Petco and icthyocide

[iflyprops]

I was at one here in orlando and found the same thing. They had a yellow tang with something that looked like a magget growing/hanging? from its mouth. The aquarium lady, who seemed very nice and reasonably knowledgeable said they were having MAJOR issues with their fish suppliers. Said she had been there 12 hours that day just doing water changes, 100% water changes because so many fish had died. Said she had to throw away at least 2000 dead feeder fish.

It was pretty sad.
-Adam

[Broodingwolf]

It is not surprising to me that they are ich magnets when they keep purple tangs in FIVE GALLON containers.... its the worst. Everytime I go in there, I'm so tempted to buy something to "rescue" it, but I know that is just encouraging the bad animal handling so I don't.... Its a shame. I wish they would not carry fish. Shrimp/snails/crabs/corals would be much better.

[Jasonanatal]

It's funny how Petco always blames their fish supplier for the issues that they are experiencing due to poor husbandry of their livestock. I doubt that their supplier is catching that many sick fish on purpose.

[davidcalgary29]

I have a few good LFS in my area, but have discovered that none of them can really be trusted for providing consistently reliable advice. One store with beautiful stock has consistently tried to push powder blue tangs and large angels despite my stated tank volume (75g). I actually did end up buying a beautiful triacnid after being convinced that my compact fluorescents were sufficient. Bah!

[grimmjohn]

I just got a job at petco for some bank till I hear back from med school so I would like to address some of the stuff mentioned above (this is by NO MEANS a defense, I'm a hobbiest first and foremost too ). I knew that I knew more than enough to run the store from a livestock perspective and knew that I would be a valuable asset, and help save some fish in the process, and have ended up teaching everyone a lot. I walked in, told the big manager more than he knew about almost every animal in the store (which is fine, he's a manager right?), was hired immediately, and started an hour later and have been getting over 40 hours a week since...so petco will hire good people if they can. They can't help it if an experinced hobbiest/biology student/animal expert doesn't apply (I guess $7-8 doesn't cut it, any of you want the job you can have it..the guys with marine biology degrees are spending grant money on a boat over a reef somewhere, not working at petco for under 20K a year) . I think that most managers want to keep as many animals alive as they can, but then there is a "corporate" side too. Our store has not had any ich infestations since I started, and the "dead list" has begun to shrink. (all dead fish should be removed every morning at 7AM and several times through out the day as per company policy (and as an animal lover I wouldn't have it any other way.))
I wish that I had time (or we had the employees) to allow me to spend all of my time in the fish/reptile section instead of stocking and other stuff, but I don't yet.
Also, I know it's a crappy excuse, but sometimes fish just die. We get in a shipment of several hundred fish, acclimate them, put them in the tank, feed them, keep the water decent, and some just die. I'm pretty expereinced, but I don't know much else to do..anyone else? I like to show up at LFSs when they get in their shipments to get a deposit on the good stuff, and ya know what? Some of their fish are dead too, more die within 24 hours, and some die within the week, or before they are sold...multiply that by the volume that petco's deal with and well...
Many people order online from stores with amazing reputations and one out of ten or so of those fish die too during shipping or within the week too, multiply that out? Fish are going to die; I can feed them, maintain water quality, try to medicate them, but some still die. It breaks my heart cuase I get to pick out the dead ones too...but anyway.
So, a good aquatic specialist, and an understanding, willing big manager can go a long way to making a petco a very decent fish store (no comment about the berlin skimmers and no PHs over 200GPH, or decent hydrometers for sale).
Being a hobbiest first, I have sent lots of people to my favorite LFSs for goods/livestock that we don't carry, or that they may find cheaper, and usually end up telling them they should check those stores (and RC ) out anyway, but I am trying to make petco a better store, and give people the same level of advice I would expect to find from good members here.
Back to "corporate," which was mentioned before. Our catalog that we can order livestock from is disheartening in many ways. It included many fragile species of butterflies, goniopora, X-mas tree rocks, mandarins, and every kind of anemone (yes Ritteris and carpets) you can think of (except BTAs?). I doubt many petco stores in the nation have the capabilities to assure quality conditions for these creatures. I took the book and told all the managers what we would more than likely kill if we ordered it and could not turn it around immediately (not that immediate turn around is a good thing, I could git rid of all the Ritteris we could order if I said they lived in FW too and ate algea.)
Anyway, my favorite is that flame scallops require "high intensity full spectrum UV light ." Anyway, that's my take on petco, ours is pretty good, I'll try to help make it better, some fish are gonna die dispite my best efforts, help as many people as you can along the way, stay away from the bad ones, if you can stump the main "aquatics speicalist" then go somewhere else, or apply for a job () : )

