Failed rescue attempt

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glazer

Guest
Well I am bummed and kinda p!ssed...
I stopped into a ***** on my way home from work Wednesday nite for some "dog chow" and ears... had only been in this one once before and didn't even know they sold SWF's. Cruising over to the fish section (had too) I see the saltwater section so gotta check it out. Horrors! I have never seen fish in such a sorry state. All had some illness or another and some starving.
Here's what really got me going... I have one (or should I say group) of fish that is my all time favorite..... dragonettes. What do I seen in a tank full of tangs and butterflys but two, being sold as Mandarin gobies but in fact were Psychelic gobies on the verge of death. They were completely emaciated (sp.) I thought I was gonna freak! I get the "fish guy" and give him a blast of whatfor... listen to his totally LAME crap and while he is going on I see a butterfly start nipping at this goby, which was too weak to even swim away. COULD NOT DEAL WITH THIS!
I bought BOTH of them... figured if they had ANY chance whatsoever it would be with me, NOT there.
Well, one didn't even make it home, croaked in the bag.. too weak and stressed. The second, well I spent almost three hours acclimating him to my tank. As you can guess, this one didn't make it either. These two guys looked like skin stretched over a skeleton.
The water they came home in... I tested it. Ready for this..
Ammo- 0.25 (several dead fish throughout tanks)
Nitrite- got a reading between 0.25 and 0.50
Nitrate- 100 !!!!
Ph- 7.8
And last but not least SG.. 1.007 (the "fish guy" was under the impression that it was 1.020, I asked and that is what he said. I checked this three times using a refractometer)
I want to write a letter to company headquarters, and I guess what I am asking is for support. I not only want to complain about this store in particular but I have heard other "horror stories" on many different boards about the company in general. I have seen "puppy mills" closed down due to public outcries, everyone loves a puppy but apparently only "fish people" care about fish.
Would any of you be interested in signing a letter (might even ask for help from some of our more eloquent board members in drafting it) to request that this company quit selling animals they have no idea about or how to care for? I am sure there is "good" *****'s but I fear they are the exception and DEFINITELY NOT the rule.
 
broomer5

broomer5

Active Member
That is messed up glazer.
I give you credit for trying to save those two madarins, but sounds like they were doomed.
I support your efforts and think that writing a letter to the store manager and copying his or her regional manager and the home office would be a good idea.
I would not discuss other stores or other horror stories that you've heard about, but rather stick to the facts that you personally witnessed, the water quality tests that you personally conducted on the store's saltwater, and the condition of the fish that you saw first hand.
Anything mentioned in the letter other than what you experienced first hand will only detract from the message you are wanting to get across to them.
In my opinion, the message is that at this particular store that you visited, the conditions of their marine livestock was just horrible, the fish were showing signs of illness and malnutrition and the upkeep/maintenance of their saltwater fish display system was lacking in the basics for marine fish survival.
Keep the letter simple but inform them what you saw. Document the water tests that you personally performed.
Don't get nasty, but write it in a professional manner and ask them to reply to you in writing with a detailed explanation of how this goes unnoticed by their management team.
Ask them to give you a reason why this occurs, and what their plans are to correct it.
If they are in the business of selling animals, they had better insure that the people responsible for the well being of these animals know what the hell they are doing.
 
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glazer

Guest
You're right broomer, good advice as usual... I will indeed address the issues at this particular store only, and do my very bestest to be calm,cool and collected, hehe. I just have to chill a little... If I get bent outta shape over something, um, most people know about it...lol
jw, you are prolly right as well... the "deaf ears" syndrome is in my opinion all too commonplace in the large corporate retail world. For every complaint there are a 10,000 or a hundred thousand other sales they made with no probs... so why do anything. I made a complaint to company headquarters for a large electronics chain about rude salespeople and an item that I had to return three times due to it not working. I got a letter back with a "sorry" and how they pride themselves on customer service so please accept their coupon for 20% off my next purchase. Kinda twisted, heh? "hey, you guys suck"... "We don't think we do, here buy more from us" *sigh*
 
kmatysek

kmatysek

Member
I would support this. It's appalling!
I also think including legislators is a good idea. Even if you've got a company that doesn't worry about a few serious fish folk taking their business elsewhere, wide-spread, irresponsible handling of reef creatures otta' matter to somebody other than us. I think it's becoming a bigger problem now that SWF have moved out of the serious hobbyist arena. More and more stores are carrying SWF because there are enough of us out there.
 
