and I told him that I was just going to let the tank sit for a while until the nitrites disappeared and then add a fish at a time very slowly.
This is a sound plan, although as has been mentioned, you need to add more biological media/surface area. preferably in the form of additional
LR, but even a larger filter would suffice.
Guage said:
He said that I was crazy to think that 0.1 nitrites was a serious problem. He said as long as it never goes above 0.1 it shouldn't be a problem. *shrug* It never does. He says that all the tanks in the store do that; fluctuate between 0 and 0.1. Another contradiction in this confusing hobby.
steve-s said:
True, his tanks are most likley at that level due to constant changes in bio load as well as feedings.
LFS tanks usually all share the same filtration system which will incease the chances of nitrites. They are not much a concern to him simpley becasue the fish do not have to weather that kind of environment long term. Most fish are gone within a week or two. Only a fish that must endure for a longer period would suffer.
Totally agree with Steve here!! In an established tank there should never be any ammonia or nitrite. If there is, then it is a sign that something is going on with your tank. As noted by Steve, it is fairly obvious what is going on with the dealers tank. One thing I would like to recommend here, get some quality test kits. Your understanding of what is going on with your water is only as good as your test kit, I personally use Salifert kits
They are very accurate (will actually give a 0 reading) and user friendly.
He asked me if I ever used any chemicals to clean the glass. I said that I used Windex, but I had a top on the tank that covered like 95% of the surface area of the tank and I was careful never to spray near the open parts. He said that was probably my problem.
OK, this could be a problem, but I seriously doubt it is your problem. If the windex were the problem, those three fish you had in there would have died. You would have noticed each time you cleaned the glass, fish died, all of them. The inverts would have died as well. Chemical poisoning would have caused an entire tank crash. That said, I do not use windex or any other spray cleaner near my tank. I clean the glass with water and vinegar and paper towels
He said that if ich wasn't showing up on even a third of my fish, then it was just the natural amount of ich in the tank taking advantage of fish stressed by some other,
Ick is not an infection, it is not a disease, it is not a virus, it is an external parasite, similar to a tick. Since there is no natural level of ticks for the human body, there is also no natural level of ick for the fish. If you do not put it in your tank when you add a new fish, it will not be there to infest other fish.
He told me I should do some big water changes to get rid of whatever chemicals or other such junk was in the tank and put some fish back in and test it.
This concerns me. You have told this man your story, how your fish have been dieing and he wants you to immediately put more fish in your tank? Is he giving you these test fish for free? I think it's obvious where his motives are.
What do you all think? Please elaborate beyond "He's crazy," or "Don't bother talking to that idiot anymore." If I believed it every time I heard that, there wouldn't be anyone left to talk to in this hobby.
I really hope you haven't seen that here. When people are wrong, I hope we let you know they were wrong, but not in that manner. I hope we tell you what is right and why it is right, then you can come to the conclusion that the
LFS is out for your money, not the health and well being of your tank. This thread is 10 pages long, my post here is number 98. I have spent alot of time on this thread, steve-s has posted to this thread more than everyone (accept you) and has spent alot of his time on it, ReefLady has taken time on this thread a few others as well. None of us are selling you anything, we have nothing to gain from misleading you. All three of us pretty much agree with what is going on and what you should do to fix it. Our advice is sound, it is the same, or very close to the same as you will get anywhere. There are several methodologies in this hobby and some people like some more than others, vociferously so
, but when it comes to issues like this, most experienced hobbyist will agree.