# SERIOUSLY tick off (ich, and petco)



## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

yippe, my tank is finally ready for my black neons! i went to petco and asked for 5 black neon tetras. i didnt go up there with him to get them, that was a mistake.
well got in the car and looked at them...they had little white spots on them. so i took them back in. they wouldnt give me money back! but they had some black neon tetras in another tank that looked fine, so i traded out. omg, doesnt this sound crazy....

anyway, got them home... two days later... now i see little white spots on them. i am looking on how to file a complaint about petco. this is crazy. i would had quarantine them like i do all my bettas, but i dont have an extra cycled tank laying around and i was sure how they would be in an uncycled tank...
either way... now i have ich (i guess)

i cant raise my temp because i have a preset heater. i have plenty of aquarium salt, and added that. but just a a table spoon for 5 gallons. not sure if thats enough, i am still doing some research on it, any input welcome.

i am never going to petco for anything again. how can they do this to someone. sick in there heads. i wonder what they did with the fish i exchanged! sold them to someone else i bet 

heck i would take them back to petco and complain but doesnt my take already have ich now? and plus thats an hour drive.... but still its the freakin principle of the thing!!


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## Guest (Mar 4, 2007)

Its not always the pet store's fault. The stress of shipping can cause fish to develop ich, regardless of what pet store they are going to.
I bought a saltwater fish right from an importer and the stress from shipping and picking it up, not to mention that ich is a wild disease, caused it to develop. In some cases its poor care given by the petstore, but not all.

I do agree with you about the return thing...most petcos have a 7 day return policy on fish. Thats just plain ridiculous and mean that they wouldnt give you your money back.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

one of the neons just died too...


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

oh btw they wouldnt take the fish back because they were not dead. i would hope not since i only had them 5 minutes...


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

I had a bad experience with the Petco that opened here. They advertised in the paper, tanks 10-90 gal for $1 per gallon....I was there at 4 am, for the 9 am opening, to be sure to get a 90 gal for $90. (Sue somehow beat me in the door....lol) They had no 90 gal tanks !!! Everyone started getting the 75s and 55s......then in a real loud voice, I said, I want my 90 gal for $90...this is bait and switch !! Eventually they took names and ordered 90 gal tanks from All-Glass....But I had to fight every step of the way...I got my tank 2 months later, after catching them lying and saying all-glass had no 90 gal tanks....I carried in a copy of an email from the lady at all-glass stating they had a warehouse full of them !!! I will never walk into that store for anything ......so much for return customers.....Great public releations PETCO!! so sue me for telling the truth !! I was lied to by several of the 3 different managers they hired in that 2 month period. PETCO leaves a bad taste in my mouth , when I say the name , even.
That's my experience.....some one may have had a good one, with them, I don't know.
All I can say is how I was treated.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Got to wal-mart and buy quick-cure. 1 drop per gallon. As much as a agree with people who say not to support store that don't take care of their fish, You just gotta love a place that sells fish meds at 2 in the morning.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2007)

Wow BV, that's awful. I'm sorry to hear that....
I can positively say that my PetCo has not been so bad...
I went in recently to get a 10 gallon set up as a gift, and they had one label for a different 10 gallon set up under the one we bought, so it was actually $10-20 more than what the label said. We went back in witht he reciept and he took 10% off, which wasn't so bad. I guess I'm just lucky with this Petco...


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

yes i know walmart sells some ich cure, but i would rather do it naturally with salt. unless thats impossible since i cannot turn up my heater.
the temp is just 78


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2007)

Yeah, the temp is a little low to treat for ich.
If it matters, I've had great, quick success with quick cure in the past. Its main ingredient is malachite green.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

quick cure heh?
since my tank is newly cycled is there anything i need to be extra cautious about while used that? I will go to walmart and pick up some but it will not be for days. i live in the middle of nowhere, and i dont drive due to medical reasons so its not really up to me when i go to town and when i dont.

either way, i will get some hopefully around wensday. is that okay?

and the heater in my 5.5 (its for up to ten gallons) has a thermostate on it where i could easily make it 82 degrees and i could switch out the two heaters.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I never see the salt cure without high temp. Quickcure is malachite green and formalin. It can be harsh on some fish and stain decorations, but its got to better than ich and doesn't need high temp. But without raising the temperature, it will take longer to get rid of the ich no matter what method you use.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

thanks.
either way i cannot get that ick medication until wensday or thursday. and i am seeing more and more white spots!


