Cichlidae Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 I currently have about 35 different species of africans and americans, and have noticed over the last year that every fish that has come from Bayfish has had some kind of wierd disease or another. this is not the same thing everytime but every fish from them has been unhealthy in one way or another. This is not a cleanliness issue or water change issue. I have 14 tanks from 6 foot down and have no problems with fish from other breeders or suppliers. I have only noticed this while going through the years log books. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I now refuse to buy fish that have come from Bayfish just to be sure. I have figured out some amazing fish remedies over the year though. This has only occoured through me trying to rush building breeding colonies. If anyone else has noticed these sorts of issues or know why please feel free to post. I have made my decisions but am wondering if I am just seeing something thats not there or if I have been freekily unlucky or if there is an issue with large percentages of Bayfish stock? These are only my observations and opinions and I have no reason to dispute bayfishes procedures or stock, these are just oberservations. This is not an attack on Bayfish, they are just one of many large scale suppliers all of whom have the same health issues dealing with so many fish. Cichlidae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlidae Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 This has been brought up as I am treating a blue dolphin that has just reached sexual maturity, I just lost the female I bought with it about 2 weeks ago to the same thing. I am having marginally more sucess this time, but think that this going to be one of those untreatables. I believe that I am looking at one of these: The fish whirls and wobbles: a). Whirling disease. . complete exhaustion in a tank with aggressive species a). Treat with Quinine Sulfate. . remove fish from the tank into a hospital tank and treat with Methylene Blue for 3-5 days. So now I am off to buy some quinine sulfate as the tank is quiet for a community breeding tank with 2 colonies in it (compatible species with little to no chance of cross breeding). If I loose this battle that will be 8 losses from 12 fish and so far every Bayfish fish has been sick. losses for the year from other supliers and my own breeding 12 fish lost out of around 350 (not including the 8 losses from Bayfish)(8 fry lost due to amonia spike while I was away from home, other 4 lost to fighting in slightly over crowded growouts) no illness or water issues except occasional amonia spike due to over cleaning filtration. Cichlidae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlidae Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 This is a financial loss to me of over $160 from 1 supplier, and on prevoious occasions of trying to contact the supplier I have been told its my tanks. Cichlidae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Braddo Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 This would be a hard one to prove either way even with log book entries. I have heard a lot of complaints about fish from these guys but they are not the only ones. I know some times it can be our tanks or fishkeeping habits. We really have to start looking more at water quality from our own point of view african cichlids are really affected by nitrates more than most fish. This actually causes very bad aggression in all these fish. Also dont count out that any african wont crossbreed seriously! Check your kh it is most important ok you may have coral or shell grit in your tank but it does get spent, especially with a large number of fish in each tank. I have found over the last 6 months kh is even more important than ph. SInce focusing on this I have had a lot less problems. One thing to remember is a supplier will never admit to anything wrong with their fish no matter who they are. Taking on this food distributorship I am amazed how many people blame outside influences not saying you in particular(but more on this in another post). I would definately look harder at fish when purchased it is never nice to lose a fish no matter what. If you feel it is just bays fish do as you are and stay clear of fish from them. Summer is hard on fish as it causes alot more stress water is definately easier to heat than cool. Like I said this is a hard one to answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japes Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 I'm not going to condemn Bayfish as I know a few people on the boards work there, but I haven't had much luck with them, especially with Tetra and other non-Cichlid smaller types like Characins etc. I am now specifically searching out local bred or quality imported and quarantined stock and having a much better time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frinkie Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 x2 Bayfish do have some nice healthy stock, but by and large the smaller fish ie. tetras,guppies (especially guppies!),platies ect. all seem to be in rather poor condition. AI is a much better option for stores aswell because they have better quality stock, and they have the warrenty on any fish that die within a prescribed timeframe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlidae Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Make that 9 dead from 12 fish. have tried to get quinine due to local vets being retarded my fish is now dead. This was definatelt whirling disease autopsy and magnifying glass revealed no visible abnormalities, I need a microscope, I am certain that some crazy diseases are comming out of that place. I have since spoken to 2 shops that I deal with regularly both wish to remain un named as they think I am nuts for taking this to the public. Both shops reported entire batch deaths with no form of regularity, and no specific disease. this apparently happens at various intervals throughout the year. regular reports of white spot on tropicals and livebarers, and fish that turn up seemingly fine and within 2 days are racked with disease. Why are We supporting this supplier? The further I look The more people are saying the same thing. In my short stint working in a large pet shop myself I witnessed 3 batches of angels die within 12 hours of arrival. I didnt bring this up before as the time frame was too short for me to see any regular supply issues. Come to think of it we lost most of 2 batches of Black Ghost Knifes, survival was about 2 out of 14. I bet those 2 are dead by now. I hate to be the one to say this how recent was their last DPI check up? Who are they paying off? why doesnt anyone have the guts to say this stuff? oooooh beware of the big