My new Ranchu

[colley614]

[mjfromga]

Cute. Do they swim okay?

[colley614]

10 hours ago, mjfromga said:

Cute. Do they swim okay?

Yeah, they're both swimming great!

[mjfromga]

I like the bigger one the best. His little shape and wen is cute.

[spider man]

are these the fish you got from "Star Fisheries??  I think they are really cool

[colley614]

2 hours ago, spider man said:

are these the fish you got from "Star Fisheries??  I think they are really cool

They are. I'm really pleased with them. They've started their QT properly today. Started raising the salt in the tank.

[koko]

Wow they have a very nice shape to them. The color is really nice too. 🤗

 

[colley614]

13 hours ago, koko said:

Wow they have a very nice shape to them. The color is really nice too. 🤗

 

I think them make a good start to my collection!

[colley614]

So, I've been in work all weekend. I've been quarantining the fish since I got them. I had raised the salt to 0 3% and was doing daily waterchanges. Anmonia and nitrite were in 0. Nitrate was between 5 and 10 (its actually hard to tell on the test kit because the pink just gets slightly darker between 5-20) 

So I got home from work yesterday and one of the fish was at the surface dead. Tested parameters as above, ph 7.5. Completed 50% waterchange. Got up this morning, checked parameters noticed she was floating a little funny. Went in the kitchen had a coffee went back in and she was dead.

I was QTing the fish. Had done 75% temperature matched water changes for 48 hours then raised salt every 12 hours to 0.3 been feeding everyday different foods (peas, brine with garlic pellet, bloodworm, repashy.) Just before changing water giving them a chance to eat before removing leftovers. Dropped my waterchange to 50% while in salt.

I noticed one fish went and hid soon after introducing  never ate or pooped in a week. This one died first. Other fish seemed fine at first then started to bottom sit on Saturday and stopped eating. 

[mjfromga]

Yikes. I've actually never believed in it being normal for new fish to not eat. After a trip in the mail, healthy fish in my experience are always hungry. Any that doesn't eat to me is overly stressed or sick.

They looked off kilter in the original picture which is why I asked if they swam okay. Do they recommend that QT method? I don't use salt preemptively like that - it stresses some fish.

The one that wouldn't eat was sick when you got it - as I said before this is not normal at all in my experience ordering many many fish. And if that one was sick, the other one likely was infected too. I got two fish from an Asian shop. One got sick pretty quickly and died. Was an obvious parasite issue, the other recovered and is healthy now. 

I would contact the vendor and tell them what happened and see what they say. Vendors usually will not do anything at this point - but it is worth a try. I heard Ranchu were WAY sensitive which is why I have left them alone.

[colley614]

8 minutes ago, mjfromga said:

Yikes. I've actually never believed in it being normal for new fish to not eat. After a trip in the mail, healthy fish in my experience are always hungry. Any that doesn't eat to me is overly stressed or sick.

They looked off kilter in the original picture which is why I asked if they swam okay. Do they recommend that QT method? I don't use salt preemptively like that - it stresses some fish.

The one that wouldn't eat was sick when you got it - as I said before this is not normal at all in my experience ordering many many fish. And if that one was sick, the other one likely was infected too. I got two fish from an Asian shop. One got sick pretty quickly and died. Was an obvious parasite issue, the other recovered and is healthy now. 

I would contact the vendor and tell them what happened and see what they say. Vendors usually will not do anything at this point - but it is worth a try. I heard Ranchu were WAY sensitive which is why I have left them alone.

I've always follow the same QT procedure. One from this forum and every goldfish I've bought before has been fine through the QT. I contacted the vendor after the first fish died, there's another fish on its way to me now. 

As soon as it hid I knew something was wrong. I kept watching to see if it would eat but nothing. It didn't poop in all the time it was in the tank. 

I've absolutely stripped the tank bare and left it dry. I'm going to have to do a fish in cycle. I will fill tomorrow before the fish arrives. 

I am quite upset with the situation. I haven't had a fish die on me in at least 6 years and in that time I've owned hundreds.

[mjfromga]

I would be upset too. Pay a lot of money to recieve sick fish. Hopefully the new fish is okay. Wishing the best.

[FishyMandy]

I hope the new one does better!

It sucks to pay a lot of money and get sick fish. I paid a lot for two nice looking orandas, one completely pineconed and died within 2 weeks and the other ended up with issues that lead to a 5 month long QT!

[mjfromga]

2 hours ago, FishyMandy said:

I hope the new one does better!

It sucks to pay a lot of money and get sick fish. I paid a lot for two nice looking orandas, one completely pineconed and died within 2 weeks and the other ended up with issues that lead to a 5 month long QT!

I paid over $100 for a Ryukin that, despite proper quarantine, still managed to introduce Costia into my system and wiped out over 20 fish. The vendor that sold the fish went out of business seemingly after that incident. I wasn't the only one who was sold a sick fish.

[mjfromga]

I went and had a look at the Star Fisheries website... and I gotta say, based on the first display video I saw, I probably wouldn't order from them. Way too many bottom sitting, floaty, unhealthy looking fish.

Every Ranchu tank had pekid looking fish. Very pretty but didn't behave like a spunky healthy fish should behave. Many had clear swimming problems, too. I would say anybody who bought from any of those tanks would just be ASKING for trouble. 

