Copperband (pls. close)

[naesco]

Originally Posted by hillegom

After reading this post, I won't ever buy a CBB.
Sorry for your loss

Great decision hillegom.

It is very sad for me to see posters asking for information of a very difficult species and the only ones who care to post are those that have been lucky enough to keep them for a while.
Those who have repeatedly attempted to keep them and fail do not post their lack of success for some reason.

I applaud GSP for having the courage to do so and you who have made an informed decision based on his post.
Wayne

[leezard]

I'll admit that I was very and horribly discouraged about the saltwater hobby in general when I heard about the cyanide "traps". I really had no idea. I find wild caught is bad enough, but that story just kills me.

I talked to one of the staff at a LFS today about it -- while he knows it still happens, he thinks it's a rare scenario now. I only hope he's right -- else I may just stick with the 20 gallon tank that I have now and not even bother with the big one I dream to have one day....

[fiorano]

thats so sad... my cbb is my favorite fish and if he ever died id actually be depressed hes such a neat happy fish

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by fiorano

thats so sad... my cbb is my favorite fish and if he ever died id actually be depressed hes such a neat happy fish

Thanks. I kind of felt the same way about this one.

I had tried 4 over the past 6 years--all from stores and vowed never to buy one again from a store. I only tried this one since it was from a members tank and I think I really had it in my head that it would be a long term fish. Its so weird to have a fish that is happy and looks healthy and within hours, can't swim anymore and dies.

[fiorano]

yeah man i can honestly say i feel for you i now how id feel if i lost my buddy alex

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by leezard

I'll admit that I was very and horribly discouraged about the saltwater hobby in general when I heard about the cyanide "traps". I really had no idea. I find wild caught is bad enough, but that story just kills me.

I talked to one of the staff at a LFS today about it -- while he knows it still happens, he thinks it's a rare scenario now. I only hope he's right -- else I may just stick with the 20 gallon tank that I have now and not even bother with the big one I dream to have one day....

Unfortunately its not rare and has spread to other countries now that were not known to use cyanide in the past

You are best off to get fish from Hawaii or Australia.

Anyways I hope this can get back on topic or I would prefer the mods close the thread.

[Drock169]

Justin is right in saying if you want do something, dont buy the fish. If a fish doesnt sell well, then a LFS wont bring it in. Unfortunately thousands of people buy them anyway, so realistically its as justin says and there isnt too much you can do, unless you decide to campaign world wide against the collection of copperbands.

[golf nut]

Originally Posted by naesco

Great decision hillegom.

It is very sad for me to see posters asking for information of a very difficult species and the only ones who care to post are those that have been lucky enough to keep them for a while.
Those who have repeatedly attempted to keep them and fail do not post their lack of success for some reason.

I applaud GSP for having the courage to do so and you who have made an informed decision based on his post.
Wayne

It is very unfortunate in this hobby that we deal with many failures, from discussing this with many retailers and aquarists the failure rate is likely as high as 97%, we do what we can and we learn from each other.

I too applaud GSP on his honesty and willingness to learn and share his experiences.

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by Mr OM

It is very unfortunate in this hobby that we deal with many failures, from discussing this with many retailers and aquarists the failure rate is likely as high as 97%, we do what we can and we learn from each other.

I too applaud GSP on his honesty and willingness to learn and share his experiences.

Well as I said earlier, I am not going to tell people not to buy these fish but I just hope other don't make my mistakes and go through 5 of them

What I did is not right and not fair to this species.

What I can say I have really learned from this (and has really sunk in finally) is that there are fish I would very much like to keep but just cannot. I need to do a better job of listening to people with more experience than me and do the right thing. I was told by an employee at a LFS after my third CBB not to bother trying again as he said hes been selling them for 10 years or more and a majority of the time the buyer comes back within a month to say it suddenly died. In his opinion, 100% of them were cyanide caught.

No more thinking or hoping I will 'get lucky' and one will survive. I knew it was a bad fish choice over and over again but tried anyways...pretty much once a year, twice within 3 months this time

There is no justifiable reason for me to make this hobby more selfish than it already is.

[my2rotties]

The employee at the LFS said these fish are probably caught with cyanide... that is a very serious allegation and I would imagine any reputable store would not buy fish knowing they are caught like this. You said your fish was fine in somebody else's tank until you got it. How do you know it is not something you have within your system?

I had the two angels that died within a week from each bought at the same store. I recall PMing you about the symptoms of cyanide and then after that did a heck of a lot of research and also brought fish bodies for examination... two stores even said it looked like cyanide. Since I seemed to have an answer to the cause of death, I went ahead and bought a young queen angel from a private seller. The fish had been in a tank for a few months and was healthy so I thought it was a safe choice. That fish was dead within ten days in my tank... same symptoms exactly as the others.

I then looked into things much further since this fish was from a totally different store then mine came from. Again I took the fih's body to be examined and got two answers that this could be cyanide or a bacterial disease... I was shown fish at the LFS suffering from the exact same thing as mine, and they were being treated for it...

I know cyanide is an answer we can accept since we do not have to take full responsibility for the deaths. However there can be other reasons aside of this and we should look into those options as well. I have no idea of how much these cyanide tests cost, but perhaps we should have a fund made on canreef to test a fish we suspect is caught like this. I know fish do get caught with it, but unless somebody can prove this is why fish just suddenly up and die, what's the point of talking about it.

So what does it cost and where does it get done? Who wants to put up some money for this, and GSP can get this fish tested since it seems to be cyanide poisoning. Who wants to step up and put a few bucks here and there to get this test done? How many members are here, and how many people care enough to set up a fund and donate to it?

At least perhaps we can see if this fish died form a cyanide or perhaps something else.

Originally Posted by GreenSpottedPuffer

Well as I said earlier, I am not going to tell people not to buy these fish but I just hope other don't make my mistakes and go through 5 of them

What I did is not right and not fair to this species.

What I can say I have really learned from this (and has really sunk in finally) is that there are fish I would very much like to keep but just cannot. I need to do a better job of listening to people with more experience than me and do the right thing. I was told by an employee at a LFS after my third CBB not to bother trying again as he said hes been selling them for 10 years or more and a majority of the time the buyer comes back within a month to say it suddenly died. In his opinion, 100% of them were cyanide caught.

No more thinking or hoping I will 'get lucky' and one will survive. I knew it was a bad fish choice over and over again but tried anyways...pretty much once a year, twice within 3 months this time

There is no justifiable reason for me to make this hobby more selfish than it already is.