Thanks for nothing Petco!

[GaryE]

Ich can be deadly, but not that fast. That's not ich, from the photos.

Nasty things can hitchhike on plants.

You are probably facing the great problem of the US hobby. The pet chains wiped out the competition with their lower prices, but the prices are lower because corners are cut. When I visit Petcos or their clones, either in Canada or the US, there is not a fish I would buy. The last time I saw an experienced aquarist get excited about what was in a chain store, he was a fish veterinarian looking for disease samples.

Where to now? The local stores are done. Mail order, with a few exceptions, gets its fish from the same corner cutting suppliers as the chains. You just don't get to see what's happening in the tanks. It's almost as if you need to do your research/reading for fun and decide to keep uncommon fish groups. There, you get quality, because they are more expensive and less mass produced.

OMG.
Thank you for that bit of knowledge.!!! I would have never known. My crabs eat Java ferns like savages and im Constantly buying new ones,

Try pesticide free romaine lettuce - a lot cheaper.

 

[Rocky998]

The last time I saw an experienced aquarist get excited about what was in a chain store, he was a fish veterinarian looking for disease samples.

Now that's just plain sad

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I am not saying that this is what happened but it is possible that a well meaning (and short on knowledge) sales person saw snails or something on the plants when they first arrived at the store from the supplier and used a garden spray or powder or pellet pesticide on them, not realising that it would poison the fish.

Not so long ago at one of the big chain pet stores near me had a similar issue with their plants (a neighbour buying their plants realised once home that something was wrong before adding their new fish after adding the plants into their aquarium and whipped them back out immediately before harm could be done). The store was contacted and they discovered that a new employee had "tried to be helpful" and noticed there were snails on the plants and used garden strength snail killer that came from another part of the store on them without asking if it was safe to do so first. The entire batch of plants had to be removed from sale and destroyed and customers contacted.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

What is below is just my personal opinion on this and everyone should make their own decisions as to where they shop.

I have been keeping fish for 22+ years. In 2012 a Petco opened locally. For years the only thing I would ever buy from any Petco was tanks during one of their $1/gallon sales. I refused to buy lids from them as I could buy them online for about 1/2 as much. This past summer I had to do my outdoor summer tanks yet one more year and I was short a 20L. Petco had a sale but not $1/gal. To my surprise they had the lids on sale too and I got one for the tank at the same time.

The tanks for the sale of fish in Petcos are pretty awful. Lots of dead fish, misidentified fish and then staff that are ahead of the game if they know that water is wet. While I have read posts about an individual PetCo not falling into this category and having informed people in the fish dept,this appears to be a rarity.

Over the years I would bet I have spent about $35,000 or more on fish and related supplies and I would estimate under $500 was spent in Petcos. Under no circumstances would I ever buy anything live from them that is to go into any of my tanks.

My advice is you will usually do better buying in a Local Fish Store than a Pet chain. However, not all LFS are created equally. Some of these are not so good either. Several of the better ones in my region have gone out of business since I got my first tank

edited for grammar

 

[DoubleDutch]

Pictures of the fish so we can confirm white spot?

Do a 75-90% water change immediately.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

----------------------
Plants don't get white spot so unless they were in a tank that had fish that had white spot, it is unlikely the plants introduced white spot into your tank. Plants can transfer white spot parasites in contaminated water or on their leaves. However, unless they had a number of white spot cysts with them, and these were ready to hatch yesterday, it might not be white spot.

Were there fish in the plant tanks at the shop?
If yes, did those fish have white spot?
Did the shop put the plants in a bag and add water from another tank?

It is possible the plants had been contaminated by something and that has poisoned your fish. Providing pictures of the fish would let us confirm white spot or excess mucous or something else.

If white spot cysts are introduced into a tank, it is unlikely they would kill fish within 2 days.

Just what I wanted to say : Ich doesn't kill fish in 2 days after it is introduced. Simply impossible.

Poisoning / use of pesticides is more plausible.

 

[Rocky998]

I usually get all my additives and decor from petsmart... Nothing living. But the fish at my petsmart look fairly healthy, just tank mates and tank sizes that are an issue... I would probably get a few otos from my petsmart here maybe... QT being a must.

I mostly shop there cause my LFS doesn't have some brands that pet smart does OR they are just cheaper

 

[jaylach]

Whatever it was it was fast. Nothing made it through the night.

Unfortunately I don't have a LFS so it's either Petco or mail order.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Whatever it was it was fast. Nothing made it through the night.

Unfortunately I don't have a LFS so it's either Petco or mail order.

Sorry for the losses...

 

[jaylach]

Sorry for the losses...

So am I.

Assuming that it was a toxin I MAY have saved some if I had an isolation tank as the isolation would have been 'clean'...

 

[Slaphppy7]

So am I.

