some sick peoples out there

[GreshamH]

Customers at Indoor Jungle on Kennedy Road alerted staff to a bleach-like smell coming from the tanks, and pointed out countless fish that were dead and dying.

That's from the newscast you linked.

In the newscast the employee made it sound a lot like the fish room was the backroom, like I indicated above. He said customers came from the back room and asked why all the fish were dead of dying.

 

[GreshamH]

Are you guys forming a FCSI. Fish Crime Scene Investigators =)

Never heard of any reports of animals being killed in pet stores in protest but I guess it could happen.

 

[Sfork]

What I'm saying is bleach smell or not, at least in the front it wasn't strong enough to kill EVERYTHING instantly, in fact stuff was still alive among the dead items hours later. So when they noticed the smell and stuff in the back was dying, they should have started QT'ing stuff. Instead they just let it sit and die.

I understand the 2 chances thing, I no longer casually visit a few LFS because every time i drop by on a Sunday they're out of everything. But I also know you have to be freaking insane to buy a fish from a fish store full of dead fish. A sign saying some asshole poisoned everything and we're doing our best to clean our systems would do a better job getting customers to return another day than a few random fish on the side.

 

[99sf]

A bit over a year ago, there was an incident at Balboa Park in San Diego, where an equipment malfunction allowed city water (with a small amount of chlorine) to enter the Japanese garden's koi pond, killing almost all of the fish overnight. If that small amount of chlorine could kill all the fish in a giant outdoor pond, a small amount in a closed system could definitely do irreversible damage.
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local-beat/Koi_Fish_Found_Dead_in_Balboa_Park.html

 

[GreshamH]

What we humans can drink safely (amount of chlorine) is deadly to aquatic livestock. That's how small of an amount we're talking about.

 

[Sfork]

I guess I'm out numbered, if i ever accidentally get tap water in my system I'll know not to even bother trying to save the fish.

 

[GreshamH]

I guess I'm out numbered, next time i accidentally get tap water in my system I'll know not to even bother trying to save the fish.

Talk about taking something personal It has nothing to do with being out numbered or getting a little tap water in your tank

I just have a totally different take on this and mainly due to my experience with this. Like I stated I have seen this dozens of times. I've dealt with stores that had this happen to them (as a wholesaler that supplied them). Insurance was a real PITA for them and most didn't recoup the total loss. The loss of the animal and it's price is one thing, the last sales that would accompany those fish are lost for ever. Insurance can't cover that.

We're ALL just speculating here as to who did it. I'm in the camp of not thinking it was the owner and most likely a competitor, angry customer or disgruntled employee.

 

[Sfork]

Well I was just trying to say they should have tried to save what was alive. But everyone else seems to think it wouldn't have even mattered. If fish were still alive hours later it couldn't have been that bad of a tainting.

 

[Matt_Wandell]

I once did this years ago accidentally on an old maintenance account. It had big faux corals that I would yank out, bleach, rinse with freshwater. dechlorinate, rinse again with freshwater, and add back in. Well, one time I skipped the dechlorination step (doh!). Imagine if you sprayed some bleach on your hand, and then rinsed it with freshwater, and then dipped it in your tank--it was a VERY low level of bleach. Sure enough though, the fish were on the bottom gasping within about 5 minutes. I immediately dumped in half a bottle of AmQuel and they recovered within about 30 minutes. Some of those fish were still alive 8 years later last time I visited that tank.

Well I was just trying to say they should have tried to save what was alive. But everyone else seems to think it wouldn't have even mattered. If fish were still alive hours later it couldn't have been that bad of a tainting.

How do you know they didn't? All it would take is a big bottle of dechlor to reverse the effects of the bleach, and it only takes seconds to neutralize it, but maybe fish can take hours/days to die from the effects even after it's been removed. I mean, that's certainly the case with cyanide....

 

[GreshamH]

some may have been OK but the effects of chlorine on the gills is akin to what our lungs would be like if we inhaled chlorine gas.

I am def. not saying they shouldn't do everything possible to save any live ones. If you take on the responsibility of taking care of any animal you should do anything and everything you can to save it if something arises.