Again, this isn't a rant, or a defense of bad petcos, just an appropiate place for me to ramble on about my new job to a group of people that care and for whom it is relavent. () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

EDIT: Guess I'll keep going () : )
We've only gotten one shipment in with ich, a bag of small black moor goldfish, most were dead within 24 hours despite my efforts. And only two fish have gotten ich since I've started, 2 parrot cichlids, I took them out of the tank with oscars and they cleared up.
A manager ordered a naso, a PblueT, et al...they come in Wed. morning, I think a few of them figured that now that they had somebody that knew about SW/reef tanks they would get in all the "cool" stuff they've been missing out on. It's gonna be my job to figure out which fish go in which tanks this morning, all the lions and puffers isn't gonna make it easy
I'm really worried about the powder blue.
I'm kinda disapointed...they asked me if I had anything I wanted to order and I told them "I bet we can sell some firefish/purple firefish pretty quick, some false percs, and a dwarf lion or two, a snowflake eel, a couple YWGs, and some chromis." I'm worried that we're gonna get in this huge order instead. I'm really worried about finding a customer with a 125+ tank to take that naso and 100+ for the PBT and the purple tang we already have (not to mention the 2 baby panthers we have, though every LFS in the world has a tank full of baby panthers and assorted tangs). Anyway, hopefully everything will work out great, I'm pretty sure I can make all the fish happy (I hope I can find some decent angel food for the baby koran I think we're getting though).

[grimmjohn]

I really hope we do actually get in some firefish, I was planning on useing them as "dither fish" for the purple tang cuase he's crazy shy right now and that's affecting his eating. I guess some chromis would work too though, I think damsels would beat him up.

And about the profits...I don't think I've even earned my pay in reptile/fish/drygoods sales. And I know my manager and I have dumped more chemicals into the feeder goldfish tank (the pH wants to go insanely low? Too much resperation without adiquate aireation?? Anyone?? I'm always learning too ) than the sum of them are worth. I guess this store is a corporate tax write off () : )
Most people buy mollies/platies/swordtails, which I have zero interest in, and have never bought in all my years of fishkeeping; I wish more reef/SW people would come in (and that we sold MHs and SEIOS) everytime someone stays in front of the marine fish I ask if they have a saltwater tank, a plea in my voice () : )

Oh the worst thing I've done so far (first bagging experince) Someone stood around for a long time, making notes, considering all the fish, I assumed they were not retarded, anyway I bag them like 8 fish without thinking about it (though I did make sure they were all compatable ). I did ask what size tank she had and she said a 55, so I was like not bad, a big biowheel, good etc etc... anyway, apparently at the checkout counter she mentioned that she still needed to add water to the tank!! I felt like crap after that, knowing that, I myself, had doomed those fish....so the moral of the story, most fish keepers are not reefcentral quality. I would like to say to assume they are idiots untill proven otherwise, but that's not true, but I hate asking every customer what size tank, and how long it's been set up etc...cuase that would tick me off if people tried that crap with me () : ) And many (not most) do seem to know exactly what they are doing (but so did "no water girl"). Like this guy comes in all the time to check the guppies, he loves guppies and knows his crap, I bag whatever he wants, no questions, but when people ask "Where are the uhmm, what do you call them? Fish cages?" Then ya got some explaining to do ya know.

