Local Fish Shop What Would U Do?

[fluffypechey]

I bought a male sailfin last week from a shop that I have purchased from before. The owner has always been helpful and seems to know his stuff.
Now when I got the sailfin home he didnt look quite right.........I put it down to shyness and stress of his move. When I had a good look at him the next day he seemed to have 'bits' on him. Like cotton bits a little hard to explain. I phoned the shop and they said bring it back. I did exactly that returned him. When I showed the assistant my problem he rushed off with the fish. He then gave me a bottle of medicine to treat my tank. He thought it was 'fluke' and said he would give me the medication FREE well I thought that was a start. When I explained who had sold it to me (the owner) he laughed. Now I wasnt very amused at this point to say the least. Now I have just about finished my treatment in the tank and everyone seems ok.
What would you do now?
He owes me a fish. I have been quite upset as I am quite new to this hobby and love my fish very much.
Do you think this is one of these things that happen or what?
Do you think I am within my rights to ask for some form of sorry in the form of something out of the shop?
Does this happen often?
I really am gutted about it. Has he treated my fish and the tank he came from? Would you buy from this shop again?

Sorry this is long.

Thanks
Sharon

 

[shelaghfishface]

if it was flukes, i would think he owes you more than "a" fish if you had it in your tank with others

 

[orange shark]

why did he laugh when you said who sold it?

tbh unless im missing something (which most likely i am), it sounds like he gave you free medication and its treated your tank and everything is fine...so whats wrong with that?

 

[Loony Fish]

yeah, flukes or fungus.
i think you have the right to complane, but not every thing you said.

 

[gaz gun man]

I am personally impressed with the way the shop acted, atleast you didnt get 'bring in a water sample and we'll see' response

 

[vonnie06]

how i see it is that you didnt get the medication free as he took your fish away if he meant free he would of done you a credit note till your fish tank has cleared of fluke.
The thing id do is go back and have a word to the manger and tell him what happened and see what he says,hope this helps

 

[TylerFerretLord]

You didn't quarantine the fish before adding it.

It's not the LFS's fault. If anything, it's yours.

In addition to that, the guy gave you free meds, which are expensive, usually more-so than fish.

 

[catfish101]

i agree u need to quarantine

 

[5teady_2012]

hmmm, i never quarantine my fish i buy, but then i do make sure i get healthy fish and always add melafix and pimafix upon adding new fish.

I would of asked why he laughed btw...

He gave you the medication for free porbably to replace what u spent on the fish, so really i think that was fair..

Only thing i have to say is that these probs do happen, if you buy a fish and it looks fine, and then the next day its not well, its not really yours or thier fault, just these things happen.

I would go back there and buy fish again for sure, dont let 1 unfortunate event get to you, it happens to us all

 

[Ficious]

i think the store did a good job. Im assuming he didnt offer you another one because you had to treat your current tank. I would...take the receipt back in (even if you dont have it) and tell them youd like another male sailfin.


theyre cheap and there should be no issues because you paid for the fish. some stores would say theyre not liable or bring it back when its dead...and offer you to "buy" some medication.


i would shop there again...the knowledge of knowing what it was and how to treat it is good!

 

[Axleuk]

You didn't quarantine the fish before adding it.

It's not the LFS's fault. If anything, it's yours.

In addition to that, the guy gave you free meds, which are expensive, usually more-so than fish.

That is utter crap.

If you are suggesting that for every fish you receive you should be placing them in quarantine ? Not everyone can afford to buy an extra tank that for the most time will sit there idle, not to mention the time and effort to cycle and keep it maintained.

Our lfs has a duty of care to the customer which includes the proper handling and care for goods that are sold. We know that not all lfs quarentine their fish so it is important to inspect the products prior to purchase for any signs of damage or disease.

If a fish dies or developes a disease (normally within 7 days) are refund is not normally disputed. In this case i think the shopkeeper acted responsibily and gave free meds to treat the problem which in most cases, as already stated, cost more than the fish itself.

It is nice to be in a position to quarantine your fish but most people only have the one tank, so to suggest it was the OP's fault is senseless.

