Several died right after arrival - Are they sick?

[Sashaka]

Sorry for your loss. My work is about 1 mile from Exotic Fish N Tank, swung by 3 times during business hours to check out the store but the doors were locked every time. Looking thru the windows I noticed it is a small store with fish only. As you notice they don't answer the phone either. Not a good business model. The store seemed shady to me, good luck I hope you are able to get your money back.

I can't see that they will be in business very long with these types of practices. That's a good thing for the saltwater community!

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

I can't see that they will be in business very long with these types of practices. That's a good thing for the saltwater community!

I actually looked him up on FB today after reading this post and sent him a text. He’s ready to sell me some fish lol. He did emphasize his “arrive alive and eating warranty” though. I’ll pass and go to my LFS.

 

[Sashaka]

I actually looked him up on FB today after reading this post and sent him a text. He’s ready to sell me some fish lol. He did emphasize his “arrive alive and eating warranty” though. I’ll pass and go to my LFS.

You should send him the link to this thread, let him know that people are catching on to his shady ways. ;Watching

 

[Frtdrmrose7]

You should send him the link to this thread, let him know that people are catching on to his shady ways. ;Watching

I don’t want to use this thread to bash anyone but rather to help people while educating! I’m hoping the store will step up and do the right thing.

 

[Sashaka]

One can hope.

 

[hicksrodney]

This is Rodney Hicks with Exotic Fish -N- Tanks. I usually do not respond to these posts but I felt a need as most of the facts are incorrect.

I am not posting to debate with Paulo, he is a good guy and is entitled to his truth. I am posting because most of what was posted is incorrect. Here are the facts:

- I was originally supposed to hold onto the fish for 2 weeks, because he was setting up a new system, he asked if I could keep the fish for a month, which I did.
- He also asked me to pay for shipping (2x) which I did because he was such a good customer. The first batch was shipped without an issue ( I have texts showing they were all doing great).
- 3 days before the 2nd batch of fish was scheduled to be shipped, he contacts me to ask if I would sell him an Achilles tang that I had posted. Even thought it was sold to someone else, I told him that I would accommodate his request because again, he was a great customer.
- I warned him that the Achilles was a difficult fish and an ick magnet. His response verbatim was "Like the powder blue, I lost 2 until this I have now is beautiful. fish is all about luck my friend. And I'm very lucky lately with my fishes".
- I responded with "It would be your decision ultimately but I always tell customers about the challenges so that they know what they are getting into".
- His exact words were "I WILL TAKE THE RISK", "JUST PLEASE SEND HIM". I then respond with "Ick magnets bc they are a scaleless fish". He put the Achilles into his tank without any type of additional quarantine after being warned that they are difficult and ick magnets.

I have texts messages to support my statement above and text messages showing how all of the fish that I shipped were doing great. I also asked about quarantining fish and he stated that he did not need to.

I am only posting because too often only 1 side is presented and that side might not present all of the important details. I go above and beyond making sure the fish are healthy and eating but I cannot be responsible when someone makes a decision after being told of the risk. I simply wanted to tell my truth. Here is my facebook page where you can see my reviews. https://www.facebook.com/Xoticfishntanks/

I am finding it difficult to post the texts to validate my story...if someone knows how to post them I can text them to you to post. My number is 469-682-8841. I simply want people to know the truth.

 

[hicksrodney]

This is Rodney Hicks with Exotic Fish -N- Tanks. I usually do not respond to these posts but I felt a need as most of the facts are incorrect.

I am not posting to debate with Paulo, he is a good guy and is entitled to his truth. I am posting because most of what was posted is incorrect. Here are the facts:

- I was originally supposed to hold onto the fish for 2 weeks, because he was setting up a new system, he asked if I could keep the fish for a month, which I did.
- He also asked me to pay for shipping (2x) which I did because he was such a good customer. The first batch was shipped without an issue ( I have texts showing they were all doing great).
- 3 days before the 2nd batch of fish was scheduled to be shipped, he contacts me to ask if I would sell him an Achilles tang that I had posted. Even thought it was sold to someone else, I told him that I would accommodate his request because again, he was a great customer.
- I warned him that the Achilles was a difficult fish and an ick magnet. His response verbatim was "Like the powder blue, I lost 2 until this I have now is beautiful. fish is all about luck my friend. And I'm very lucky lately with my fishes".
- I responded with "It would be your decision ultimately but I always tell customers about the challenges so that they know what they are getting into".
- His exact words were "I WILL TAKE THE RISK", "JUST PLEASE SEND HIM". I then respond with "Ick magnets bc they are a scaleless fish". He put the Achilles into his tank without any type of additional quarantine after being warned that they are difficult and ick magnets.