Aside: Ya know all those dog cookies up front on the bar? They are above human consumption standards! And some of them taste pretty damn good!! Ask a worker for one below the bar that hasn't had hands run through it and try it, dare ya () : )
The oreo-like ones are my favorite so far () : )

[BeltwayBandit]

"Aside: Ya know all those dog cookies up front on the bar? They are above human consumption standards! And some of them taste pretty damn good!! Ask a worker for one below the bar that hasn't had hands run through it and try it, dare ya () : )
The oreo-like ones are my favorite so far () : )"

Yah but milk-bone brand dog biscuits are very dry and rather tasteless, almost like eating cardboard.

Oh, good job on trying to keep up the fish dept. I refuse to buy marine fish from petco. I will spend the extra money and go to my LFS where they quarantine all new arrivals for 1 week before they sell them.

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by BeltwayBandit
Oh, good job on trying to keep up the fish dept. I refuse to buy marine fish from petco. I will spend the extra money and go to my LFS where they quarantine all new arrivals for 1 week before they sell them.

I try () : )
QT, as in a special tank before they go on display? Or QT as in they just don't sell them for a week? Cuase you can let a fish sit in any store for a week before you sell it, but that doesn't make it a QT really.

The fish order came in today...pretty big, and I handled it all by myself (for the first time), took a really long time, and it was very hectic cuase I would get called away for a price check or to get some crickets or something didn't even take a lunch and stayed 45 minutes over to make sure all the noobs got fed. This was the best shipment in terms of DOAs I've seen...1 damsel (duh), 4 bumblebee gobies (duh), 2 corys, and a small clown loach.
In SW got in a huge juvi koran, got him eating pretty quick (amazing), a six-line, 2 bar gobies, and 24 damsels. Lots of stuff didn't come in, and I'm glad the PBT was one of them cuase I would hate for it to (probably) die on my watch.
Anyway, I guess I'll see how they are tommorrow when I come in () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[Jasonanatal]

I know of plenty of local fish stores that QT their new arrivals for fish for sometime more then a week. In this hobby you QT your fish before you introduce it into your display tank so why can't Petco introduce this method to ensure healthy fish are sold? Your store maybe be an oddity from the other chains Grimmjohn but the majority of Petco shouldn't be allowed to sell Marine Fish with their inhumane methods.

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by Jasonanatal
I know of plenty of local fish stores that QT their new arrivals for fish for sometime more then a week. In this hobby you QT your fish before you introduce it into your display tank so why can't Petco introduce this method to ensure healthy fish are sold?

I guess we like our fish dying in our display instead of some backroom? () : ) By the time we get the DOAs out, then the "dead within 24 hours", then a week goes by isn't that the same as QT? Just don't buy your fish at petco within a week of them coming in, then you're pretty well assured you have a trooper () : ) I'm all in favor of QTs, but it would require twice the floor space and tanks we have now, and I don't think they are going to spring for it, Petsmart doesn't either (or most LFSs), and for all I know the wholesaler QTs and we get shipped what survives.
It seems if you're worried about getting healthy livestock then just wait a week or two after fish come in (AKA QT), regardless of where you buy them, but if you actually care about the least amount of fish dying then QT doesn't really cut it on a petco level IMO. Fish either die of ich or apparently randomly (at least to a non-autopsy performing non-vet), and I haven't seen any die of ich yet, that leaves lots of random deaths. I could dump every chemical on the shelf into all of the tanks, which doesn't sound too pleasant, or we can treat the obvious signs (ich, agresssion) and pick out the ones that die overnight from something else...how would a QT help? Prevent ich? They all have ich, every fish that goes through a wholesaler probably will get ich if you treat it like crap, some will die from it, don't treat them like crap and they don't "get" ich.

So what would a QT do:
We get in fish, fish go to a back room, treat fish for disease, some fish die, pick out dead fish; one week later, some fish better (assuming any of them had ich), some dead (assuming any of them died), some still fish still have ich or have now contracted it, and some fish fine like the day they came in (assuming they all didn't die or come down with a disease).

