Sad Experience at European Aquatics

[moyangjackwang]

Hi everyone. I’ve been on the forum for a little bit and have mostly been reading other people’s posts here at BRS and not posting much. But recently what happened to me caused me to want to share a few words. Sorry for the negative energy.

Not sure how many folks on this forum shop at the store but just thought I’d share my experience.

My recent Google review for them: Google Maps

 

[dilligaf29]

So did u quarantine the new fish or did u just put in display with all the fish

 

[moyangjackwang]

I didnt quarantine and I understand the risk for the rest of my fish. I won’t try to get compensated by the store for my other fish gets velvet. But if the velvet came from the fish store’s fish and it died from it I would expect the fish store to take responsibility for their fish

 

[zedxplorer]

I actually live nearby and unfortunately they did gone down hill over the years (dirty tanks, lots of ich etc). They also have a rather unethical sales tactics to get you to buy (e.g. telling people that they can keep mandarin in a small tank pretty easily etc.). I have been staying away even though they are down the street and go to Petco instead lol

It is always good practice to put new fishes in a separate tank even if you don't QT to observe for 48h+ just to rule out velvet).

 

[moyangjackwang]

I actually live nearby and unfortunately they did gone down hill over the years (dirty tanks, lots of ich etc). They also have a rather unethical sales tactics to get you to buy (e.g. telling people that they can keep mandarin in a small tank pretty easily etc.). I have been staying away even though they are down the street and go to Petco instead lol

It’s good to hear that someone else experienced something similar. I felt like I was the only one because their google review rating is so high and everyone in the comments section is singing their praises.

It is always good practice to put new fishes in a separate tank even if you don't QT to observe for 48h+ just to rule out velvet).

Yeah I’ve been pretty lucky (and therefore lazy) so far. From now on I’ll set up a temp QT tank to avoid situations like this.

 

[zedxplorer]

A lot of that unfortunately are because 1) they used to be good in the old store years ago, 2) a lot of their target customers are new to the hobby

 

[Spaceman]

I’m going to be blunt here because I think the responsibility is being placed in the wrong spot.

Ich exists on wild fish — that’s just reality. Most fish carry it at some level, and it only becomes a tank-wide problem when stress allows it to explode in a closed system. When every fish in a display suddenly shows ich, that’s almost always a system or handling issue, not something that came in on one single fish.

Freshwater dipping all of your fish after losing one, assuming that fish “brought in disease,” likely added a massive amount of additional stress. A dip doesn’t cure a tank, and doing that across multiple fish can push an already stressed system over the edge.

If the store were selling visibly sick fish, we’d expect to see widespread losses from multiple customers and from their own systems. That pattern usually shows up fast. One tank crashing after a stressful event is a different scenario.

The introduction of a new fish, aggression, hierarchy shifts, instability, and then multiple freshwater dips — that combination is far more likely to trigger a full ich outbreak than a single fish “infecting” an otherwise stable system.

This isn’t about defending a store. It’s about being honest about how ich actually behaves in aquariums. Once it’s in a system, stress is what determines whether it stays manageable or becomes a tank-wide problem.

 

[moyangjackwang]

Hmm, your assumptions are interesting but unfortunately many of them are incorrect.

1. Only one clown fish had that problem. I have a tomini tang, a royal gramma and a mandarin and they never have any issues. And no I didn’t dip them in freshwater. And also I didn’t dip my clown multiple times. Once for 1 minute according to general guidelines.

2. It was not ich. Ich usually shows up as white spots ( I’ve seen plenty of examples of that at this store lol). It was far more likely velvet. Why did you assume it was ich?

3. My tank hasn’t been running for years but has been some time. Never had any disease problems thus I was lax with QT. And now I introduce a clown that dies within a week and my healthy clown that has been swimming right next to it sits on the bottom breathing hard the next day. Reasonable to assume tank params and stress for ALL the fish caused this? Seems more reasonable to assume the fish was the problem.

4. Why would this be a widespread problem? I’ve seen some of their tanks have ich, dino, cyano, etc. Sometimes it’s multiple tanks with the same issue, while other times the tanks right next to each other had cyano and dino respectively. If they don’t keep their tanks clean, I can totally see some of the tanks have worse problems that hasn’t spread to the others.

