Horror at local pet shop!

[Tiffi]

I went to a local petz shop yesterday to check what fishes/aquarium stuff they have.

Horrible! At least 10% dead fishes in the tanks. Of the rest there was a good part already sick. Algae everywhere, even in the little plant tanks. That way you'll pay so-to-speak for the algae to bring home .

And then there was this one costumer, who had algae at home in his tank. All the shop assistant told him was to take some algae treatment and done. AAAAArrgh!

For all beginners I just wanted to state here once more, that just a little bottle of algae treatment is not going to help your problems! First of all that stuff is not good for your live plants and can kill them. Second there must be a reason why there is algae in your tank (not enough [acronym:736439abe4="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:736439abe4], no [acronym:736439abe4="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:736439abe4], nutrients for the plants missing to growout the algae, etc.). If you don't bother to find that reason, the algae will come back and all you have won is that you can add algae additives the rest of the aquarium's life.

Well, I gave that guy a little piece of paper with the URL of this forum. He looked a little crazy at me, but I told him that she shop assistants help was bullsh#@$#$% and he can get the real answers here .

[greytgrey]

I love that last smiley you used!

I don't like it when I see a lot of dead fish in the tanks! Its nasty and bad for business!

[Tiffi]

Well, you should think so, but still there are people buying those diseases. I went straight back out, they are not getting a single cent from me - not even for fish food!

[greytgrey]

good idea. I bought a fish from walmart 2 weeks ago*ashamed*. All my fsh from walmart have lived for like half a year which is good for me. I don't like how they treat their fish though. I bought the fish there because the tank looked healthy. My fish is doing fine.

[vero]

I call my fish the "Survivors".

The [acronym:29d6ca90ba="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:29d6ca90ba] closest to my house always have 4-5 dead fish stuck on the filter intake (and I mean... dead, like dead a while ago and their bodies are white and half chewed up). A lot of their tanks are infected with fin rot. The person working there told me they never test the water and hardly ever change the water. The thinking is along the line "people tend to fuss around too much with their aquarium and that's why they are not successful".

It sickens me.

First of all i would like to say that it is very sad to see places where they don't even bother to scoop out the dead fish, clean their tanks... etc. And its sad but true but the fish stores are out there to make a prophet, even if it means suggesting you add horrible chemicals to your tank.

Second I would like to say that Algae is not bad or harmful... it is just not asthetically pleasing to see in an aquarium.

Originally Posted by Tiffi

Second there must be a reason why there is algae in your tank (not enough [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3], no [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3], nutrients for the plants missing to growout the algae, etc.). If you don't bother to find that reason, the algae will come back
.

TOO MANY watts per gallon would cause algae... not to little. I only have 30 watts in my 55 gallon tank that is semi-planted with low-light plants and I have NEVER had an algae problem... the problem arises when you add too many [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Watts Per Gallon"]WPG[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3] without a [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3] injection and plants. Also the plants will help to compete with the algae for the nutrients in the water

Algae is not bad, it is simply unnatractive. Many fish graze off of the algae... catfish, plecos, etc. And if you have these kind of fish you even have to supplement their diets, weather you want catfish and plecos or not, you may see algae begin to grow in your tanks, and then the best way to get rid of it is to either clean it off, lower your [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Watts Per Gallon"]WPG[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3], or add plants and [acronym:bfcf9e17e3="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:bfcf9e17e3].

[Tiffi]

Well, if you have something like "no" light in your tank, the plants can't really grow and take the nutrients from the algae neither. And that's most times the case for people that buy there. Only little lighting that comes with the tank and little plant growth (yes I know all the other componetns that come into play) or no plant at all (with maybe to much [acronym:08c6e71679="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:08c6e71679]).

Anyway, the point is that I can't believe that people don't try to inform themselves somehow or still buy there with at least 5 dead fish in one tank. Even if they don't have the ability to recognize other illnesses of still living fishes. When would there be the point to say: Wow, This stuff looks horrible. I wanna see if I can't find something better.
If there wouldn't be so many people still giving those stores their money, walmart and many others (like the one I"ve been to) would recognize that they can't sell this way.

[Zagz]

It's sad to see [acronym:e0a8c94075="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:e0a8c94075]'s not care about the fish they carry. All you can do is be responsible and not support a fish store that treats their fish like that. Unfortunately there are far too many uneducated people out there that will not know the difference and will continue to buy from them.

[Stuart]

The sad fact is that there are more poor [acronym:3821d27053="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:3821d27053] than there are good ones.

These websites are by far the best resource for learning how to care for your fishes

[Lonewolfblue]

One thing I want to say in here, don't buy fish from Walmart, lol. I went down there yesterday, and they had a bunch of dead fish, and some tanks had bags full of new fish in them. And some fish in the bags were close to dead. Went back today because I'm looking at the inexpensive 55 Gallon tank, and the bags were still in there, and some of those fish were dead. Talk about sad. Wish there was something that could be done about places like that.