Remember that guy?
The sickly looking one with obvious HLLE?
He's still there, and still obviously sick.
Today, I spoke to the manager about it.
I don't really have a problem doing that as I usually chat with him every time I catch him working, I went to school with one of his kids (Tim has that same son of his as a student now), and he's met most of my pets anyway.
Left him with a long letter describing what HLLE (he'd never heard of it; the letter had book and website references and I showed him sections on it in a few of the saltwater books they sell) was and what could cause it; his initial "corporate doesn't allow us to medicate tanks" response dried up when I pointed out that it's most commonly caused by poor water quality, high stress, and nutritional deficiencies (usually vitamin C, D and/or iodine).
Heh, I even walked him over to the tank and pointed out the symptoms.
He said, "Those aren't normal markings?"
Uh.
No.
A
purple tang should be PURPLE with a yellow tail, not purple with a white pattern of stripes caused by faded scales with a yellow tail.
He did say he'd cc the letter I'd handed to him to their regional manager and the company vet to see if anything could be done.
Somehow, I doubt much will happen; the purple tang is still eating well, so that's a good sign.
They've been putting in algae in clips for five minutes per day before removing it; evidently someone told them that it should only be left in for five minutes.
Yeah, except NO.
Kinda sad when I have to direct the manager to the books his store sells to prove that the "five minute rule" is incorrect.
I pointed out that no even semi experienced saltwater tank keeper would pay $80 for a fish that was obviously very sick, and that if they ever wanted to sell it, they'd best try working to get the water quality up and try dosing with iodine and vitamin C packed foods.
One plus is that he did say they'd start making sure the tanks with tangs all had algae in the clips and that it was left in for a couple hours at a time before being changed.
He did try once more to go the "policy forbids medicating..." route, but I'd have none of that: "It's not usually caused by disease; it's a manifestation of stress, nutritional problems, water quality problems or a combination of all three. Take care of those, and the problem should clear up."
Really if it had been one of the tangs on sale for $20, I'd have bought it today and nursed it back to health, but no way am I paying $80 for a fish that I know to be sick.
If any of you guys are out at PetCo and that fish is still there, I'd encourage you to bring it up with either one of the staff working (I talked THEIR ears off as well) or ask for Mike (the manager) and let him know of your concerns.
Mike really is a friendly guy, and does actually listen when people talk to him.
Mike is a very nice guy, I hope he does do something about it.
