White Spot?

[wataugachicken]

When I first started out with fish I was in the pet shop about twice a week for around 6 months asking questions and getting all the knowledge that I could and it was under their advice that i had 2 fan tails in a 3gal tank and again they told me that i could add several more fish to my 35litre one. I have been acting on their advice from the start so do you think that they are giving me the wrong advice on everything??

I do around a 30% water change once a week, vacume the gravel and do a general clean/tidy once a week. I use the API master test kit and the readings are normally bang on, got an ammonia spike after adding the new fish but it calmed down after a few days.

I am going to go back to the pet shop (Pets at Home) and let them know what has happened so hopefully they can prevent it happening to other customers.

I would blame the pet store, at least partially. When you go buy a car or a dishwasher, you figure that the people selling the stuff are professional and knowledgeable about their products. When you are new to the hobby ou think the same thing about the fish store people. It's only until later on when you've been burned that you (all of us) eventually realize that their only goal is to sell you something/anything.

Sometimes it's not even a matter of them trying to trick you - they reallt don't even know themselves. But whether or not they give you the wrong advice out of ignorance or greed, you'll still be back there buying more fish when these die, because you thought they were being nice.

Being here and reading people's stories etc. I've learned to do research on anything I buy now. I don't care it if's a fish, or a radio, or cat litter.

 

[Flaringshutter]

I would blame the pet store, at least partially. When you go buy a car or a dishwasher, you figure that the people selling the stuff are professional and knowledgeable about their products. When you are new to the hobby ou think the same thing about the fish store people...
Being here and reading people's stories etc. I've learned to do research on anything I buy now. I don't care it if's a fish, or a radio, or cat litter.

I'm with you on this one. People trust pet stores because they believe that everyone working there has at least basic knowledge of the fish they sell. Caveat emptor - this is almost never the case.

I also research EVERYTHING I buy before buying. It's saved me a lot of money and time.

 

[T/N]

suzi_75 joined this forum 01-31-2007 and says she had her fish for a year..at what point is it solely the keeper's fault?

IMO:
Just as it is your responsibility to upkeep the car and your responsibility to make sure the gaskets don't dry out in the dishwasher, the pet store has no control of how you actually keep the fish. They have no control of how much you feed; no control on how often you, if ever, do water change; or how often you test your water; it's all your responsibility. Even if the pet store disseminates wrong information, it is up to the keeper to right it; they are there to make a living selling fish.

I would say the trust in the pet store should be limited to healthy stock, correctly labeled. It is not caveat emptor; it would be if she bought it as show grade goldfish and took it home an it turned out to be an albino pleco. What she bought and paid for was the goldfish, nothing else. the advice was free.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/member.php?u=65362