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## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

Increasing the Temp only fastens the Ich cycle, therefore the salt treatment could be used at 78 too. The thing is that your fish will be exposed to salt for a longer period. I read it on a magazine and it actually happened to me.. and i also had black neon tetras, which I also bought from a big store. Never came back to that place.

I have also tried malachite green. I had 10 fish infected with Ich and 5 died. Using the Salt Treatment, none of my fish died.

hope this helps


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2007)

If you're treating tetras with malachite green, you're supposed to lessen the dosage. That might be why you lost fish.


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## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

Yeah I know,that time i dosed half the treatment, It said it in the box


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

its set.
tomorrow i get quick cure, and will dose as soon as i get home


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## Guest (Mar 6, 2007)

If you have inverts, You will want to move your fish into a quarantine tank, as malachite green is not good for inverts.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

thanks for the tip. but sadly my snail died somehow


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## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

I hope it works. update us when you try it


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

guess what...
two more of my petco neons died this morning.
i have one black neon, and one male betta in a 10 gallon now!
grrrr
i could go get a refund from petco, but screw them.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

alright, 4:27 pm...
i did a water test (everything is at zero but nitAtes at 15)
i did a 20% water change, and added the quick cure 
1 drop per 2 gallons (since i have tetras)

and while there i picked up three more black neons. i hope this isnt a mistake treating for ich AND adding new fish the same day. nope, i didnt get these guys at petco... i will not do that again

the black neons are floating in the bag now.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

how many days do i add the quick cure? i added some yesterday. it says it kills it in two days, but does that mean i treat the tank today too?
i read the bottle... i still am not sure.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You need to treat for one life cycle of ich because its only vulnerable in one phase of its development. People usually speed it up by upping the temp. so I don't know what that time is at your temp., but you should be able to look it up. Otherwise try 14 days to be safe. Remember that every few days you need to change a large amount of water (like 50%) or the dose gets too big. I thought there were good instructions on the bottle, but its been awhile since i had ich.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

it just says to treat until ich is gone.

how can i keep my tank cycled doing such big water changes? its newly cycled.
and my filter... i use a carbon/sponge filter and i cant just take you the carbon, i have to take out the whole thing. so basically that leave me with an aeration system only.
i treated yesterday, and today i put my filter back in. i was planning on waiting to see if the ich is gone. i have no spots on any thing in my tank. everything that had ich spots is dead now.

thanks for all of the help


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## Guest (Mar 9, 2007)

sorry to disappoint you, but ich does not die off in one day. The white spots that you see on the fish are just the irritated bumps caused by the parasites imbedded in the skin; not the parasite itself. At this point, they may be swimming around breeding and releasing more parasites to attach themselves to your fish. Thats how ich works; even though it may not be visible on your fish, it could still be in the tank continuing its life cycle. Thats why you need to treat for at least a week in most cases.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

okay, so i will treat daily then? and when do i do a water change? and cant i expect it to go into cycle again?

maybe it would be easier to go buy a heater where i can turn up the heat and add salt?


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## Daniel1 (Aug 30, 2006)

The problem is that if you want to start with salt now you have to get rid of the meds that are already in the water column. Maybe if you do a water change and add activated carbon. I wouldnt start adding salt with other medication.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Can you slit open a filter cartridge and dump the carbon out? If you go without filter media then you must do even more water changes.


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

its braced in plastic. if i cut it then i ruin it all.

i decided to do a waterchange and start treating with salt.
how much of a water change should i do to get rid of the medication? also, i put my carbon filter back in.

also, can anyone give me a breif explantion of treating ich with salt, or link me some where?

thanks guys!


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

this is my filter








i have two of these, one on each side


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## manda (Feb 9, 2006)

bump.........


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