I have texts messages to support my statement above and text messages showing how all of the fish that I shipped were doing great. I also asked about quarantining fish and he stated that he did not need to.

I am only posting because too often only 1 side is presented and that side might not present all of the important details. I go above and beyond making sure the fish are healthy and eating but I cannot be responsible when someone makes a decision after being told of the risk. I simply wanted to tell my truth so I will not be responding to posts. Here is my facebook page where you can see my reviews. https://www.facebook.com/Xoticfishntanks/

Thanks for taking the time to allow me to explain.

Rodney Hicks
Exotic Fish -N- Tanks

 

[Adalius]

And this is a perfect example of why I refrain on passing judgement until both sides are heard.

 

[Sashaka]

@hicksrodney ,
It was good of you to respond to the concerns voiced in this thread. I cannot speak for everyone, but I am sincerely interested in hearing your side of things.

Many of us here who have been keeping saltwater tanks for a few years know the majority of fish purchased today are carrying some type of pathogen that needs to be addressed before putting in our MDs. It is also clear to me after reading the original poster's thread title, as well as his comments therein, that he is new to the saltwater hobby and is making the same mistakes many of us did when we first started in the hobby. I believe his ignorance of proper quarantine procedures and failure to start medicating his sick fish from day one likely contributed to the high mortality rate of his fish. Velvet kills quickly. IMHO, quarantine+observation and/or prophylactic treatments are necessary practices before introducing any new stock into our tanks. I've been burned by adding snails to my tank without quarantine before! If you look back through the posts, you will see that my recommendation to Paulo was to start with beginner fish until he got the hang of keeping saltwater fish.

It is clear from your shared texts that you warned Paulo before selling to him. I think the concerns voiced from Paulo was about a lack of correspondence after the fish came in sick. Expert reefers whom many of us trust here at R2R suggested the fish had to be showing signs of illness before shipping if they were sent overnight based on what is known about the life cycle of velvet (posts #9 and 10). Paulo does not date the picture of the tang covered in velvet, so it is unclear how long the tang was in his tank before the picture was taken. I don't want to put you on the spot, but do you want to address these concerns?

Again, thank you for joining the conversation. It is always good to hear both sides of a story.

 

[vetteguy53081]

These were obviously exposed to changing temperatures or cold and developed or shipped with velvet and ich and would have had a low chance of turnaround after the stress of shipping alone.
I would have someone locally order for you or seek one who cares to pack with heat packs, newspaper , etc to show some care in insulating and live arrival. I always do overnite and try to utilize air cargo so you are able to retrieve right off the aircraft than having it driven on the road for hours before it reaches your door

 

[pga7602]

What a great post and outcome. Teaches all to not pass judgement when hearing one side of a story. I would buy from this vendor now!

 

[MarkSativa]

I'm so sorry for your loss

 

[bluprntguy]

Posting a private conversation online is illegal in many states. Even if it’s not illegal in this instance due to the business being located in Texas, it’s definitely not cool to post this information on a public forum.

As opposed to the business posting private text messages from the customer online, he could have just noted that he honored his “arrive alive and eating” guarantee and refunded the money to the customer. That would have been a much better way to handle the situation.

 

[ReefWithCare]

Man - screw this seller. I know exactly who they are and they give pre-conditioned livestock sellers a bad name. This dude doesn't have the halo of being a sponsor here. Go after them full scale, post all the screenshots and follow up.

 

[Sashaka]

This thread has really taken a turn from helping PachecoBoston deal with his sick fish. Sadly, I am guilty of participating in the sidetracked conversations and for this I apologize. I became upset when I saw all the beautiful fish in bags and vented without thinking, even encouraging explanations from the vendor. Sorry! PachecoBoston and others who have had 1st hand experiences with this seller should probably post their reviews in the Vender's Review Forum as that is the appropriate forum to voice these concerns.

Let's get back to supporting @PacheconBoston in this thread with his sick fish. Any news Pachecon? Did any fish in your MD survive the velvet outbreak? Did you start any treatments? Let us know how things are going. We're here to help!

 

[ScooterV]

This thread has really taken a turn from helping PachecoBoston deal with his sick fish. Sadly, I am guilty of participating in the sidetracked conversations and for this I apologize. I became upset when I saw all the beautiful fish in bags and vented without thinking, even encouraging explanations from the vendor. Sorry! PachecoBoston and others who have had 1st hand experiences with this seller should probably post their reviews in the Vender's Review Forum as that is the appropriate forum to voice these concerns.

