Chicago Area Local Fish Stores

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by TheReefNinja

not everybody has a quarantine set up if I buy a fish from a fish store and they tell me its healthy I expect it to be healthy. I have been in this for over 12 years and have never had an issue.

Well then that's the gamble you play. You lost this time.

[mrbnx]

Originally Posted by Scorpius

Well then that's the gamble you play. You lost this time.

Rude much? I'm pretty sure the intention of the thread was for people to leave feedback on LFS. Some are shadier than others, but when you get conflicting info from the employees, it benefits to warn the community. Loss is part of the hobby, and mourning loss shouldn't be frowned upon. I've gone through the "add a fish, lose 10" thing before, so I can sympathize.

Tom, don't sweat this troll from Japan...

[TheReefNinja]

Originally Posted by mrbnx

Rude much? I'm pretty sure the intention of the thread was for people to leave feedback on LFS. Some are shadier than others, but when you get conflicting info from the employees, it benefits to warn the community. Loss is part of the hobby, and mourning loss shouldn't be frowned upon. I've gone through the "add a fish, lose 10" thing before, so I can sympathize.

Tom, don't sweat this troll from Japan...

lmao I dont sweat things from Japan.... only radiation lol. I was just letting peeps know my experence with that LFS and to be leary of stuff they pick up... no matter where they buy it from. Yes it is a gamble but in this hobby it seems like now a days the only safe place to buy from is a friends tank that you personally know is healthy. Kinda sad really. Gotta worry about that new fish killing off your system.

[Scorpius]

Originally Posted by mrbnx

Rude much? I'm pretty sure the intention of the thread was for people to leave feedback on LFS. Some are shadier than others, but when you get conflicting info from the employees, it benefits to warn the community. Loss is part of the hobby, and mourning loss shouldn't be frowned upon. I've gone through the "add a fish, lose 10" thing before, so I can sympathize.

Tom, don't sweat this troll from Japan...

He didn't quarantine his fish and blames the fish store. Yes, he received two different stories on how long they quarantined the fish he bought and yet he still put them in his DT. I fail to see the logic in blaming the fish store for his error. It's a golden rule that everyone preaches on this forum to quarantine new arrivals. It sucks that he lost his fish. It sucks more that he put his fish through this because it was to much of a bother for him to quarantine.

Oh and by the way I am not a troll from Japan, just a person concerned for the welfare of animals that people needlessly kill.

[Tank2379]

Originally Posted by TheReefNinja

I usually dont post bad things about places but I thought I would share my recent adventure with reefwise that led to me loosing all my fish...

I stopped in there I'd say a month ago and picked up 3 cromis's I was told they were fully QT'd from one of the guys then the other said they only had the fish about 4 days so which is it..... Ended up buying 3 of them and after getting them home and in my tank one went missing in the first 15 minutes of having it. The next day in the evening a few of my fish had signs of ich, now mind you my tank and livestock was healthy the only change were these 3 new fish in over a month.

We started a ich treatment and by the end of the next night we lost all fish except my clown and one of our firefish, the next day all fish were dead. $400 in fish dead in days after adding these fish.

Everytime I went in there they quoted me high prices on the polyp frags like $55 for a 15ish polyp frag of watermelons which should sell for no more than a buck a polyp. Their Ricordia is WAY over priced. The one time I went in there looking for a return pump he said he didnt have any I asked if he could order one and he said it wasnt worth it to him to order me just 1 thing. I should of stopped there and never came back but I figured I would try again. The day we bought the 3 cromis I was told 2 different prices on a fish when I asked about a few others and said wait how much was this one again.... Lesson learned I wont be shopping with them any more and I hope anyone doing business there really thinks twice about what they are purchasing.

You ever heard of Marine Velvet disease? Sounds more than likely your system go hit with this. Ich doesn't wipe out your fish over night unless they already had it in there system for a few days or weeks. Marine Velvet will take out your fish over night and within days if adding new fish to your system that have this disease. Everyone should QT fish regardless of what the LFS says- they are in the business to sell just like any other fish store. I know some that practice QTing not saying they don't because most, now in days are starting to. But just be careful when adding new fish to your system. I would recommend setting up a QT in the future to prevent that from happening again.

[scubadan206]

Always quarantine every fish!!!!!!!
If not, buy through someone you trust to do it specifically for you. Yes, it will cost more, but the health of your charges is worth it.
If you don't, you only get to play the game for a little while longer than the next guy. In the end, your tank will crash. HARD.
All the experts will tell you the same. For anyone who says that they are opposed, or that it's not necessary, I would start to question their right to be in this hobby.
BTW. No one should take this too personal. It's not meant to be.

Some fish stores maintain two completely separate systems. On for holding normal fish, and another for holding sensitive fish and inverts. The normal fish are kept in tanks permanently dosed with copper. Another option is to keep a fish only tank. Not having inverts in the tank means that you can administer the proper meds without worrying about killing off half your tank inhabitants.
Daniel.

[TheReefNinja]

I'm not taking anything personal I'm just telling my experience and hoping others learn from my mistake by taking a stores word for it. This store has burned a few people I know and I felt this should be known. I will be setting up a qt tank this time around I just thought this was one of the more trustworthy stores out there.

