Copperband (pls. close)

[GreenSpottedPuffer]

Your missing my point. Why does it matter why they die? They are not in my opinion suited to aquarium life. Most of us on here know that by now. Its not going to make a difference if its cyanide, bacteria, sadness from loosing their mate or whatever else people want to suggest.

What do you think you will accomplish by taking tests to a LFS? Really. Do you feel like being banned...if thats your goal, be my guest but I will be no part of that. The best way for us to deal with this is to NOT BUY THE FISH. I feel my story here has already done what I wanted because at least two or three people have stated they will now not ever buy them. This is what we as hobbyiest can do. Its not our responsibility to blame LFS who are not breaking any laws. They are not the problem. We are. We buy them. They supply what people want.

If you feel thats not enough, then go to the Philippines and help the people there who are actually trying to deal with this problem. But do not come here and tell me I am turning a blind eye. I am doing what I can do. I cannot do more than try to educate people and I do not need to test a fish to do so. Whether or not this one fish (or any of the 5 for that matter) died of cyanide is irrelevant. Its not an unknown problem that needs to be proven or brought to the surface.

I said right away that I had a feeling that I knew why they had died but that this thread would not go in that direction because that was not the point. The point to me was that they often do not last and I want people to be aware of this before they choose to buy them or not. This was not suppose to be about cyanide but someone had to bring it up as always. I then explained to someone else what cyanide poisoning was. I still had not tried to claim it was the cause here until I saw the thread going that way anyway.

You have completely missed the point and can't seem to accept the fact that we don't always need to know why. The more important thing here is that we just know they don't do well. Its not like if this fish died from a bacterial problem that changes anything. That isn't going to mean cyanide fishing isn't happening. They are two completely separate issues.

If you insinuate one more time that I am doing nothing or that I am as much to blame as the people who poison the reefs, I think I might just loose it. Im not even kidding...

If you want to pursue this absolutely ridiculous testing, be my guest but do not do it in this thread. I don't want to hear about it. It will prove nothing that is not already known. Perhaps you can purchase and blend up thousands of retail fishes from various stores, test them, get some real hard numbers together and figure out the percentage of fish that are cyanide caught. Then what? You will have a random number that proves what is already known--its happening. OR...you can go do some searches on RC and google or wherever and get the exact same result--its happening. But what will not change is that CBB do not do well in captivity.

Originally Posted by my2rotties

Sigh... I am not discounting your thoughts on cyanide, but you go into a store and tell them your fish died from cyanide poisoning. I was no way saying you are not taking responsibility in your fish's death. I know how it feels and it sucks.

At this point it should be "us" as hobbyists and consumers to get the testing done and take the tests back to the LFS... If the store cares they would look into their wholesalers and perhaps something get get done about this. If we just "think" it is cyanide, how are things supposed to ever change? We are just as much at fault for turning a blind eye to cyanide poisoning and continuing to buy fish we "suspect" get cyanide caught.

I in no way meant to be unsympathetic to you bringing this loss forward on the foums, but at this point what do we do?

If and when my CBB dies of what I suspect is cyanide poisoning, I will pay for the testing. I am sure someone on these forums must know of a place to send the fish to be tested. If you have something to prove this is the cause of death, then maybe things can change in the future.

If we sit there and do nothing as hobbyists, that are the bread and butter of this industry, then we are as much to blame as the people that poison the reefs and its inhabitants for our hobby.

I am so sorry for your losses as well as everyone else's... but what do we do from here? I do not judge people for their mistakes since I make mistakes myself. I do not take people's losses lightly at all. I have been there myself. I am sorry I offended you, but these fish continue to die and we do nothing about it. SO why can't a bunch of us hobbyists that care enough to get the testing done, pool the price of a CCB for each hobbyist and put it into a fund to get the ball rolling and make a difference?

Any one knowing of a place that can test fish that die of cyanide poisoning please chime in... Lets make something happen.