Let's get back to supporting @PacheconBoston in this thread with his sick fish. Any news Pachecon? Did any fish in your MD survive the velvet outbreak? Did you start any treatments? Let us know how things are going. We're here to help!

I agree. None of us really knows how long those fish may have gone before they showed velvet. One says received like that, the other says not shipped like that, but saving whatever is left is what those here can help with. We can only guess, or form an opinion, of the rest without ever really knowing. The OP hasn't posted in awhile though. Hopefully he's busy setting up a QT and trying to catch fish and didn't simply give up on any still surviving.

 

[PachecoBoston]

This thread has really taken a turn from helping PachecoBoston deal with his sick fish. Sadly, I am guilty of participating in the sidetracked conversations and for this I apologize. I became upset when I saw all the beautiful fish in bags and vented without thinking, even encouraging explanations from the vendor. Sorry! PachecoBoston and others who have had 1st hand experiences with this seller should probably post their reviews in the Vender's Review Forum as that is the appropriate forum to voice these concerns.

Let's get back to supporting @PacheconBoston in this thread with his sick fish. Any news Pachecon? Did any fish in your MD survive the velvet outbreak? Did you start any treatments? Let us know how things are going. We're here to help!

Hello everyone, I have been down, very sad, as now (just yesterday) I lost other 9 fishes, my beaufitul Gem tang, Black tang, purple tang, 2 yellow tang, 1 dory, powder blue tang, sumatran tang, chevron tang, still another 3 in my system of 230 gallons but they are all sick, even on QT...they are dying one after other...thanks for the support...the worst thing is Paypal wants me to get a doctor that can evaluate that the fish were really sick in order to refund me the $1450. I requested by email a doctor from Boston that I was referedand waiting her email. I took screenshots from the comments here and they say is not legal

 

[ScooterV]

That is sad, and even more heartbreaking when first getting started. All Paypal and vendor issues aside, lots of questions here will help you be more prepared and reduce future problems. Big loss though, lots of beautiful fish

 

[PachecoBoston]

That is sad, and even more heartbreaking when first getting started. All Paypal and vendor issues aside, lots of questions here will help you be more prepared and reduce future problems. Big loss though, lots of beautiful fish

thanks my friend.

 

[PachecoBoston]

This is Rodney Hicks with Exotic Fish -N- Tanks. I usually do not respond to these posts but I felt a need as most of the facts are incorrect.

I am not posting to debate with Paulo, he is a good guy and is entitled to his truth. I am posting because most of what was posted is incorrect. Here are the facts:

- I was originally supposed to hold onto the fish for 2 weeks, because he was setting up a new system, he asked if I could keep the fish for a month, which I did.
- He also asked me to pay for shipping (2x) which I did because he was such a good customer. The first batch was shipped without an issue ( I have texts showing they were all doing great).
- 3 days before the 2nd batch of fish was scheduled to be shipped, he contacts me to ask if I would sell him an Achilles tang that I had posted. Even thought it was sold to someone else, I told him that I would accommodate his request because again, he was a great customer.
- I warned him that the Achilles was a difficult fish and an ick magnet. His response verbatim was "Like the powder blue, I lost 2 until this I have now is beautiful. fish is all about luck my friend. And I'm very lucky lately with my fishes".
- I responded with "It would be your decision ultimately but I always tell customers about the challenges so that they know what they are getting into".
- His exact words were "I WILL TAKE THE RISK", "JUST PLEASE SEND HIM". I then respond with "Ick magnets bc they are a scaleless fish". He put the Achilles into his tank without any type of additional quarantine after being warned that they are difficult and ick magnets.

I have texts messages to support my statement above and text messages showing how all of the fish that I shipped were doing great. I also asked about quarantining fish and he stated that he did not need to.

I am only posting because too often only 1 side is presented and that side might not present all of the important details. I go above and beyond making sure the fish are healthy and eating but I cannot be responsible when someone makes a decision after being told of the risk. I simply wanted to tell my truth so I will not be responding to posts. Here is my facebook page where you can see my reviews. https://www.facebook.com/Xoticfishntanks/

Thanks for taking the time to allow me to explain.

Rodney Hicks
Exotic Fish -N- Tanks

Why a day after you sent me the fish I notice the white spots and texted you you disappered. And responded only after I opened a case on paypal? All your beautifull words and way to try be nice here, does not pay for my loss of over 5K now. With your many years of experince, you should not ship this many fish together, for no money...that I was told from one Marine biologist, you should respect the lives and say, hey I will send only one or 2 fish per time...plus reply my messages when I said they fish was sick and died, which you never did. I was not going to post more about you, but now I will. Don't try play good guy, honor for your warranty