And sometimes, fish just don't acclimate well. It's nobody's fault - some are just more fragile than others.
As Jeremy noted - the specie in this instance, is not the hardiest to begin with. That may have been a factor, even if everybody along the chain of custody did things right.
The only thing that jumped out for me was the physical symptoms you described - red streaks, erratic swimming and gasping - that indicates a problem, possibly an infection but it could be something else too - hard to diagnose from the 'armchair'.
Let the LFS know, so he/she can keep an eye on his/her other fishes for signs of a potential problem, in order that it can save them some grief if there is something brewing that they weren't aware of.
It could be an isolated thing too... hard to say.
The frayed fins didn't just occur on their own though - Jeremy has a point that this indicates some aggression coming from someplace. If the specimen was intact when you picked him up a the store, he had to have sustained an injury for the fins to be frayed - whether that was in handling, or by another tank mate. A frayed fin usually won't kill a fish (esp. within a few hours) - often if the wound is clean they will heal within a week if it's fairly superficial.
Some light colored fish can look streaky if stressed too - so I could be way off base with the infection theory and it was just streaky because it was stressing.
Again - we're all just speculating on what the "final answer" may be... but I seriously doubt that it was a collection issue.
Jenn
As Jeremy noted - the specie in this instance, is not the hardiest to begin with. That may have been a factor, even if everybody along the chain of custody did things right.
The only thing that jumped out for me was the physical symptoms you described - red streaks, erratic swimming and gasping - that indicates a problem, possibly an infection but it could be something else too - hard to diagnose from the 'armchair'.
Let the LFS know, so he/she can keep an eye on his/her other fishes for signs of a potential problem, in order that it can save them some grief if there is something brewing that they weren't aware of.
It could be an isolated thing too... hard to say.
The frayed fins didn't just occur on their own though - Jeremy has a point that this indicates some aggression coming from someplace. If the specimen was intact when you picked him up a the store, he had to have sustained an injury for the fins to be frayed - whether that was in handling, or by another tank mate. A frayed fin usually won't kill a fish (esp. within a few hours) - often if the wound is clean they will heal within a week if it's fairly superficial.
Some light colored fish can look streaky if stressed too - so I could be way off base with the infection theory and it was just streaky because it was stressing.
Again - we're all just speculating on what the "final answer" may be... but I seriously doubt that it was a collection issue.
Jenn