marine fanatic

marine fanatic

Member
It is sad to think that certain LFS will let their livestock live under harsh conditions such as what was written on this post. Beautiful creatures who once lived in the vast ocean are forced to be confined in small tanks with multiple fish and/or predators. I bought a Mandarin Goby very similar to what was stated above..only he was in a tank with...get this...2 Lion Fish, 1 Titan Trigger and about 8 Dogfish Puffers. I asked the clerk WHY did he have these species in the same tank and his response was.."New arrival and ALL new fish go into the hospital tank". I understand the concept of hospital tanks but this guy has more like a WW2 German Prisoner of War Camp. I honestly started calling this LFS "Stalag 13" cuz that is how the fish live there and the clerk is most definitely Sgt. Shultz.
I admire your efforts in trying to save those 2 fish.....I wish they had made it and I would fully support your goal to get a letter off to the management of that store.
 
porcupinepuffer

porcupinepuffer

Member
lol, all reefers get mad at ***** every once in awhile, I wonder how long this thread will get? They always had terrible quality swf fish :D
 
joe's reefer

joe's reefer

Member
the ***** by my house is starting to get tank raised fish but only by fish from there if 1.it says tank raised on the tag or 2.if they arent rare because all the rare fish are cyanide even all the tangs and triggers o and angels
 
saltyrich

saltyrich

Active Member
I'll support your effort. There is a ***** here in Albuquerque and I'm not thrilled about the codition of their tanks either.
 
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glazer

Guest
Since this thread got pulled back up I will give you an update... I planned on doing so anyway once there was a decided action or outcome.
I did write the letter and sent it to company headquarters as well as a copy to the store manager. *looks for Broomer* I was polite, diplomatic and factual.
To date I have not heard anything back from the company or the store. However I did stop in that store on Wednesday. The saltwater section was devoid of fish. I was approached by a girl that works there and asked if I needed help. I just said I was looking for SW fish and was wondering if you were sold out or still sell them....
Her response, in only the way a 16 yo girl could say it... " Well we have been having some problems and stuff with like the filter thing so they have been like working on that but I am not sure if like they are gonna get more fish in or what. Like, I am not sure if we are gonna even have them anymore... this guy from like the head office thing said we may just like make the freshwater part bigger."
Said thanks and just kinda smiled when I left the store.... I have no idea what this does or will mean..... I also have no idea if ANY of this even has anything to do with me.... prolly not but for now I am just pretending and counting it as a victory... hey, there was no SW fish in the store and as the girl said, "... like the filter thing and stuff have problems and like they been working on that...."
 
randolph

randolph

Member
walmart sells fresh water fish here and they look about the same
sad sight. i suspect these store figure if they can sell them fast enough, they won't have to give any care to them, sad
 
joe's reefer

joe's reefer

Member
iread this post this morning and said to my self "i wonder i my ***** is as bad as urs" so i went over there with some water but i put some food in there to rot,what for the end.so i take it there and they test it for me, ammonia .25, nitrites .5 and nitrates around 70-100,sg 1.022, ph 8.3.they say my water sucks and i should start basically all over and they tried talking smart but they really sounded like idiots.so i say test urs so i know how to get perfect water. so they test ammonia .25-.30 alot of dead tangs,gobys and even damsels(it seems almost impossible to kill a fish that could live in fresh water for almost half an hour), nitrites .35, nitrates 130!!!!! wow i said after that one. salintiy is 1.005 and ph is 7.8 the "fish guy" that supposed to know these things say i guess ur water is ok.i was like WHAT i grab a book near by and show him optimum water perimeters.he goes into "shock" and adds a bunch of bottles and grab like quick cycle and nitrate down and perfect pH and it ends up clouding the water and about 3-4 fish die through this process.so i ask for a manager(short fat mean lady by the name of stephnie really bad attitude) say that if u have a problem then just dont come anymore so im not and i never did basically to begin with my prayers are with those poor sw fish.may the rest in peace which they all will sooner or sooner
 
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