The other QT method: Get in fish, "fine fish" go to display, "sick fish" go into a "sick tank" (though a sick tank would be worse than euthinization in many cases and possably hundreds of individual tanks would be cost prohibitive). Anyway, "fine fish" on display still die of unknown cuases, many "sick fish" still die, and some sick fish may get healthy, and some "fine fish" will still get ich if you treat them like crap.

Petco corperate method: Get in fish, put fish on display, treat sick fish, pick out dead fish. "Fine fish" live and die, "sick fish" die or recover...it's the same thing people! Except in one it happens in a back room where your delicate constitution doesn't have to be affronted by seeing a few fish with ich or a dead fish or two that has not been picked out yet. Not that any stellar LFS has never had a dead fish in their display tank.

I'm sure that the second method might help prevent some sort of deadly plague from running rampant through the displays, but probably not becuase the "fine fish" are probably really "sick fish without symptoms." I guess we could do the second method with three levels: Sick fish, "fine looking fish," and then "fine looking fish which became sick." And then 2 months and 4 hundred tanks later we have fish we can put on display...probably the same fish that would be left 2 months after the "petco method," though there was (hopefully) never the chance to spread this deadly plague to other fish.

In conclusion, if I'm bringing a fish home to my fully stocked reef, I would QT, but from the wholesale and retail side it's totally different...every place you've ever bought fish...do you know what you are buying?? The SURVIVORS! Not the ones that died during capture, or shipment, or holding, or wholesale QT, or retail QT...the survivors. But instead of you paying for the overhead of allowing the fish to die in a back room somewhere and the survivors then being put on display, you can wait a week or two before you buy it from petco, and that will be the same as almost any other retail "QT." IMO.
Again, not a rabid defence of petco, I'm just trying to be logical...if we often had deadly plagues then it would be one thing, but the same fish from the same wholesaler are going to die no matter who they get shipped to as long as we do the best we can (food, water quality, no neons in with the oscars etc...), or am I wrong about this?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jasonanatal
[B]
Your store maybe be an oddity from the other chains Grimmjohn but the majority of Petco shouldn't be allowed to sell Marine Fish with their inhumane methods.

Gotta go..be right back

[grimmjohn]

Back () : )

Originally posted by Jasonanatal
Your store maybe be an oddity from the other chains Grimmjohn but the majority of Petco shouldn't be allowed to sell Marine Fish with their inhumane methods.

That may be true, I know I'm usually disappointed from a hobbiest standpoint by most petcos, but that's cuase they don't really have much a serious reefer needs (or can't get elsewhere), except some fish, but I've got my pair of clowns, don't want the wrasse of the tank to be a sixline, won't add any shrimp, eels, dwarf angels, chromis, damsels, tangs, firefish etc..I'm tapped out on fish basically, certainly from the stuff they carry...and they don't carry tridacnids or acros so I'm out () : )

I've never seen a store like some of the people on this thread described so I don't really know what to do or say, the worst store I've ever seen was a LFS, not that the fish were being badly kept, they just didn't have much and didn't know anything about them/reefs.
That does suck for those fish and the people that shop (shopped) those petcos. All I can say is what I've already said, a good aquatic specialist and manager can make a very decent fishstore, a decent manager that doesn't know a thing and doesn't have a decent (or any) aquatics specialist can still do pretty well if they just follow the husbandry guidelines and assign people maintainence jobs to do. You might not get the nitrogen cycle explained to you in detail or anything, but the fish will probably be alright.
A bad manger/aquatics specialist could easily let the deptartment slip into an abyss though, which I'm sure is what many people are describing.
That's not the fault of "petco" per say, if they can't find a decent aquatics specialist as I mentioned, but I guess it is if the manager sucks that bad. Though as many people have mentioned, one petco can be crap, and the one in the next town could pimp the LFS, it just depends on the people there at the time.
I'm sure it may be more ethical for stores to discontinue carrying fish until they have a decent manager/specialist/track record, but that's a lot to ask of any corporation, crappy LFSs don't shut down on their own, they have to go out of business.

