# Fish in dirty tanks



## nuttycrappie (Apr 14, 2014)

At a store today went by the fresh seafood dept and spoted this in the live fish tanks most disturbing sight. Poor bass covered in looks like a fungas or a white fuzz.worst part was tanks had green algae growing on the side the smell was terrible.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

Looks like "Ick", a problem with aquarium fish.


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## nuttycrappie (Apr 14, 2014)

Its sad its for human consumption which i find really horrible. Should the store be reported .


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Shoulda bought him and set him free


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I'm not sure if the ick is unsafe for consumption or not. I know it's hard to get rid of once you get it in your aquarium.


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> Shoulda bought him and set him free


Might end up with a whole lake of fish looking like him...


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## Snakecharmer (Apr 9, 2008)

_*Ichthyophthirius multifiliis*_ (commonly known as *freshwater white spot disease*, *freshwater ich*, or *freshwater ick*) is a common disease of freshwater fish.[1] It is caused by the protozoan _Ichthyopthirius_.[2] Ich is one of the most common and persistent diseases in fish. The protozoan is an ectoparasite. White nodules that look like white grains of salt or sugar of up to 1 mm appear on the body, fins and gills. Each white spot is an encysted parasite.[2] It is easily introduced into a fish pond or home aquarium by new fish or equipment which has been moved from one fish-holding unit to another. When the organism gets into a large fish culture facility, it is difficult to control due to its fast reproductive cycle and its unique life stages. If not controlled, there is a 100% mortality rate of fish. With careful treatment, the disease can be controlled but the cost is high in terms of lost fish, labor, and cost of chemicals.[3]

Whitespot is very damaging to the gills and skin. In heavily infected fish it can cause a rapid deterioration of condition, considerable distress and death. Infected fish have small white spots on the skin and gills (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3) and produce excess mucus, due to irritation. Whitespot causes most damage when entering and leaving the tissues of the fish. This can lead to the loss of skin and ulcers. These wounds can harm the ability of a fish to control the movement of water into its body. Damage caused to the gill tissue of an infected fish can also reduce respiratory efficiency. This means it is more difficult for the fish to obtain oxygen from the water, and becomes less tolerant to low levels of dissolved oxygen.[4]


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## MassillonBuckeye (May 3, 2010)

Snakecharmer said:


> Might end up with a whole lake of fish looking like him...


If its Ick, thats usually just from stress. I doubt that would happen. Ihave had tanks where just one fish was affected. Clown Loaches are notoriously susceptible to Ick yet their tankmates might not ever get it. Either way someone needs to help that poor fish out to a dinner table or freedom lol.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

Or the garbage can...


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## hunter moss (Jan 18, 2017)

MassillonBuckeye said:


> If its Ick, thats usually just from stress. I doubt that would happen. Ihave had tanks where just one fish was affected. Clown Loaches are notoriously susceptible to Ick yet their tankmates might not ever get it. Either way someone needs to help that poor fish out to a dinner table or freedom lol.


i dont believe it is ick, i have only seen it on smaller fish but it doesnt look good.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I used to have a 55 gallon aquarium that my kids would keep stocked with "pets" that they would catch from the creek behind my house. Over the years we had bass, bluegill, crawdads, chubs, shiners, catfish, bowfin, etc. If it lived in southern ohio's waters, we had it in the tank at some point in time. 

Out of all of those fish and critters, only one ever had issues and it was the same as you see on that bass, except it was bluegills. It never failed. Anytime they would put a couple bluegills in the tank, they would end up like that. It would gradually get worse and worse until they died. We tried all kinds of stuff to stop it to no avail. Finally I just told the kids no more bluegill.


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Heck, i have never seen a grocery store with _live_ seafood..... other than maybe lobsters. I guess i need to get out more. In its current condition, does not look appealing to me.


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## Shad Rap (Nov 10, 2010)

AtticaFish said:


> Heck, i have never seen a grocery store with _live_ seafood..... other than maybe lobsters. I guess i need to get out more. In its current condition, does not look appealing to me.


I was gonna say...I've never seen a largemouth bass in a tank at a respectable food store...ever...not even in the pet store...I've seen them in the aquariums at bass pro, cabelas,etc...thats it...and for it to look like that and think someone is gonna buy it?..no thanks.


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

AtticaFish said:


> Heck, i have never seen a grocery store with _live_ seafood..... other than maybe lobsters. I guess i need to get out more. In its current condition, does not look appealing to me.


If you are ever down near Cincy stop in to Jungle Jims! Really cool place - they have some crazy stuff !


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## garhtr (Jan 12, 2009)

Jungle Jim's has or has had b/Gill, bass, trout and hybrids, I always feel sorry for those fish and the crowded conditions they're in and would never buy or eat one.
To Jungle Jim's credit- Never saw any with Ick in the store.
Good luck and Good Fishing !