Assuming that it was a toxin I MAY have saved some if I had an isolation tank as the isolation would have been 'clean'...

Yep

The importance of QT tanks cannot be stressed enough

 

[jaylach]

Yep

The importance of QT tanks cannot be stressed enough

The sad thing is that a small 2.5-4 gallon tank was on my shopping list to use as a quarantine.

So the question is what do I do now? It will be 6-8 weeks before I would even consider adding any new fish as I want to fully establish live plants first. Do I need to totally take down the tank and start over pitching all the current plants, decor and substrate and re-cycle or can I do near 100% water changes two or three times a week over the 6-8 weeks without fish and save the ~$100.00 of plants? I would think this would detoxify anything but would appreciate input from some of the many here that know more than I.

Current situation of the tank is all plants still in with the addition of a small deer antler to see if the antler affects PH. Water tests currently show fine which I would think would indicate that the toxins did not affect bacteria but it is really too soon to judge that.

I SO much wish that I had gotten back into having an aquarium under different circumstances but I had to do a quick setup to save fish I inherited that were in a flower vase. I guess I didn't do too well on saving them.

 

[Colin_T]

If there are no fish left, I would drain the tank and wash everything under tap water to remove any chemicals/ poisons. Then set it back up and let it run a week or two. Then add a couple of cheap fish and see if they live.

Did you add the deer antler at the same time as the live plants?
Where did the deer antler come from?
If it was found in a field it might have been contaminated by something.

If the deer antler is not the cause, then contact the shop in writing and let them know the plants wiped out the fish. Send them pictures of the dead and sick fish and ask them if they will replace the fish. If not, then contact consumer protection and see what they have to say.

 

[jaylach]

If there are no fish left, I would drain the tank and wash everything under tap water to remove any chemicals/ poisons. Then set it back up and let it run a week or two. Then add a couple of cheap fish and see if they live.

Did you add the deer antler at the same time as the live plants?
Where did the deer antler come from?
If it was found in a field it might have been contaminated by something.

If the deer antler is not the cause, then contact the shop in writing and let them know the plants wiped out the fish. Send them pictures of the dead and sick fish and ask them if they will replace the fish. If not, then contact consumer protection and see what they have to say.

The deer antler was added just today after I removed the dead fish. The antler was also boiled to sterilize. The antler was found in a nature reserve 3-4 years ago so there is not much chance of it having bad stuff.

I would think that totally draining the tank and washing everything would kill the fact that it is cycled. You know more than I but I would think that re-doing the nitrogen cycle would be best without fish while establishing the flora.

 

[Colin_T]

Flushing the tank out (washing everything) will most likely wipe out the filter bacteria. But if the fish were poisoned, and it seems to be the case, you need to get the poison out of the aquarium and the easiest way to do that is wash everything under tap water.

You can try doing a 100% water change and gravel clean every day for a week or even a couple of times a day for a few days. Then add a few cheap fish and see if they live. But if the poison has gotten into the filter or gravel, plants or ornaments, then it could poison any new fish you add.

Depending on what the poison is/ was, flushing the tank might not even even get rid of it.

At this stage, if you want to try and keep the filter, then do a 100% water change at least 3 times and use dechlorinated water to fill the tank. Wait a few days and then add a couple of cheap fish. See if they survive. If they die, then flush the tank and everything out. Set it back up and wait a few days, then try a couple more cheap fish. If they die then chuck the gravel, plants, ornaments and filter media and wash everything with soapy water or bleach. Rinse it really well with tap water and start again.

 

[jaylach]

Flushing the tank out (washing everything) will most likely wipe out the filter bacteria. But if the fish were poisoned, and it seems to be the case, you need to get the poison out of the aquarium and the easiest way to do that is wash everything under tap water.

You can try doing a 100% water change and gravel clean every day for a week or even a couple of times a day for a few days. Then add a few cheap fish and see if they live. But if the poison has gotten into the filter or gravel, plants or ornaments, then it could poison any new fish you add.

Depending on what the poison is/ was, flushing the tank might not even even get rid of it.

At this stage, if you want to try and keep the filter, then do a 100% water change at least 3 times and use dechlorinated water to fill the tank. Wait a few days and then add a couple of cheap fish. See if they survive. If they die, then flush the tank and everything out. Set it back up and wait a few days, then try a couple more cheap fish. If they die then chuck the gravel, plants, ornaments and filter media and wash everything with soapy water or bleach. Rinse it really well with tap water and start again.

OK, thanks for the info. You don't know how much I appreciate you folks!

I'll have to think a bit but, in either case, I have time as I want to test the affect of the deer antler on the PH before I do anything. I think a fair test on this would be at least a week or two. Oddly, even though the antler has only been in the tank for 7-8 hours, the PH has dropped a point but, of course, it has not been near long enough to judge.