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[grimmjohn]

Well, today when I came in the two dog-face puffers were showing signs of ich, which means every fish in the system is possably infected. I asked the manager what they do in the case of saltwater ich and he said "uhm treat it." So I asked him how they treat it and he said "I thought you would know?" So anyway, I look up what the "corporate" solution to ich is and it just says "treat with copper." Great, that will really help most people. Anyway, so I go to the shelfs to look for some coppersafe (not that I would feel very good about using copper on puffers either, it would be better to let them try to get over it theirselves IMO than treat them with copper, but the rest of the fish should be fine.) Anyway, we didn't have any coppersafe, and there was a blue dot on the sticker...I was told that means we are out and will never be getting anymore in??? So the "rules" are to treat ich with "copper," yet we don't have any?
I know others have mentioned this predicament earlier in this thread, but it seems weird when it happens to you personally ya know...anyway..we did have some crap with malachite green in it (don't want to dye the display do we?), and we had some crap with formaldahyde in it (don't feel to good about that), and we had some stuff with quionine in it (don't feel to good about that either), so I've decided I'm going to do the safest, 2nd most sure-fire thing, I'm going hypo on the whole system for a month or so. We don't have inverts and even if I did treat with copper (dispite the puffer's sensitivity to it) I can see somebody selling a fish while I'm not there and not telling the customer about it and then them going home and just dumping in the bag and taking out whatever inverts/coral they may have in their tank, not to mention we could never put inverts in the display again, and not to mention the copper level has to be meticulously mantained, and since I'm not there every day and can't trust anyone else to do it then it would be nearly useless, and at the worst deadly.
Anyway, back to the hypo..so today I took the salinity down to 1.0015, and Sat when I go in I'm going to take it down to 1.009. I'm not even telling anyone about it cuase I doubt I could convince them that's the best thing to do, and I know they wouldn't find out by theirself
So hopefully in a few weeks our SW tanks will be completely free of ich, yeh () : )
Though I am kinda worried about the koran and the hypo I don't see any other option that doesn't involve more tanks, and I don't have the authority to set up any more, and I'm certain the managers wouldn't like using that much store merchandise.

BTW, funny story, today we got in some ORA clowns...we got in three B&W false percs, but when I got in we only had 1..and he wasn't in with the percs...he was in with the 3-4 stripe damsels!!! I'm pretty sure that somebody sold a pair of B&W percs for $3.99 each (2.99 with pals card ) cuase they thought they were damsels!!!
Some hobbiest got a good deal () : )

The red sea purple tang's lateral line is starting to not look so good, I'm pretty sure it's cuase he's cramped and not eating anything. I put two false percs in and he started swimming around more but he's still not eating. If he gets any worse he may "die" so that I can take him home where he'll at least have some LR to pick on, maybe rejuvinate a little (though not many come back from lateral line disease (if that's what it is, though it can't be very advanced cuase he don't look that bad)), and then I can get him to a hobbiest that can take better care of him. Maybe I'll ask a manager if I can just take him home to see if he will get any better and then bring him back cuase I really think the poor guy is going nowhere. I would take him home now (and make sure we don't get any more in) but $75 is a lot even with a 20% discount.

Anyway, that's petco land, been working there 2 weeks now, shoulda got paid today, but my check didn't come in, go figure.

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[billsreef]

John,

The Koran will be fine with Hypo, as will be any fish


BTW coppersafe is heavily chealated which makes it well tolerated, even by copper sensitive species like puffers.

[grimmjohn]

Thanks for the heads-up bill, I learn something new every day on this site () : )

I guess it's moot though since we don't have any, I guess I could buy some from another store and bring it in but I'm not there every day and can't trust anyone else to dose it for me oh and nobody knows the volume of the display system so dosing anything wouldn't be too easy, I guess I could call MARS, though hypo is easy, just turn on the water and watch the hydrometer.