scary company that makes shops look bad, customers dissatisfied, and me really angry. I love my fish! If this is true some one needs to do something! please someone else with some facts speak out! I am but one voice. Cichlidae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borntobreed Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Hmmmm interesting thread this one, Be interesting to see how many lfs owners / sponsors / ex lfs owners reply ..... I'll never have an asian imported fish in my posession ever again, i know that.... But i did find a cure for some imported angels i had a few years back, that wiped out about 400 koi's of my own stock, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moo Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 I work in a petstore and noticed the same thing. Not all of their fish are diseased, most are completely healthy but others get whitespot or just die the next day. It isnt a consistent thing though, last year we had almost every small fantail die, and now theyre all healthy. At the moment their swordtails, clown loaches and big fancy goldfish arent very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetpetz Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 I've bought lots of fish from Bayfish, and from dozens of other suppliers over the years. I've never bought fish from any supplier that didn't occasionally send me sick or otherwise bad fish. I believe that there was only once in thousands of shipments that any supplier deliberately sent me bad fish, and that supplier is no longer in the trade. Every time I made a claim with Bayfish for fish that I thought were unacceptable, they gave me a full credit. I haven't bought anything for a few years now though, so maybe things have changed. In the end I think it comes back to the old adage; change what you can't accept or accept what you can't change. I think it's unrealistic to assume that any fish from any supplier is safe to add to a system with other fish, or even likely to live without a preventative treatment. So you just need to accept that you will buy bad fish. The only way you can overcome that is with proper quarantine. That can be pretty hard to co-ordinate in a shop, but should be easy for a breeder who doesn't have thousands of new fish arriving each week. These days I breed fish in a recirculating system, and I would never add fish from anywhere without quarantining and treating first. For the fish I keep, all I have to use is salt, formalin and occasional antibiotics. For some fish, you might want to worm them as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlidae Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 I am starting into breeding on a more serious level and have spent most of the year trying to build colonies (with good sucess) and develop my system. I am ready now to break down all my community tanks into their individual colonies. So I guess I have just had a very bad run on this particular suppliers fish. As you said Quasimodo its about cutting losses and improving the entire system. I am still interested in how big this is. But have no intrest in dwelling on this. Thankyou for your suggestions and as such I fully intend to rethink my current quarantine system. Hopefully again reducing losses. Luckily I have caught every illness before it has had time to effect the rest of the tank, I am a little obsessive compulsive I think. All of my fish still have names although I often have to check with partner as to what they are called. The Racks go in over the next 2-3 months. Then I can forget the names I am sure She wont! I also am extremely interested in others methods for disease managment and curing. I have had fantastic success using salt bath in combination with a Q tank running Melafix Pimafix Prime and high oxygenation no current. have only had 2 fish in over a week but every thing except bayfish has responded almost instantly with a reasonable % of improvement and healed within 2-3 days and left in Q for the full week (now to become 2 week minimum) None of the issues have returned. I am interested in Formaline where do you get it? what are the dosage rates? It is often mentioned for more serious problems and quarrantine. I hope this thread is not taken the wrong way the most I would hope for from sharing my opinion on this issue, would be for bayfish to consider their quarrantine techniques and if they are infact doing the right thing by their customers. Thankyou for all input on this, regards. Cichlidae. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishdeal Posted February 8, 2010 Report Share Posted February 8, 2010 I work for a large petshop in brisbane. We have the same issues. Its up and down. One order guppys are bad next order they are supreme. Some of Bays Fish are very high quality. I think it just comes down to lucky really. We have had 5 lots of 100 clown loaches from them already this year, the first lot all died within a few days but the last 4 have been awesome. Great colors and have only lost 1 or 2 out of each lot. The best fish generally come from melbourne Bay fish. I have noticed most of the "Bad Batches" come from Brisbane Bayfish. The best thing to use is Waterlifes Myazin. This stuff works brilliantly. I only use this product after seeing what it is capable of treating. Maybe Bay have created the own disease "Bay Disease" lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brockssracer Posted February 8, 2010 Report Share Posted February 8, 2010 i got a microscope you can have if your that keen it doesnt have the light on it, just the mirror but it aint no cheappie either. It is a japanese made one. will need some more glass slides tho. in perfect condition, will post a pic up if ur interested Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HereFishieFishie Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 I guess the main thing is to, be very stringent when buying fish. Check the fish in the tanks next to those that are for sale too. Or if on a system, check out all fish on the system too. Pays yo look around shops. A lot don't clean their nets. Disease transfer is very easy. Frenchy :sheep: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liljohn_83 Posted February 13, 2010 Report Share Posted February 13, 2010 I guess the main thing is to, be very stringent when buying fish.Check the fish in the tanks next to those that are for sale too. Or if on a system, check out all fish on the system too. Pays yo look around shops. A lot don't clean their nets. Disease transfer is very easy. Frenchy :sheep: yes agreed some shops you go into look like everything is contaminated but stress seems to realy speed up disease /stress in alot of cases stres is the disease or so it seem to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
