# PetSmart



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

So the title is PetSmart, and it's under the diseases section... do I really need to say anything? :x

A while back, I brought home 5 zebra danios from PetSmart. 3 died. I bought five more. 4 died. This went on for a couple weeks, until I found more at the locally owned pet store. I bought three. They lasted a while. Altogether, I purchased something like 25 zebra danios, and a month later, I have one. I'm too heartbroken by watching them all die/putting several down to go get more. The remaining danio is a female from the locally owned place. They had symptoms all over the chart, so I never could figure out what was going on. Several of them died and were consumed by other fish before I even saw any symptoms. 

Then, there were the gourami. I purchased a blue dwarf gourami at the local place. And I purchased a red dwarf gourami and a regular dwarf gourami at PetSmart. Three days later, the regular one died. It was really rather sudden. He stopped using one fin and began laying in plants and on the gravel, trying to swim occassionally, and then falling back down to the gravel... So I went and got Melafix and salt, as recommended on here. When I got home he was using his fin again but still swimming tight circles. I quarantined him and treated him and within two hours, he was dead.

Then the platies. I helped my boyfriend's mom set up her tank, and she got some red wag platies from PetSmart. She lost one right off the bat, and I told her it was because she added too many fish at once (I had warned her not to fully stock her tank on the first week... ). But now they are dropping like flies, JUST like the zebra danios. No odd behavior is observed until it's too late. They die within an hour or two. They'll be fine, and then all the sudden, they'll swim into the plants and just lay there. Nothing else in the tank is being effected. Just the platies. Last night, she had one die. I directed her in how to check for ich, finrot, all the basic stuff. Nothing. Then this morning, another was dying. She quarantined him, and I told her he wasn't going to make it, but maybe she could get salt and melafix and see if she can help the remaining fish. By the time she got back from the pet store, he was already dead, and another platy was dying. 


It dawned on me that I've had better luck with fish from WalMart than fish from PetSmart... that's pretty sad. I think I'm done buying from them. *sigh* I wonder if there's maybe some internal parasite spread during breeding, that they are getting from the supplier?


----------



## humdedum (Feb 18, 2009)

My danios introduced Fish Tuberculosis.  You have a good theory though; perhaps their suppliers are spreading diseases big time.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Yeah... I was worried for a while though that tuberculosis was the problem. And I know it's very common for danios to get, but none of them ever had the curved backbone at all.
I'm convinced that at least one of them was being hunted. When I found him, he had a cut from the top to the bottom of his body, like he'd been rammed against the driftwood or something.
Several of them had bloating in their heads. It looked like they had little bumps between their eyes, but they were small enough that it was hard to tell when they were being so active. One had a bump, and then ten minutes later had an open wound. It looked like something had burst outward from under the skin between his eyes. One had a giant open sore on the side that looked like something had taken a big bite from him. Several just started swimming at the very top of the tank until I found them floating, dead. One had a bloated eye. One just sort of fell to the bottom and layed there breathing heavily. Several had no visible symptoms.

Nothing has been passed on to the other fish, as far as I can tell.... (unless that gourami got it from eating one of them...) And the one I have left is a female who seems healthy and happy.


----------



## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

PetSmart has a huge distribution center where all their fish go in the same water, then the go to stores in the system. Although they supposedly try to control disease with UV and/or salt and/or low-dose meds in the system, it is very likely their systems expose fish to UV/salt/med-resistant diseases. Once you have an experience like that from a particular store, stop getting fish there, it will likely be all through the system and all fish in the store are exposed. Of course, by this time, your tank is infected and any new fish from anywhere will catch the same illness. QT is a NECESSITY to keep disease out of your tank(s). 

But dying within a few hours of being put in a tank is very fast for disease. It could be something like shock caused by moving fish suddenly from salty to unsalty water.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

> dying within a few hours of being put in a tank is very fast for disease. It could be something like shock caused by moving fish suddenly from salty to unsalty water


That makes sense. She lives out in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure something in her water was too different and stressed that first platy... but I should also be more specific. When I said the first one died right off the bat, I meant the next day. And when I said they all die within an hour or two, I meant the time between showing stress and death.

Do you suppose that whatever disease those danios had is something that they are much more susceptible to than anything else? I haven't had a single problem sinse. Even my elephantnose is happy.

I am working on getting a larger quarantine tank so it's easier to get them quarantined in the future. And I don't intend to buy any fish from PetSmart ever again. 
Which really limits me. We have five places in town that I know of. PetSmart - obviously not going there for fish. Exotic Pets - treat their fish veeery poorly. Heights Pet Center - most definately did spot fish TB in one of their tanks today. Montana Rainforest - only sells cichlids because she's only found one local breeder, and that's all they breed, and she's not willing to have fish shipped. And WalMart....


----------



## funlad3 (Oct 9, 2010)

I was at a PetSmart this weekend just wandering, and their fish weren't looking too good. I know what a cramped fish looks like, but a bunch of them looked more than cramped... They probably do have something running through their systems. 

If you want I'll sell you all of my FW fish! I just need to learn how to ship... I have danios, loaches, guppies, tetras, and a molly. Just wondering!


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Aww, thanks Funlad! Unfortunately, my 40 gallon tank is 85% stocked and if I wanted to add anything to it, it would be a dwarf pleco.  All my other tanks are either stocked or have plans. 

Yeah... I'm going to be a lot more careful from now on. Even if it means I can only order or deal with private breeders. Even if I do have a quarantine tank... 
I haven't dealt with much illness, but 99% of what I HAVE dealt with seems to have originated at PetSmart.


----------



## Egrance (Apr 29, 2011)

I HATE PETCO AND PETSMART!!!!!!!!!! when first setting my tank up 5 months ago after letting in cycle, went to get fish from petco. Fish honestly looked a lil tore up on the tail fins but nothing to bad, thought i could heal them. After being in the tank for about 3 days one by one started to die total 6. So i went a week later to try and get some more they looked a lot better this time! However only after 5 days they were dead again. Also my frogs died within 3 days of getting them from there, they were all bloated. Went to my LF store and all fish have been fine.


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

We don't even have a Petco here. But I've heard the horror stories about them!

I understand that some PetSmarts are better than others... I even know there are a couple PetSmart employees on this forum that I would trust. I think the problems are coming from the supplier.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

It amazes me that a town the size of Billings could have 5 fish stores in it. I've noticed that that whole Idaho/Montana region has an overabundance of fish shops per capita, and I just don't see how it's possible.

Anyway, all these shops are still getting their fish from the same 3 or 4 places, so they'll all have the same problems. It's gonna have to be up to the hobbyists too look out for themselves.


----------



## Egrance (Apr 29, 2011)

Every so often petsmart or petco will have an employee with Great knowledge. Very rarely does it happen, but it does hahah.
Yeah but when they are in those huge stores the tanks often times are ****************! Never taken care of algae blooms, gravel dirtier than ever, ive numerous time gone through multiple tanks spotted out dead fish to the employee. As they laugh she said, 
Employeeh yeah will get it out don't worry about it
Me: The fish is almost completely rotted away....that fish looks like it has ammonia burns
Employee: Yeah i dont know its fine.

Be cautious when purchasing fish or anything living from there observe for a little while


----------



## egoreise (Mar 16, 2011)

Well yeah... we do have a lot of CRAP to choose from in Billings!  This town has grown at least 10 square miles in five years. So don't surprised if you can't call it small much longer! Granted, we still have more deer than people in the state of Montana!


----------

