# Red worms and fish stores



## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

What's going on with fish stores in Port Coquitlam in past couple months? I find myself travling to Vancouver for my fish and fish needs. All due to seeing red calamus worms in the fish in their tanks. Is this a store problem? I've gotten these worms in the past and recently only way of getting rid of them was with the help from pat and his medication. I have always lost a couple fish from trying to save them. It's such s ugly medical condition to deal with.

Since I have had them twice now over the years I am more worried of buying fish. Seeing these fish infested with these worms and being so easy to spot makes me wonder if the people in charge of the tanks are unaware, don't care or just not knowledgable enough to be in charge of looking after these fish.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

if they are running a flow through system, it is very easy to spread disease like that. I am glad Pat can help you with this problem.


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

Seeing wholesale and where fish come from..I'd say it comes in from whichever supplier. Also if a store is t aware of the reddish poo being worms and not poo..or looking for it..it goes undetected.
Also parasites take hold of weaker fish . Unless they held the fish for a long time in their tanks I'd say they received them with worms.
Also gravel that stores have in their tanks thick...helps them get established. One reason I have s thin layer of sand . Easier to keep in check.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

Both of your stores April aquarium and Canadian aquatics are my favourite and trusted stores to buy fish from.


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## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

A couple of years ago I purchased 5 guppies from 4 different stores and 4 out of 5 had red worms. Not sure if they were all buying from the same supplier or not, but I never bought guppies again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## April (Apr 21, 2010)

At that time there were a couple breeders selling to stores. I remember people all got guppies from the club auction and a bunch of people ended up with worms.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

Ugh so many factors in this. I hate dealing with these worms.


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## coppercloud (Apr 14, 2012)

Can you say which stores? This worm is terrible and there are already a few stores that I don't visit entirely because of it.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

I don't know if I am allowed to post names on here. If a mod says it's ok I'll post the names of stores. Neither are sponsors, so I don't know what the rules would be.


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## Emily (May 4, 2010)

I had a callamus worm problem a few months ago and was only buying fish from one store in richmond and one store in north vancouver for quite a while before the worms appeared. I wonder if this is going to become a big problem in a few months when it inevitably spreads?

Levamisole from Canadian Aquatics completely killed the worms for me, but I did lose a couple fish and the meds are expensive. I'm super wary of purchasing from anywhere now.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Aswain said:


> I don't know if I am allowed to post names on here. If a mod says it's ok I'll post the names of stores. Neither are sponsors, so I don't know what the rules would be.


I'd prefer if you PM'd concerned members with the store names, especially if it wasn't already brought to the store's attention. They need to get that fixed and hopefully they won't lose more business as a result.


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

Yes I know what you mean Emily about being wary about buying fish from random stores now. I use to travel all over the lower mainland. Now I stick to a couple stores that I trust. And yes it's expensive to correct this problem I have a few tanks and always dose every tank regardless of signs or not, plus like you said there are always casualties. 

Effox I will leave it up to any member that wants to know store names to pm me for info. I have talked to both stores about this when I saw the problem in their tanks. one at first said they didn't have the problem but shortly after I posted on here they said they took care of the problem. Which is very nice that they do read and listen to their customers. And try and fix the problem before it gets worse.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Aswain said:


> ...
> 
> Effox I will leave it up to any member that wants to know store names to pm me for info. I have talked to both stores about this when I saw the problem in their tanks. one at first said they didn't have the problem but shortly after I posted on here they said they took care of the problem. Which is very nice that they do read and listen to their customers. And try and fix the problem before it gets worse.


I really appreciate your consideration about the sensitivity of this issue, and it's really cool that you took the time to let the stores know. I don't want people to unknowingly be buying parasitic fish, so I hope those stores do take the correct measures to resolve it.

If someone wants to a post the stores names, I won't edit\delete the posts, however I would feel really bad if a store shut down as a result of a post here, if\when they tried to resolve the issue.

And this isn't something new, we experienced this a number of years back in the fw classifieds, so awareness of this parasite is definitely a good thing, since it can be so easily spread and fatal.

Thanks again!
- Chris


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## Aswain (Mar 20, 2011)

I agree about the stores closing down. These are stores I frequent often and love going too. I still go in to these stores to look around from time to time.


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