Freeze or dried, I just usually chuck them in the garbage and spend a bit
of time discussing what observations they had prior to the mortality, and
about water conditions. You can't see Ich on a dried fish any better
than on a frozen one, but you are right about frozen fish getting pretty
snarly smelling when they start to thaw and rot ;~). Returning the fish
(and a water sample with their receipt) is just to provide reasonable
evidence of purchase and loss. Unless the fins and eyes are gone, or
there are other obvious symptoms, you can't tell much from inspection
(especially with Neon tetras!). I lost one of my new CLs this morning,
and he is currently in my own freezer (in my case, I just don't want to
tempt my cat ;~).

NetMax

"T" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Why do you guys freeze your fish?? What a mess you get from the thaw
cycle.. Have you guys ever though about letting them dry out? There is
a
local Chain store here that tells people to let there fish dry out so
they
can be ID'ed a lot better... Lets face it, unless your dealing with an
Oscar
or some other larger fish it is not going to stink up the house when
you let
the body dry out.. Needless to say I rarely ever have to go through the
returning fish procedure myself, but when I do, the fish are in a nice,
identifiable, non stinky, state..

Tim..
"MarAzul" wrote in message
news:RcQ7c.80$cx5.65@fed1read04...

"TYNK 7" wrote in message
...
(snipped)

Subject: Petco BITES
From: "FishNut"
Date: 3/22/2004 10:02 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:


I have a few dead fish in the freezer as we speak but don't let my
wife
find
them. Shhhhhhh

LOL....I learned the hard way. Hubby found a dead fish and just
about
tossed
his cookies. That's when I declared the shelf on the door for fish
stuff
only.


I've made sure to point to the fish and tell hubby "Now don't eat
that..."

Mar