[e55driver]

I know that the store in question has a great QT schedule, I gave it to them, and it came from the Shed.

[e55driver]

They may have chosen not to use it because of the cost of some of the meds.

[scubadan206]

I remember seeing a post by Nineball [Peter], where he purchased a few clowns. When he got home he was curious about the strange way the fish were behaving. He tested the water and found they were bagged in almost straight RO water[1.001]. Wow!! Is this something a LFS will do to simulate a freshwater dip or something? This store would be somewhere in Toronto area...
Daniel.

[snorvich]

Originally Posted by Tank2379

You ever heard of Marine Velvet disease? Sounds more than likely your system go hit with this. Ich doesn't wipe out your fish over night unless they already had it in there system for a few days or weeks. Marine Velvet will take out your fish over night and within days if adding new fish to your system that have this disease. Everyone should QT fish regardless of what the LFS says- they are in the business to sell just like any other fish store. I know some that practice QTing not saying they don't because most, now in days are starting to. But just be careful when adding new fish to your system. I would recommend setting up a QT in the future to prevent that from happening again.

The time line of the mortality suggests a parasite other than cryptocaryon irritans since ich tends to overwhelm over time rather than kill quickly. Velvet is a possibility but with chromis involved, uronema marinum is also in play. Any time a fish is placed into a fish system at a local fish store, any previous quarantine protocol is invalidated. Oh, and by the way, a non-therapeutic dose of copper will mask velvet and ich which will then show up approximately three weeks later. Just an FYI.

[Kmiec123]

Originally Posted by TheReefNinja

We started a ich treatment and by the end of the next night we lost all fish....

ReefNinja....Ich is normal in most stressed fish...What what the Treatment you did? That would be my guess on most of the trouble.

[SkullV]

Originally Posted by Kmiec123

ReefNinja....Ich is normal in most stressed fish...What what the Treatment you did? That would be my guess on most of the trouble.

No parasite is normal in most stressed fish. If the parasite isn't introduced into the system it will not be present on any fish, stressed or not.

[Tank2379]

Originally Posted by snorvich

The time line of the mortality suggests a parasite other than cryptocaryon irritans since ich tends to overwhelm over time rather than kill quickly. Velvet is a possibility but with chromis involved, uronema marinum is also in play. Any time a fish is placed into a fish system at a local fish store, any previous quarantine protocol is invalidated. Oh, and by the way, a non-therapeutic dose of copper will mask velvet and ich which will then show up approximately three weeks later. Just an FYI.

Awesome good to know ... That's why QT is a must with any fish

[1000rrstunna]

Went to beyond the reef today... Not impressed

[Ridgeway Swiss]

Guys a quick question.

I'm at an expo at the McCormick centre in a couple of weeks, there for a few days. I need to pick up some Neptune Apex parts and wondered which shop is my best bet in that area ? I'll be staying down town but don't mind taking a cab ride out to within reason to find a good store ?

What do you you reckon ?

[fredfish13]

if you want stores close to there, try calling Old Town Aquarium or New Fish to see if they have parts in stock first. Those 2 should be the closest to downtown.

[Quiverfull]

Any suggestions for an sps store on the south side near palos park? In town for a few days and would like to check out some sps stores. Thanks for the info.

[fishonly tank]

Thanks for the post

[danielp]

I do not remember if I asked about it before but any opinions on Xzotic Aquatic World Inc. in Bensenville?
I want to check them out, just do not know if its worth the trip from Chicago.
By the way a week ago I was in Aquapros (I feel like I am their spokesman), what a great store it is, cannot beat their frags.
The only problem I had on monday they posted on fb their deal for turbo snails, on wednesday afternoon I was lucky enough to get the last one

[crawling junk]

Do not go to xzotic. That place is dirty and all their lifestock is sick

[danielp]

Anybody else?

[Dugless]

So for the serious SPS focused hobbyist, the consensus is Reefwise? I'm going to be passing through Chicago in a few weeks and would like to visit a store with a good selections of Acros. Thanks in advance.

[Dgagvgeg]

Originally Posted by Dugless

So for the serious SPS focused hobbyist, the consensus is Reefwise? I'm going to be passing through Chicago in a few weeks and would like to visit a store with a good selections of Acros. Thanks in advance.

Reefwise is a really nice place.

[blusun2]

Originally Posted by 1000rrstunna

Went to beyond the reef today... Not impressed

n00bie chiming in here, we went to the Aquarium Experience last weekend and purchased a 2g Nano tank from Beyond The Reef at the show. They told us we'd be ok to keep a single clown fish in the tank. I ended up going to Aquarium Adventure and bought salt water and live rock and went to Beyond the Reef for live sand, because AA only sells in the 10 or 20# bags, which we needed barely 1.5#, which we got from BTR. They were pushing pretty hard at both the expo and the shop that it's ok to put a fish in, but my experience in Freshwater fish tells me no (and it also told me no to a 2G, but that's another story)

I started a thread in the noob section with pics of the 2G tank and the rocks:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2456748