Thanks again for the reassurence, I can't wait to go in Sat and watch the salinity fall (and my fish clear up) () : )

Cheers,

grimmjohn

P.S. Any comments on the RSPTang?

[BrianPlankis]

When you sell the fish to customers, make sure you mention that they need to slowly adjust the salinity. Going from 1.009 to 1.026 is going to be a huge shock if not done slowly.

B.

[billsreef]

John,

Marineland should be able to tell you the volume. However, if you want to calculate it yourself, the formula for volume in gallons is LXWXH/231=gallons. The meausrments need to be inches, and should be the inside measurements to give you actual gallons held.

BTW if you want to have some fun and get mad at aquarium manufacturers, apply that forumula to standard tanks like a 55. None of them hold the stated "size"

For the Tang, try feeding it carrot shavings. They are high in both vitamin C and vitamin A. Hopefully the store is already getting some for the guinea pigs and such, and you just steel one

BTW when it comes to buying items out of pocket for a store, be sure the manager will reimburse you Makes no sense for an underpaid associate to shell out money to help a multimillion dollar store chain

Oh, and CirolanidHunter is quite right about being insuring your customers do a drip while your running hypo.

[grimmjohn]

Thanks for the tip Cirolanid, I plan on it, and I guess I should warn everyone else what I'm doing in case they sell a fish while I'm not there, I just hope none of my managers/coworkers are think I'm crazy () : )

Bill, thanks for the tip on the carrot shavings, we do have some in a bag of mixed salad stuff, I'll pick them out for the tang.
I also have heard about the volume discreprency...apparently manufacturers are more worried about being able to stack the sizes inside each other?

I actually went in this morning on my own time and fed all the fish and lowered the salinity down to 1.011...one of the clowns that came in and immediatly layed on the bottom and started panting has already perked up, I guess cuase he's saving energy with the hypo?

"Makes no sense for an underpaid associate to shell out money to help a multimillion dollar store chain"
--I don't care about the chain, just the poor tang, if I were not an employee I would hope they learn a lesson from it's death, but I am an employee so I feel more responsable for the fish ya know...

Cheers,

grimmjohn

[Ploppers]

Speaking of koran angels. The Petco here had one in their tank for probly 2 weeks. I was going nuts rubbing up against the rocks and gravel in the tank. The aquatics specialist told me it was just because it was getting its adult colors. That's not true is it? Anyway it died later that week.

Oops I just noticed in my earlier post I said the salinity was at 1.019 I meant 1.009. Maybe they were doing hypo on the whole colum, but they had a lot of inverts in that colum.

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by Ploppers
Speaking of koran angels. The Petco here had one in their tank for probly 2 weeks. I was going nuts rubbing up against the rocks and gravel in the tank. The aquatics specialist told me it was just because it was getting its adult colors. That's not true is it? Anyway it died later that week.

That's not true, and sorry it died () : (
Ours is about 8-9 inches and it is partially adult colored..but does not rub at all. Our Koran sold today before I got in, not a bad fish for $40, though not one of the prettier large angels IMO.

Originally posted by Ploppers

Oops I just noticed in my earlier post I said the salinity was at 1.019 I meant 1.009. Maybe they were doing hypo on the whole colum, but they had a lot of inverts in that colum.

Maybe, I hope it was deliberate () : ), I bet the inverts were not happy.
By the way, we got some "turbos" in that are actually astreas.
And I told my manager about the hypo so that he could tell anyone he sold a fish too, and it sounded like he was on board, then I come back from lunch and the salinity is back up at 1.022...Errr...On the street we call that "baller blocking"
And he printed off the new petco corporate guidelines...apparently the one's I saw were from 2003, the new ones say to NEVER use copper in the SW display.
The 2005-2006 Marine Ich Guideline:
To treat one fish: Take the fish out of the display and place it into freshwater for 5-10 minutes.
That's it, no mention of temp, buffering, pH etc...
I guess the point is to either kill it or just knock off some ich spots so it's sellable again? No mention that if one fish in the system has it then they all potentially do, or that the fish still has ich/will get ich again soon as it lays down again.
Anyway, back to the guidelines:
To treat the whole system:
If many fish throughout the display show signs of ich then turn the temperature up to 83F and do a 50% water change every week for 2 weeks.
I **** you not. So the point here is to quickly let the ich kill all the fish it's gonna kill, and let the fish that are gonna get over it get over it quicker.