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Huh, never would have imagined they would be sold that way. I'm curious now..... do they fillet them for you or just thump them over the head and wrap them up? Have a picture in my head of them filling a bag full of water, throw your bass in there and tie it up like you just won a goldfish at the fair. ha! Couldn't imagine someone spur of the moment deciding they wanted fish tonight so go pick out a largemouth bass at the store. I don't get to big cities often and don't buy any fish at the store (freezer is stocked well enough with my own catch) but do buy plenty of shrimp and scallops.


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## beaver (Sep 28, 2010)

I was told that in the bigger city areas, the Asian community buy the "live green bass" regularly.


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## Aqua Man (Aug 8, 2011)

I can't see enough detail to determine if the fish has ICH or not but those white "tuffs" on the fishes body appear to be a fungal infection. Although there is not just one scenario that causes this, Typically fungal infections are a result of some sort of rough handling or injury that has occurred combined with very poor water quality. It's not unusual that Not a lot of care is put into the transport of these fish so they arrive roughed up and stressed out / weakened. Scrapes on their bodies or areas where slime coat is rubbed off are very susceptible to water borne parasites / disease. Now if after all that they are put into a poorly maintained holding system parasitic, bacterial or fungal infections are not uncommon. From the looks of those pictures I'd say that holding tank isn't maintained very well.


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

AtticaFish said:


> Huh, never would have imagined they would be sold that way. I'm curious now..... do they fillet them for you or just thump them over the head and wrap them up? Have a picture in my head of them filling a bag full of water, throw your bass in there and tie it up like you just won a goldfish at the fair. ha! Couldn't imagine someone spur of the moment deciding they wanted fish tonight so go pick out a largemouth bass at the store. I don't get to big cities often and don't buy any fish at the store (freezer is stocked well enough with my own catch) but do buy plenty of shrimp and scallops.


They put them in little electric chairs....


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## nuttycrappie (Apr 14, 2014)

east side location at above name mentioned is where the photos are from sunday afternoon.


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## Fishing Flyer (May 31, 2006)

They whack the fish in the head. I peeked around the tanks once when someone bought one. It was disturbing to me. Buy live food, watch it get beat to death (took more than one shot), take home, eat... yum!


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## AtticaFish (Nov 23, 2008)

Haha, thanks for the info. Been hunting and fishing since i was pretty young so i am none too squeamish. Just about lost it once when my buddy held up his end of a bet and ate a beating rabbit heart right after we shot it. I wasn't the one eating it, but almost tossed my cookies in between laughing to the point of crying. Damn i miss that man. Anyway..........

The thought of a basic city dweller with no outdoor life experience ordering a live fish and not having a clue what to do with it has a certain humor in my head. I am sure there are many people out there who don't fish/hunt that could clean & prepare a whole fish better than myself (thank YouTube and Food Network for that) but still seems odd to me for some reason.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Fishing Flyer said:


> They whack the fish in the head. I peeked around the tanks once when someone bought one. It was disturbing to me.


Really? Ya never caught a big catfish and had to wack it hard on the head before filleting? They do gotta be dead before eating. lol


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## Cat Mangler (Mar 25, 2012)

Better to bleed em out, cleaner meat! I'm tempted to go buy the little bottle of ich treatment from Walmart and dump the whole bottle in that tank. Worked on my tank when my fish got it from infected feeder fish. The bottle is only like $6.


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## Fishing Flyer (May 31, 2006)

SMBHooker said:


> Really? Ya never caught a big catfish and had to wack it hard on the head before filleting? They do gotta be dead before eating. lol


I've fished all my life, but never ate much of my catch except for an occasional walleye or perch trip, where you throw them on ice instead of wack them. As for catfish, there are too many heath advisories in the regs, they get to swim another day like most of what I catch. As for the fish at the grocery store, it was more like an odd comedic moment, where the fish got whacked, went berserk, the guy looks around as if he was thinking "who saw that", then beat it five more times until it went still. I just wasn't expecting that.


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## SMBHooker (Jan 3, 2008)

Fishing Flyer said:


> As for the fish at the grocery store, it was more like an odd comedic moment, where the fish got whacked, went berserk, the guy looks around as if he was thinking "who saw that", then beat it five more times until it went still. I just wasn't expecting that.


Now that gave me a good chuckle!! Ya probably shoulda led with that. LOL


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## cincinnati (May 24, 2004)

SMBHooker said:


> Now that gave me a good chuckle!! Ya probably shoulda led with that. LOL


Many years ago, we were in the Fairfield Jungle Jim's meat department, when the butcher dumped a 6 foot shark out of styrofoam container onto his table. When he picked up his meat cleaver, the wife suddenly realized what was about to happen & quickly dragged me out of there.


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## BuzzBait Brad (Oct 17, 2014)

Buy the biggest one and turn it in for a fish Ohio pin


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## Hook N Book (Apr 7, 2004)

I carry a fish whacker on my boat. And that's exactly what it's intended for. Get a 20+ lb. salmon in your boat and see what happens when he goes un-whacked. LOL
Besides all the commotion the meat will be bruised.


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