 

[peter22UK]

i think they will still be more than happy to replace the fish..........

 

[minxfishy]

That is not utter cr*p.

It is your responsiblity to quarantine all the fish you buy, if not then you run the risk of tranferring any disease that the fish may be carrying onto all your fish. Whilst not your fault, it is the risk you run when adding new fish to a tank. Some diseases do not become apparent for several weeks, by which time it has spread to other inhabitants in the tank. If the fish was quarantined then you can treat it without risking half/whole tank wipe outs.

Whilst some LFS quarantine their fish upon arrival, not all do and most certainly dont for four weeks, usually they are on sale within one. They acclimatise them and providing they all appear healthy then they put them on sale.

Unfortunatley quarantining fish is something you learn to do when you have been in the hobby for a while, as sooner or later, most people have this happen to them, unaware they place the fish into their main tank, then a problem occurs, its not a case of IF it happens, but more WHEN and until you have it happen to you then you can say - "no need to" blah blah. Its a something you learn over time and usually at the expense of your fish. If you have expensive fish do you really want to run the risk of losing them for the sake of four weeks QT in a smallish inexpensive tank?

Its not that expensive to have a QT tank, whilst the tank may remain out of use until you buy another fish, the filter required to run the tank, can stay in the main tank, or the media for the filter run inside your existing filter, hence having an instantly ready cycled tank available when you need it.

 

[Axleuk]

I personally believe that putting a fish into quarantine causes more harm than good.

All fish have parasites/ diseases at all times within their body. What brings them out is stress. As long as a fish eats well has plenty of space to swim in and avoids any undue stress the fish will remain fit and healthy and these parasites and diseases will remain dormant.

In the same way that humans suffer illness due to fatigue and stress, fish also suffer.

Moving fish to new environments, poor diet and bad water conditions all leads to excess stress and as a result the immune system shuts down a bit and parasites and disease are able to show themselves.

How many times do you think a fish has been put under stress before it reaches your tank? I can guess it has been lots.

So, you want to cause the fish more stress by buying it and putting it into another tank at home, and then catching it again to put it in your community tank again causing it more stress again.

If you buy a healthy looking fish at yout lfs, take it home, put it in quarantine and then realise it has some form of disease, then it is safe to assume that the last time it was sufficiently stressed cause the disease to show....Hmmmmm....putting it in the quarantine tank perhaps?

LFS run a business, they cannot afford to quarantine for 4 weeks or so, the reason they will not sell newly acquired fish (in most cases) is to see if the stress from the move caused any ill effects. As long as they are eating well, have good colour and in general behave like the rest of their species then they are good to sell.

I think 5teady's suggestion is much better for the welfare of fish.

 

[tenohfive]

I'm going to ignore the flame war thats developing and give my opinion:

The shop acted responsibly and they looked after you - and if they recognised fluke and gave you the correct advice on treating it, the bloke you spoke to seems to know his stuff. Possibly the owner doesn't - which may be why his employee laughed.

From a normal consumer point of view he owes you a fish i.e you bought something that was faulty and you returned it, but didn't get a refund. He gave you some med's to prevent the faulty goods affecting the rest of your property (i.e fluke taking out your other fish.) So from a normal point of view, you're right.



However: fishkeeping is a rule unto itself. Alot of employee's in fish shops don't know how to recognise signs of illness, don't know details about which fish can live together and allsorts of other information that is important to keeping a happy healthy tank. The onus is always on the fishkeeper to do the research, to recognise the signs of healthy and unhealthy fish and to set up a small tank for quaranting new fish for two weeks or so to prevent any illnesses spreading from new fish to the main tank.

What this boils down to is that if anything goes wrong, its your fault - you should do all your research before hand and should never rely upon the staff of your local fish shop. Thats the attitude held by most experienced fishkeepers (as you can see above.) Its always your fault if something goes wrong.

And whilst that attitude grates on me and I think it shouldn't be that way - in practicality, thats the way it works.



My last piece of advice would be this: whatever it is you're thinking about doing - post up on here. Someone will talk you through it and stop you making any mistakes.