clinton1621

Ok so I went to my LFS today to get some plant fert... while I was there I browsed through their fish and noticed that as always they had no ghost shrimp in the tank with the sign for them. I asked the manager who is always there why they never had any and if they ever got them or the cherry or bamboo shrimp in. First off she said she has never even heard of cherry or bamboo shrimp.... second she said that the reason they never have the ghost shrimp is because they all die immediately after they put them in their tanks every time they get any in, so they just stopped ordering them. So being the problem solving type I asked her if they used copper treatments in the water for the tank that the shrimp go into.... and her answer was of course YES.... Nobody there, including her, knew that copper was toxic to invertebrates and was the reason why they all died every time they got any in

Blub

Oh dear! Did you tell her copper is toxic to inverts?

Marc

I wouldn't be surprised if she was just nodding along to placate you and make herself look innocent... I will say, however, that out of two different suppliers, I have never had Ghost shrimp live more than a day because they're just so weak from the wholesalers neglecting them.

sirdarksol

I wonder if they use the stuff to keep the tanks clear of algae. If they are, that would suggest further problems with the fish store, in my opinion. Whatever they're using, though, you'd think someone would notice the "do not use in tanks containing shrimp, snails, or other invertebrates" warnings on the label.

clinton1621

She said that the home office (its a local chain pet store) warned them that copper could be the cause of the shrimp dying because they also for some reason have copper in their water even before adding any to the tanks. She said they use the copper meds for ICH and algae outbreaks... this place is notorious around here for having low quality sickly fish anyway (not to mention ignorant employees) so I never get my fish there, just food and supplements.

EDIT : Oh and SDS, they definitely have further issues lol... their plant tanks are horrid, they never clean them... theres about 1/2 to 1 inch of dead plant leaves and mulm on the bottom of the plant tanks... all of the plants are infested with snails... all of the plants are covered in algae and that weird 'rust' stuff... they actually put severely injured or seriously sick fish in the plant tanks to let them heal, thats really great for people who buy plants to spread infection and disease around isnt it!