Poor LFS water quality

S

Sumpin'fishy

Humble Disciple of Jesus Christ
Oct 16, 2002
673
0
0
50
Savannah, GA
I went to my LFS today and got some feeder ghost shrimp. I also wanted to get a water sample so I can get my cycling tank close to what the water is like in my LFS. Then I can slowly adjust it to where I want it. The water samples I wanted were from the community tank with the ottos and corys that I plan on getting. I asked the owner and he said the pH was at just below 7.0, which sounded pretty ideal to me! I planned on getting my home tank to a pH near that, anyways. (I can mix my well water with my tap water for differing pH.......just for info) I asked whether he used RO water, and he said "NO", and that they used some kind of acid buffer pillow.(?)

Anyways, I got the shrimp and water sample home, and started testing, when I got the results, I re-tested with back-up and additional tests. I was a bit distraught with the measurements of their water. I used more than one brand of test kit for a few tests, also. The results follow (and list which kits I used):

pH: 7.6+ (AP liquid), 7.7 (Salifert)
KH: 3.8 (Salifert)
Nitrate: 100+ (Red Sea), 100+ (Salifert), 160+ (AP liquid)

The AP liquid Nitrate test is hard to distinguish between the last three measurements (40ppm, 80ppm, 160ppm), but it got red so quickly (like the other tests) that I'm sure it's well over 100ppm. I can't really say for sure whether the owner lied to me about the pH or if the "acid buffer pillow" just wore out/needs replacing. I did notice that the KH is lower than tap water (which is about 5.4, after 24 hours), but the pH is exactly the same (7.7). I got rid of the rest of the water before testing for ammonia or nitrite......don't think I want to know!:eek:

Question that remains is should I let the LFS know what my measurements were? I get along with the people OK and they know my face and have a general knowledge of me, but I'm not sure they care! It's not a great LFS, but it's the only "real" LFS in this city, or anywhere near here (Savannah, GA.). That's a bit scary to be getting fish from a "pro" establishment with water quality like that. I may as well go to PetsMart, you know!:(
 
Ouch!

I don't know if you want to tell them or not...

Do you think the people would take offense if you told them? I know that some lfs's hate to see me coming because I point out what they need to be doing differently (one actually told me that if I knew so much I needed to open up my own f-ing store and stay out of his....), and it was over stuff much less fundamental than water quality (mostly compatability issues and incorrect information about adult sizes). If you are sure they would listen to you without getting mad (that is, if you still even want to do business with them...) then telling them would be the best thing, because they may not know, either due to bad testing equipment or a sudden unforseen problem. If you think they'd react badly, do you even think you'd want to buy fish from them anymore? So, what have you got to lose? The only downside is the lack of other options, it seems...

Me...I would tell them, whether it made me look like a uppity know-it-all or not.... but, then, I have a stellar lfs, so I don't have to get in his face about stuff very often... and I never go into the only other store in town unless I'm wanting to feel good about my own less than perfect tanks....(those people couldn't keep a freshwater fish alive if their livelihood counted on it, oh wait, it does....:rolleyes: At least their saltwater tanks are pretty nice...)
 
SAME EXPERIENCE

Had the same thing happened to me just a couple of months back. And where talking of lfs just up the road, and where I go weekly. Water quality was very poor than usual and you'll see quite alot of fishes floating and a lot of fish with Fungus. So I decided to spoke to the Mgr about it and all I got was a lousy answer of "oh I didn't noticed, Where short staff! And we appreciate our customer letting us know about this problems". Since then I only came back once which was about two weeks after the incident and No improvement to my disbelief! Now I have to travel 30 mins to get to my new and better LFS
 
Originally posted by Sumpin'fishy
I.............Question that remains is should I let the LFS know what my measurements were? I get along with the people OK and they know my face and have a general knowledge of me, but I'm not sure they care! I..:(
Click to expand...
Yes. Tell them... Try to find someone there that might care. Tell them, "I'm not being an ass about this, but...."
Hopefully they will correct it. The PetSmart here has to be better than that LFS. Ouch... :eek:
 
If it's anything like up here, I wouldn't tell them. I swear, everyone up here that owns a fish store is the biggest jerk in the world. When I first got into fish, I thought this guy was just the nastiest person I've ever met. I've long since come to realize that this is the industry standard, and have grown accustomed to it.
 
I'm smack dab in the middle of a fairly large population center and when I first started looking into this hobby I was surprised at how hard it was to find an lfs that I was happy with. Some mediocre, some worse.

I used this handy Local Pet Store Directory to make a list of places to visit. After logging an unreasonable number of miles I've managed to find a couple of places worth returning to.

My favorite is the one where the high school kid knows the scientific names of the fish I can't find anywhere else, compatability, etc. They ask about cycling, stocking levels, tank mates. No sir, they're not for sale right now, they're in quarantine… And it only took me a few months to find it an hour away. IMHO, worth the trip…
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom