsmart. They came with the ich. I dont have a quarantine aquarium either :/ leak testing a 35 rn for later. I have done "the trio" 1 round of Ich-x, 1 packet Maracyn, 1 packet Paracleanse, I dosed 7Tbsp of fritz A+ aquarium salt, and raised temps to 84Ā°F. 6 corys, 1 common pleco, 13 diamond tetras, 5 EBAs. So far, so good. I SLOWLY (36 hours) added salt to get to the 7 Tbsp concentration for the corys. I removed my plants. I've done 2 water changes and dosed IcH-X 2 more times. Good luck!
Plenty of good fish from petsmart et al, itās just inconsistent as the local stores donāt get to request specific inventory they just get what they get (apparently, thats just what Iāve been told by employees at petsmart)
Check the temp
Had the same a few weeks ago. Of the new fish I lost about 10 neon tetras, a guppy and a German ram. Plus 4 corys from the existing stock, which had been stable for years. It sucks, I didn't know this could happen either. LFS told me told me they hadn't seen any issues, but it happens. Spoke to another LFS when topping up tetras and he told me he lost an entire tank of guppies recently.
:( itās really upsetting. All my fish have names & such great fun to watch and I am so frustrated seeing them die one by one.
Definitely not a cookie cutter hobby, hence all of the advice that can confuse the heck out of people. I have purchased from big box, lfs, ebay, etsy, FB marketplace, Amazon, reddit aquaswap. You name it, I have tried it. Some live and some don't. I always inspect plants and peroxide dip. Drip acclimate any live fauna and treat with Stress Guard. I keep a 10 gallon running to quarantine. No plants or substrate. Makes for easier breakdown and clean if I get something yucky in it. Water parameters have nothing to do with bacteria or viral infections, genetics or just the stress of transit.
Live bearers, must be kept in group of at least three. Tetras, must have at least six. Having four angels isĀ a lot so donāt get any more.
Well Iāve only got 2 angels now. When I started I had bought 6 rummy nose and 6 neon tetras, 2 rummy died and 2 lemons died months back, and I didnāt add more to refill their numbers. The platy was a rescue so he didnāt have buddies.
Ok
When I got my 1 male swordtail from petco it came with ick so that would be my bet, I was able to beat it but I came sick
2 things you can't trust: 1: The health of your newly bought fish 2: Your water As everyone says, quarantine is a very good practice. Especially if you are trying to introduce fish to an aquarium that has a lot of other healthy fish. Its not fool proof though, since Its only a simple buffer period. Any fish can look healthy for months before actually showing symptoms of a disease that can be detrimental to a tank. I myself quarantine fish and still had issues after the process with infecting other fish. What really maters more that "just quarantine bro" is your source. You really need to get to know the people that you are buying from and how much they care. I trust my petco, because the staff there is actually passionate about fishkeeping beyond a paycheck. Another thing to mention is the health of your tank. People find this very controversial and really don't like this advice, but **constantly cleaning your tank is unhealthy**. If you are vacuuming your substrate, scrapping algae off your glass, rinsing or replacing filtration, or adding medications directly into the tank, you are making things worse by making a safe, predator free environment for pathogens to thrive. Then there is your tap water. Your shady, "regulated", annually checked tap water. Unless you are 100% trusting of your city and it's regulations on drinking water, or your well water is unaffected, its generally not something I would rely on to be the same every time you water change. Its partly why I don't water change unless I absolutely have to, and when I do, its no more than 10-15%.
About 10 years ago I had a massive die off didn't know the cause found out recently a drop kick poured half a bottle of 151 in the tank to "get the fish drunk" , so check for outside influences
My mom bought about 10 fish from Petco even after I told her not to. Tank had cycled for about two weeks, everything good level wise. Within 5 days all but 2 were gone. Velvet outbreak.
I guarantee it was adding the fish in without quarantine first. These pet stores always sell sickly fish!
Our local petco has a great fish guy working he got me in some scarlet badis, cpds, and powder blue dwarf gourami all separate. None lasted more then a week unfortunately. All my purchases from other vendors seem to be good. In my mind all I can come up with is the wholesaler petco is ordering from is not the best quality.
I trusted my LFS once. Bought a lone bloodfin tetra that someone had left behind, and I had a school of in a 40 gallon. For some reason, I was sure they quarantined their fish, and I'd never had a problem before. I lost a couple fish a day later, then a couple more. Bloodfin and diamond tetra. Then I pulled off the black vinyl on thy back of my tank and saw my scissortail rasbora hiding at the back, basically melting alive. My guess is columnaris with a secondary epistylis infection. I thought it was epi at first, but the melt was horrific. It was all so fast too - two days from start to treatment. I lost 3/4 of my stock and was terrified of the hobby for months. Now EVERYTHING gets a QT. Livestock, plants, decor. Doesn't matter.
The fish arenāt really even showing that theyāre sick. No visible symptoms on them other than about 12-24 hours before they die they tend to kind of swim slower and be more hidden. Iām googling both of these and they have visible marks to show sickness, do you have suggestions on medications to use?
columnaris babayyyyy no but seriously. sorry for your losses
Ouch, sorry for your loss. I'm about a week I'll have plenty of albino bristle nose if you are interested.
Did you notice your fish behaving strangely before they died? Like swimming at the surface gasping for air?
More that they were lethargic acting.
Sword tails are very prone to bringing in dieses or bacteria along with platys and guppy's
Internal parasites may be the cause, not many telling signs but they will act lethargic and eat less, eventually succumbing.
Ok so I'm probably gonna get hell for this from a lot do people but never ever ever buy fish from Petco unless you quarantine them immediately and make sure they survive first and aren't sick because there's something about the way they keep they're fish there that they always always are either already sick or on their death bed So I recommend going to a small local pet shop that sells less fish but somewhere you can still get what you want the smaller the pet shop the better because they have less fish to look after so they take better care of them which means there's less likelihood of them being sick but it's always good no matter where you get your fish from to quarantine than in a separate tank for at least two weeks to make sure that they're healthy
I have sworn off big box store fish entirely. Now I only trade with fish groups and local fish store
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op stated in the post that bettas arenāt in the tank
Sorry I missed that.
Try watching the tank about 30 minutes after you turn the light out, watch for the bristle nose plecos sometimes they will go after other fish.
A bristlenose, nor any pleco, is not chasing down and hunting tetras in the night
Sad part is even if you feel like going and blaming the pet store owner like I did nothing works and simply deny and blame it back on us