# WARNING to anyone who purchases loose plants from Petco!!



## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

So, I went to Petco today and I discovered why all my bettas suddenly got sick...
(I could *NOT* figure it out. The only new fish were females, and everyone is *strictly* QT'ed for two weeks, and *nothing* transfers, not water, not equipment, not even food and/or meds...And the fish who suddenly came down with stuff were guys that had been with me for a year or close to it...and had been healthy previously. Then I saw *THIS* today when I went by Petco.)

Apparently, when they change the betta water cups, they dump the old, nasty water into the aquariums where they sell the loose plants!! GUESS WHO PURCHASED LOOSE PLANTS PRIOR TO BETTA DISEASE OUTBREAK?!? Yeah. You guessed it! UGH! 

Plants were QT'd for a week before aquarium introduction, but that was in dechlorinated, heated, filtered water (I set up a special Rubbermaid with it's own HOB/gravel filter for the plants in QT.) so the stubborn stuff...like gill flukes...was still very much alive when they went into my tanks. 
For that matter, is there a way to sterilize plants? I mean, I can't dump salt in there, and I worry about meds killing the plants...??

I was so angry when I realized what they were doing! Not only are they spreading every disease and parasite under the sun between all the bettas, they're spreading it to *any* healthy stock that comes into contact with those plants as well! ARRGGHHH! I will never, ever again purchase loose plants from a Petco or a Petsmart. I mean, for that matter, WHY?! Why not just dump the old water down the sink, why "recycle" it into the plants? Ugh...so stupid.


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## AkaRyu (Feb 23, 2013)

Woooow, I would send so many angry letters to corporate, and march in there and tell the manager outright. That's terrible!!!


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## Taeanna (Apr 2, 2013)

I assume they hope the ammonia and other stuff in the dirty water will nourish the plants? 
In any case it is a stupid procedure, they can just add a nutrient supplement to the tank and keep everything healthy.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

i think it was anhel123 or Tekkguy that told me to QT plants in regular tap water for 2 weeks and the chlorine in the tap water will kill most of the stuff.

If it is not anacharis, you can try putting Excel to kill some of the germs and algae during QT.

When I first started, I did not QT my plants from Petco (anacharis) and now I remember my first betta Fred died from bacterial infection HITH was a sign, I think. He died for a good cause, now all my sorority and PetCo babies thank him for helping me to live and learn to be a more informed and responsible owner.


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## Briz (Mar 22, 2013)

Like every LPS, it depends on the particular location. My Petco does water changes in the sink, not in to the loose plant tank.


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## bannlow2471 (Mar 12, 2013)

I am so sorry that this happened to you - how absolutely awful! I had wondered about that myself - when I saw live fish in the "plant" tank. I didn't buy any because I was afraid of this type of thing - I am still very new to fish keeping, but it definitely raised my antennae. Again, I'm just so sorry about you losing all your beautiful fish to something so preventable. Morons!


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## isochronism (Nov 24, 2012)

Unfortunately all it takes is one random employee who wants to lessen their work load by cutting corners.


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## JellOh (Mar 13, 2013)

Some people do a chlorine bath with new plants to kill any algea. I believe it is 1 (bleach) to 19 (water) mix, dp the plants for 90 seconds maximum, and then treat with a dechlorinator. It might help with diseases.


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

Thanks for the information about the Clorox dilute. I've also read that you can QT them in potassium permanganate for this as well. 

I was QT'ing the plants, but I (stupidly) thought that maybe the chlorine might do something to them...obviously this is not a concern as my regular plants get chlorinated water all the time with no problem. I just made my plant QT tank into a giant germ-center. Ugh. Never again. 

As for the HITH, that's *exactly* what two of my guys are having trouble with. And I believe they ended up with gill flukes in the process as well.  Fortunately, they seem to have recovered from the HITH (vitamin c supplement and a course of metro/prazi)...and now I'm down to dosing them with Coppersafe to kill the gill flukes.  It's awful, awful stuff, and I *hate* using it...but they couldn't handle the stress of the metro/prazi anymore, and after 24 hours in the copper safe they seem to be feeling better...so I'm hoping that by minimizing the time in the copper that there won't be too many horrible side effects down the line.  Poor little dudes. 

I did have one old guy who died, but he was a year-and-a-half...which seems far too short, but he'd been having trouble with granulomas for the past several months, so I can't say for certain that it was the plants, or just the tumors. So, Somerset went to live in fishie Heaven, but, he had a good life and was only sick for a couple of days before his death. (I've read elsewhere that marbles have trouble with granulomas like that, so it wasn't totally unexpected.) Fortunately, the others have responded to treatment, it's just been a total pain in the butt trying to figure out what it all is, how to treat it, buying expensive meds to experiment with...not to mention the stress on my fishies and the long-term effects of having to dose them.  

Still, this is just SO STUPID!!


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

Coppersafe said to use it continuously for a month to kill velvet, what do you think? I did a Maracyn Plus (liquid antibac) + Coppersafe to get rid of slime coat and velvet. I did 2 sessions of Maracyn Plus of 5 days each set with 1 week break in between. Now it's only Coppersafe. Seems to be working, it's week 3 for Coppersafe and slime coat infection gone and velvet seems to be gone but I am doing the full course as per instruction. any thoughts?


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## Blue Fish (Jun 11, 2012)

I've read elsewhere/been told by OFL, that coppersafe is some pretty nasty stuff. It's actually a heavy metal, and poisonous to both fish and parasites...it just happens to kill the parasites faster than the fish. 

From what I *vaguely* understand about the method of action is that they call it copper*safe* because it's chelated copper...so less hazardous for the fish. But, from what I read, that chelation only lasts for so long, and fairly quickly the coppersafe turns back into regular copper, which is definitely toxic...not immediately, but over a period of time, and even short exposure can have negative effects later. 
It's like if you had lead water pipes. The lead wouldn't kill you in a day, a week, or even a year. But you'd probably start having some nasty GI side effects, possible brain damage, and eventually, if you never got new non-leaded pipes, you'd end up dying from the lead in your drinking water. (another toxic heavy metal)

Apparently, back in the 80's, copper (just sheets of it, in any form) was dunked into tanks and ponds like mad because everyone realized it would kill so many nasty things that fish had issues with and was heralded as a wonder-med for fishkeeping...Until someone finally someone realized that it was also shortening the lives of their fish...and NEVER came out of the pond/tank. It gets into the silicone seals, and can even infiltrate decorations and plastic/silk plants. So once something has been dosed in coppersafe, it's got some residual copper in it forever, and can probably never house any invertebrates (like snails) ever again safely. 

That having been said, I only use it as an absolute last resort. This is actually the first time I've used it since I found out about the nastiness, and I only left them in there for a short period of time. I don't know if the short-term will work, but I thought I'd try it. I figure I won't know for sure until a few weeks have gone by, to make sure that I've fought off the entire lifespan of the flukes, and not just a portion of it.  At this point, I'd tried everything else on them, and they were having nasty side-effects from the "safer" meds...and I KNOW coppersafe is *very* effective against nematodes (flukes and other exterior worms)...so I figured I didn't have anything else to lose by trying small doses in QT tanks for short periods of time. 

I think if it was me, and they're clear of the slime and velvet, I'd take them out of the copper and just make sure it doesn't reappear.  

I hope this information helps!!


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