LFS Quarantine policy? - based on what I saw, why bother

[b_james]

My nephew took a 10" long pleco to a LFS (no names mentioned, but I can say they are a large on-line franchise). He 'donated' the pleco as it out grew his current tank. What I saw next I coulnt believe. The sales associate reached into the bucket with his bare hands and grabbed the pleco just behind his head and litterally dumped it into one of their very large discus tanks containing aprox 40-50 large discus for sale. Am I missing something? They wont sell new arrivals until they have gone through a quarantine period, but they will carlessly dump a fish from an unknown source into one of their established livestock tanks without acclimatizing or qurantining for disease. Seems like they like taking a big risks.

[Kabong]

Not that i really trust any LFS QT policy in the first place.
You got to remember though that chance's are all the tanks are plumbed together.
So if the fish is sick it's gonna go through all the tank's anyway.
If thats not the case and the tank's are separate, risking a thousand dollars worth of discus is just plain idiotic.

Along with the fact that whats the point of giving up a fish so it can have a better life.
So someone can kill it buying tossing it strait into a tank and have it go into shock.

[albert_dao]

FYI, I highly doubt a pleco would go into shock from being dumped into a warm discus tank.

[danny zubot]

The sales associate reached into the bucket with his bare hands and grabbed the pleco just behind his head

I can barely stand to look at them, let alone pick one up with my bare hands!

[b_james]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

FYI, I highly doubt a pleco would go into shock from being dumped into a warm discus tank.

Temp isnt the only parameter fish have to be acclimated to... IMO seeing this demonstrates a pure lack of proper judgment and puts other fish in the same tank or system at risk. I wonder how many other "donations" they dont quarantine.