Copperband (pls. close)

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Originally Posted by 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.

I can tell you almost EVERY 'reputable' store buys cyanide caught fish. There is not much of a way around it. Of course they know it happens but with absolutely no way to know how the fish they are ordering are caught, Im not sure what else they can do.

I think its a very serious allegation for you to insinuate I am using cyanide as a way to NOT take responsibility when I have posted about this in a very open and honest way. I don't appreciate that and that is EXACTLY the reason I was not going to post this and answers other questions above about why people don't want to post about things like this.

The Copperbands I have lost all died the same way and in in four completely different systems over 5 years. Actually if you count this tank as a new system after the transfer, its 5 different tanks. If there was a bacteria in all of them that happened to kill the fish...well I don't know what to say then.

Doing so much research would lead me to believe you have come across studies and facts that give you an idea of how real the cyanide problem is. I don't think testing of this or any other fish will prove anything new. It happens. Regardless of whether this fish died of cyanide or not, would it make a difference? If we found out that in fact it did not die of cyanide, would that mean we could ignore the fact that it happens and destroys reefs? Would it mean I should try another? What exactly would it prove?

I for one will not contribute a penny or minute of my time to any testing of fish. For one, not many places can do it and even less will care to bother. I doubt there is a lab that is going to be willing to test a 'pet' for no particular reason or want to get involved. If you perhaps are conducting a very controlled study to test for cyanide, maybe.

All the power to you if you want to continue to pursue this. I for one just don't see the point. It doesn't matter why these fish do not do well in captivity, it just matters that they do not. I don't need more reason than that to not buy them anymore and encourage people to do the same.

On the subject of cyanide fishing in general and what to do about it, there is already proof it happens, testing a few fish from Canreef isn't going to be some groundbreaking discovery that changes the hobby. What to do about it, I don't know. People are working on it and putting pressure on countries to deal with it. The Philippines are apparently starting to get tougher. Im not sure what your plans are but I can tell you that the best thing to do is avoid these fish and teach others the same. I will feel good about doing my part by not contributing to more CBB deaths or other species that are known to be cyanide caught...

Do what you may but please do not turn this into a guilt trip. I am not trying to justify anything here--far from it. I have admitted I have made some terrible mistakes and I was wrong. Very publicly. I have no intention of taking this fish to be blended up and tested in a lab (probably for thousands of $ if anyone will even do it) so that they can tell me it had traces of cyanide or not. Just doesn't matter.