Copperbands ARE a cyanide-targeted species. Not all copperbands are caught that way, there are net-caught available. Depends who your LFS buys them from.
8 days in the LFS, plus a week in transit from the collector to exporter to importer to LFS is realistic for a juiced fish to live. Some live hours, some days, some a few weeks. Some can live for years if the concentration wasn't that great, and the fish tolerated it well.
It's hard to track where the fish came from, and if it might have been squirted -- There are a lot of lies in this industry.
If your LFS is picky - they can find themselves net-caught specimens. Not knowing the store and not knowing who they are buying from, I'm not going to leap to a conclusion regarding this particular specimen (and I don't want to know what store...not trying to cause conflict), it's entirely possible that this one just failed to thrive - that happens occasionally even with net caught (but a LOT less frequently).
Make sure the fish is eating in the LFS and feed it whatever the store was to get it to keep feeding, and know your store, and trust them. If you can't be sure about the capture methods, I suggest you avoid the species that are usually targeted. That's the only real way to assure clean fish.
Jenn
8 days in the LFS, plus a week in transit from the collector to exporter to importer to LFS is realistic for a juiced fish to live. Some live hours, some days, some a few weeks. Some can live for years if the concentration wasn't that great, and the fish tolerated it well.
It's hard to track where the fish came from, and if it might have been squirted -- There are a lot of lies in this industry.
If your LFS is picky - they can find themselves net-caught specimens. Not knowing the store and not knowing who they are buying from, I'm not going to leap to a conclusion regarding this particular specimen (and I don't want to know what store...not trying to cause conflict), it's entirely possible that this one just failed to thrive - that happens occasionally even with net caught (but a LOT less frequently).
Make sure the fish is eating in the LFS and feed it whatever the store was to get it to keep feeding, and know your store, and trust them. If you can't be sure about the capture methods, I suggest you avoid the species that are usually targeted. That's the only real way to assure clean fish.
Jenn
