Petco strikes again

mfinn · Jul 12, 2016

Pruett-nc said:
I disagree because how much money would they loose if he just left the fish and let it die . I applaud @PaReeferJ for thinking enough of trying to save the fish instead of letting it die .

If people stop buying from them, they will stop ordering.

Reefrookie220 · Jul 12, 2016

I'd get him to eat for a few days before starting copper.... He's awfully skinny. And copper will make him lose what appetite he may have. Just my .02

pga7602 · Jul 12, 2016

Maybe you can try starting with live foods like brine shrimp.

tom39 · Jul 12, 2016

If it doesn't have ick why would you treat with copper?

Humblefish · Jul 12, 2016

tom39 said:
If it doesn't have ick why would you treat with copper?

Because its very probable he does have ich or velvet, and this is the underlying cause of the secondary bacterial infection. I've yet to encounter a Petco that didn't have ich, velvet or brook in their system. All it takes is one infected fish and the disease is in the system until you go fallow (which Petco never does.)

PaReeferJ · Jul 12, 2016

@Humblefish... Sometimes he is on his side and then sometimes he is upright swimming around.

Humblefish · Jul 12, 2016

PaReeferJ said:
@Humblefish... Sometimes he is on his side and then sometimes he is upright swimming around.

Is he breathing heavy?

marinelife · Jul 12, 2016

By saving one sick fish you have told Petco to bring in more because people will buy them. Its better to leave them so maybe they will learn not to have sick fish.

I agree with other of HLLE, selcon soak the food you feed it.

Davehla · Jul 12, 2016

What Petco's have saltwater fish? I live in California and have never seen saltwater fish in a Petco.

nerdymunky · Jul 12, 2016

Davehla said:
What Petco's have saltwater fish? I live in California and have never seen saltwater fish in a Petco.

I know San Diego has at least two Petco's with saltwater fish. Petco's in Milwaukee have them too. I've been to both cities within the last year.

tom39 · Jul 12, 2016

Humblefish said:
Because its very probable he does have ich or velvet, and this is the underlying cause of the secondary bacterial infection. I've yet to encounter a Petco that didn't have ich, velvet or brook in their system. All it takes is one infected fish and the disease is in the system until you go fallow (which Petco never does.)

Please believe that I am not questioning your knowledge and I am only asking so that I may learn. But due to my inexperience my concern would be that since the fish is sick, the stress of copper meds would push it further towards death.
Do you think that it would be easier on the fish if you went with hypo-salinity or the tanks transfer method? Or would that not work fast enough? Or would that also not work on velvet.
Thanks,
Tom G

eatonman96 · Jul 12, 2016

I am an Petco employee and I know that the company is about the money. I will say that but they do offer to there employees the power to treat and care properly for there animals. I have seen my store pay 1000$ to help save a rat thats worth 7$ because no animal life has a price. All petcos have this at the will they can treat animals its actually fireable if you just ignore the disease some stores though only care about the animals when the big guys come in to look at there animals so the rest of the time they dont care. My store that i work at has the VP of the region come in like every month and then the boss of our district comes in randomly evefy week so my store tries our best to make sure our animals and fish are well taken care of and I am the aquatic specialist and if this was in my tank I would isolsted and treated him and made dang sure he got back to health because no one should have to go into any pet store to save an animal. Its irresponisble on that store to let that happen and I know tons of stores get away with this kind of stuff and its stupid. I just want people to know that not all Petcos are bad and I hope to see this beautiful fish make a full recovery if its possible.

JP79 · Jul 12, 2016

That might be velvet. Good luck and wish him well. You'll know in a day or two if he will survive.

Humblefish · Jul 12, 2016

tom39 said:
Please believe that I am not questioning your knowledge and I am only asking so that I may learn. But due to my inexperience my concern would be that since the fish is sick, the stress of copper meds would push it further towards death.
Do you think that it would be easier on the fish if you went with hypo-salinity or the tanks transfer method? Or would that not work fast enough? Or would that also not work on velvet.
Thanks,
Tom G

Only two chemicals will completely eradicate velvet in the water: copper and Chloroquine phosphate. The latter is ideal for treating velvet (minimal side effects), but it is difficult to get on short notice. (Fish will velvet need treatment ASAP.)

Whenever I see a thread about a sick fish & Petco, I automatically suspect velvet because: a) That disease is running rampant through the west coast wholesalers right now, including the ones I know Petco buys from. b) I can't remember the last time I walked into a Petco, and couldn't pick out at least one marine fish with velvet. If one has it, velvet dinospores are likely present in the water looking for other fish to latch on to.

I get most of my specimens to treat from Petco, and much of what I have learned has come from experimenting on diseased Petco fish. Once I am sure of a new treatment/protocol, I pass that knowledge onto the R2R community (my articles/stickies) in the hopes it will save other fishes' lives.

Leslie Tabor · Jul 12, 2016

PaReeferJ said:
Wouldn't eat anything I would put in there for him. I ended up having to target feed him through a tube but he took some. He has more color to him that yesterday and is starting to swim around a little.

Glad to hear this! I hope he turns around for you!

Leslie Tabor · Jul 12, 2016

Pruett-nc said:
I disagree because how much money would they loose if he just left the fish and let it die . I applaud @PaReeferJ for thinking enough of trying to save the fish instead of letting it die .

I absolutely give him props for giving the fish a shot. You have to remember Petco buys in bulk so they spend a fraction of what you would to buy the animal to sell. Retail mark up is RIDICULOUS. That one fish dying does not make a difference to them. If ppl stopped buying birds/reptiles/fish/puppies from "big box" stores, and instead frequented LFS, they wouldn't continue to sell them. However, this will never happen because ppl want to spend less regardless of quality. It is a vicious cycle.

Matthew Elsass · Jul 12, 2016

Marine Velvet?

PaReeferJ · Jul 12, 2016

Humblefish said:
Is he breathing heavy?

Not to bad. He is breathing normal but then will have a couple sec spurts of heavy breathing.

patrsnracn · Jul 12, 2016

We hate even too visit Petco in that it ALWAYS results with some wanton rescue , or the desire to at least try. Last time there were several nems just melting away and it was so sad to see. There seems always to be LPS dying in the rack, when we ask the clerk; she said she tells "corporate" not to ship more, they don't want them, they don't sell mostly. Seems they are part of a compulsory shipment. I do not blame PETCO staff. We have stopped shopping there,

Rvamalibu · Jul 12, 2016

Don't get discouraged! Oh uc pet smart man every time I go in one for something I always browse the fish and there tanks always look bad. I purchased a purple tang a month ago from my lfs
And when I got it home we noticed ick and possibly marine velvet. I knew I could get the ick under control without medication. I feed nori and I kept feeding nori and I fed and I fed. Low and behold the nori worked its magic. Took care of the ick and it also took care of what we thought to be marine velvet. No not every case is the same and not every result will be the same. However mine Is doing fabulous now. Keep faith and take good care and results will come.