[colley614]

On 10/12/2021 at 4:58 PM, mjfromga said:

I went and had a look at the Star Fisheries website... and I gotta say, based on the first display video I saw, I probably wouldn't order from them. Way too many bottom sitting, floaty, unhealthy looking fish.

Every Ranchu tank had pekid looking fish. Very pretty but didn't behave like a spunky healthy fish should behave. Many had clear swimming problems, too. I would say anybody who bought from any of those tanks would just be ASKING for trouble. 

I'm in the process of finding some breeders through the clubs. My other half doesn't want me to order from there again.

[mjfromga]

1 minute ago, colley614 said:

I'm in the process of finding some breeders through the clubs. My other half doesn't want me to order from there again.

I agree with your other half. I was definitely put off them when I saw their site. Really beautiful fish but if they are not healthy then there's no point. 

Are you out all of what you paid? I would be so upset. These fish are too expensive to have to fight disease and have dying/sickly fish.

[colley614]

20 minutes ago, mjfromga said:

I agree with your other half. I was definitely put off them when I saw their site. Really beautiful fish but if they are not healthy then there's no point. 

Are you out all of what you paid? I would be so upset. These fish are too expensive to have to fight disease and have dying/sickly fish.

I've ended up with 1 fish from the order. Considering there is lots of hidden extras costs involved. You end up paying postage and tax on the price shown so the price ended up almost double.

[mjfromga]

11 minutes ago, colley614 said:

I've ended up with 1 fish from the order. Considering there is lots of hidden extras costs involved. You end up paying postage and tax on the price shown so the price ended up almost double.

Yeah unfortunately shipping costs for fish tend to be high. Usually upwards of $50 for the shipping alone. Hopefully the fish you have turns out okay. I recently ordered one I am waiting on as well, so I know the costs build up quick.

If they made you repay shipping to get a replacement, which some companies do, then it's even worse.

[colley614]

6 minutes ago, mjfromga said:

Yeah unfortunately shipping costs for fish tend to be high. Usually upwards of $50 for the shipping alone. Hopefully the fish you have turns out okay. I recently ordered one I am waiting on as well, so I know the costs build up quick.

If they made you repay shipping to get a replacement, which some companies do, then it's even worse.

Lucky I didn't have to pay for it to be shipped. His attitude was I shouldn't be further out of pocket when ordering top quality fish. His customer service seemed great. But for me I think I'd be better going through a breeder to build my collection atm. I think it would prove very costly to build my collection ordering online. Especially if the same thing happens again.

[mjfromga]

10 minutes ago, colley614 said:

Lucky I didn't have to pay for it to be shipped. His attitude was I shouldn't be further out of pocket when ordering top quality fish. His customer service seemed great. But for me I think I'd be better going through a breeder to build my collection atm. I think it would prove very costly to build my collection ordering online. Especially if the same thing happens again.

Breeders tend to do better than importers. Cheaper fish, better health etc. The only issue is that they are hard to find. I cannot find any at all that breed the type of fish I like - so I order mine or try to find some at Big Box stores or the VERY FEW LFS in the state.

The LFS nearest to me is an Asian owned shop that imports the fish same as larger importers, so they come with the same issues yours did. I got two, lost one to disease, but the other recovered and is doing well now.

The fish were around $20 per fish and there's no horrid shipping fee so I am not too upset about the loss. I was unwilling to buy any of their larger more pricey fish ($100+) because I won't risk that much money.

The seller I ordered from is Asian - and though he breeds them and raises them for sale, they are in the same systems with his imports and as such, would have any of the same issues they may have.

 

[colley614]

4 hours ago, mjfromga said:

Breeders tend to do better than importers. Cheaper fish, better health etc. The only issue is that they are hard to find. I cannot find any at all that breed the type of fish I like - so I order mine or try to find some at Big Box stores or the VERY FEW LFS in the state.

The LFS nearest to me is an Asian owned shop that imports the fish same as larger importers, so they come with the same issues yours did. I got two, lost one to disease, but the other recovered and is doing well now.

The fish were around $20 per fish and there's no horrid shipping fee so I am not too upset about the loss. I was unwilling to buy any of their larger more pricey fish ($100+) because I won't risk that much money.

The seller I ordered from is Asian - and though he breeds them and raises them for sale, they are in the same systems with his imports and as such, would have any of the same issues they may have.

 

I don't get why they put their stock at risk of cross contamination. Its so easy to set up a central air system 

[mjfromga]

9 hours ago, colley614 said:

I don't get why they put their stock at risk of cross contamination. Its so easy to set up a central air system 

You'd have to raise the baby fish in totally separate systems from the adults. I guess they cannot be bothered. 

[colley614]

8 hours ago, mjfromga said:

You'd have to raise the baby fish in totally separate systems from the adults. I guess they cannot be bothered. 

I suppose drip systems and culling are over rated and keeping large amounts of low quality fish is under rated.

 

[mjfromga]

 

I got these two scrawny puny little shrimp from PetSmart. Been here about a week now, took this video the second day they were here - so far they've both been hungry active fish.

Like $4 or so per fish. If they die - I don't lose much. I gave them a chance at least. If they make it through quarantine - great. I'll toss them in one of my systems and hope they thrive like the others.

I've been in your position where costly fish have been sick from the jump and died within a week or two of me getting them - so sometimes I take my chances with these dinks. I'm not a breeder and sometimes the smallest ugliest fish can grow into a beauty.