Allow me also to be blunt here: you say you are not trying to defend a shop, but the way your reply sounded pretty defensive rather than trying to understand the situation by asking questions. That I think led to a number of wrong assumptions.

 

[Spaceman]

Hmm, your assumptions are interesting but unfortunately many of them are incorrect.

Well I know i am right and its going to take you time to learn it on your own as I tried sharing. You seem to be a expert that doesn't wanna except your tank conditioning are not "perfect".
I would never add a clown to a tank with a established clown and expect it to be perfect. Its in there nature to fight for dominance all day everyday causing stress.. But I must be wrong and you have the chosen two that didn't fight.

 

[moyangjackwang]

Well I know i am right…

Haha that’s funny. Have a nice day

 

[Cpage101]

I am not putting blame on the store in my experience my system was well established and 6YO but in 2019 I purchased a cleaner wrasse from this establishment. I was the old I don’t need to QT stuff guy. fish looked healthy was eating well and everything. I proceeded to purchase the fish acclimate and drop right in. 48 hrs later Fish stated dying. I had 13 other fish. By the time I caught which fish I could 10 fish had died. I was able to QT and save 3 which I still have today. The moral of the story is QT your fish.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Moved to Vendor Feedback

 

[moyangjackwang]

I am not putting blame on the store in my experience my system was well established and 6YO but in 2019 I purchased a cleaner wrasse from this establishment. I was the old I don’t need to QT stuff guy. fish looked healthy was eating well and everything. I proceeded to purchase the fish acclimate and drop right in. 48 hrs later Fish stated dying. I had 13 other fish. By the time I caught which fish I could 10 fish had died. I was able to QT and save 3 which I still have today. The moral of the story is QT your fish.

Yikes yeah I’m pretty convinced. QT is going to be what I’ll be doing from now on too. Just curious, did the cleaner wrasse live? If it didn’t make it, did you bring it back to the store?

To be clear, I wasn’t blaming the fact that my other fish got the velvet issue. That is because of my lack of QT. I was blaming the fact that the fish I got died within a week and they refused to take responsibility.

But then I guess my question for you as well as other folks in the forum is: if the fish dies in QT, would you consider the shop responsible? How about if the fish dies after QT of 48 hours and introduced to the tank? Genuine question, since I know I have knowledge gaps in this area and I want to know if I really am having too high of an expectation.

 

[zedxplorer]

My 2 cents would be if you buy in store, generally once the fish is out the door it's your responsibility. You make the decision on whether you want to buy that fish. I believe a lot of us unfortunately have to learn that the hard way and to figure out where to buy and where to avoid.

The only exception is online vendor, because you don't see the fish and they have to ship it overnight. That's why they usually have a 5-7 days period to take responsibility for that shipping process.

Regardless always play on the safe side and observe the fish/QT whichever philosophy you are able to find success. I think overtime you'll find a few good spots and stick with them for the peace of mind. Buying from a fellow reefer on this forum is also a great way to be assure as I believe every one here gives the fish the care and attention they need to thrive.

 

[Joe Rice]

But then I guess my question for you as well as other folks in the forum is: if the fish dies in QT, would you consider the shop responsible? How about if the fish dies after QT of 48 hours and introduced to the tank?

What's tricky about this is that quarantine tanks are often very stressful environments that can push an already stressed fish over the edge. A good QT system will be very close in salinity to the store water, have lots of varied hiding places, have good aeration and appropriate water movement and, most importantly, have good biological filtration. I think a lot of people just throw something together the night before picking up the fish, slap an ammonia alert on the tank and figure they'll just do a lot of water changes to keep the water quality up. (don't ask me how I know this )

Not saying that's what you'd do but if I were a store owner I wouldn't immediately assume the fish had been terminally ill just because a customer said it had died in QT.

In your case, you're a good, repeat customer and it's just good business to give you a refund on such a small purchase, no questions asked. In general, if I owned a shop I'd have a very clear refund policy posted on the wall and I'd try to be transparent about how long since the fish arrived in the shop to give some idea of how likely it is to be sick.