Oh and I only have 32 hours this week, still haven't been payed yet, all is not well in petco land.

cheers,

grimmjohn

[billsreef]

The 2005-2006 Marine Ich Guideline:
To treat one fish: Take the fish out of the display and place it into freshwater for 5-10 minutes.

Now that would be absolutely hilarious, if it wasn't meant seriously

While a FW dip can be very effective on some ectoparasites, it is not effective on Marine Ich at all. Here's a very good article on the subject by ATJ, an Australian aquatist with a very good understanding of the subject. You might want to print it out to show your boss, and be sure and point out the list of references from scientific journals. Something I'm sure the fish disease ignorant person that came up with that "policy" can not provide to support that silly position of FW dips for ich.

That said, doing FW dips on fish you get before they go in the tank, can remove a number of troublesome parasites. Most noteably flukes, which are all too common from some wholesalers.

[bookfish]

edit

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by billsreef
Here's a very good article on the subject by ATJ, an Australian aquatist with a very good understanding of the subject. You might want to print it out to show your boss, and be sure and point out the list of references from scientific journals.

I actually already had that bookmarked (and Steven Pro's article) () : ) And am very familliar with ATJ, for some reason we always end up posting in the same threads over in the SPS forum...it's kinda funny () : )
That said, thanks for the link () : )
Though I doubt I will get into one upmanship with my boss and his precious Petco guidlines, that probably can't end well..(though when I was telling them about the hypo I mentioned that "the PhDs are on my side") () : ) Well, I'd like a pay check before I get into one upmanship anyway () : )
That said, it sucks that my employer's idea of "treating" sick fish is just try to kill them quicker...sounds kinda dystopia like, I wonder if there is a "Room 101" waiting for me

Thanks billsreef, cheers,

grimmjohn

Oh P.S. Came to work yesturday and the powder brown we've had that I had been working on since I started (it wouldn't eat and looked like crap but I had finally got it eating well and it was coloring up beautifully) had ich spots and was laying in a corner breathing fast, then died 5 minutes later...totally out of the blue (if two other fish didn't already have ich)...anyway ****ed me off.

[tokitay]

OK Everyone, Here is how you do something about it!

Don Cowan is the director of media relations for Petco. He is very accessible, I just called him on his cell phone and got right to him.
Don was very concerned, and asked if I could forward the info from Reef Central to him.

Can one of the moderators please e-mail this thread in its entirety to DONC@Petco.com. Don is at their corporate headquarters at 858-453-7845.

Also, anyone who has had a bad experience, please e-mail Don!

Being a business owner, I realize things happen. Unfortunately, every business works from the brains down, so expressing our concerns to store clerks is often an exercise in futility.

In order to truly help our beloved hobby, it would sure be nice if everyone who has posted would e-mail your comments to Don at Petco. He has the power to help fix a big problem!

Thanks,
Lee

[tsutherland]

I know what you mean I posted this
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...hreadid=726660

If only we could all ban together and do something. I called corporate and was told that they will look into it. I told them to take my info and that I wanted the district manager to call me and let me know what he or she is doing to correct the problem. I am thinking about witting a local news station and try to get a problem solver like story done on it.

[grimmjohn]

Originally posted by tokitay
Unfortunately, every business works from the brains down, so expressing our concerns to store clerks is often an exercise in futility.

Being little more than a "store clerk," I don't know if I should be offended by my implied impotence or my implied brainlessness () : )

Also, considering I do kinda like my job, and that I can't make any difference without working here, and that my profile and first post on this thread contain everything anyone with access to a petco employee database needs to single me out, then you'll have to forgive me if I'm not too excited about using this thread as ammo for your crusade.

Cheers,

grimmjohn