When I got home yesterday after picking up my dozen Serpae Tetras from my LFS, one of the first things I did was test their water in the bags for nitrate to make sure it was very low, as the tank they were going in was 0ppm.
Imagine my utter shock when the colour sailed past the orange, raced through red, and finally nestled around the deepest colour on the chart. In short, the nitrates were sky high!
I immediately rang my LFS and told the aquatics dept manager of my findings. He asked what kit I was using and whether it had expired blah blah blah, all the usually stuff in an attempt to discredit my findings.
Whilst we were talking he got his assistant to test the very water out of the Serpae tank where my fish had come from. After a while he just said, "well I don't have much colour change at this end, maybe 5ppm". I wasn't there, so obviously I had to take his word for it.
Incidently, this is the same manager who, a few years ago sold me three Columbian Cat Sharks and said they're a great community catfish that don't get that big. When I got home my research told me that they get huge and would eat everything in my tank. I took them back the day after!!
So in my eyes he has little credibility as it is. Was he lying to me on the other end of the phone regarding his low nitrate check? Who knows.
But it got me thinking. The timescale from when the young assistant bagged up my fish to me getting home was maybe 20 mins. Is there anything that could have happened with the chemistry of the water from when those fish were bagged up to when I unbagged them? Highly highly unlikely I know, but something was obviously very very off about the whole thing.
I gently acclimatised the fish after my findings. About 24 hrs have elapsed since I got them and everything's fine, but I have this niggle at the back of my mind now. Was I right? Was he right, or was he bullshi*ting me? Or were we both right and some strange chemistry was going on with that bagged up water?
Imagine my utter shock when the colour sailed past the orange, raced through red, and finally nestled around the deepest colour on the chart. In short, the nitrates were sky high!
I immediately rang my LFS and told the aquatics dept manager of my findings. He asked what kit I was using and whether it had expired blah blah blah, all the usually stuff in an attempt to discredit my findings.
Whilst we were talking he got his assistant to test the very water out of the Serpae tank where my fish had come from. After a while he just said, "well I don't have much colour change at this end, maybe 5ppm". I wasn't there, so obviously I had to take his word for it.
Incidently, this is the same manager who, a few years ago sold me three Columbian Cat Sharks and said they're a great community catfish that don't get that big. When I got home my research told me that they get huge and would eat everything in my tank. I took them back the day after!!
So in my eyes he has little credibility as it is. Was he lying to me on the other end of the phone regarding his low nitrate check? Who knows.
But it got me thinking. The timescale from when the young assistant bagged up my fish to me getting home was maybe 20 mins. Is there anything that could have happened with the chemistry of the water from when those fish were bagged up to when I unbagged them? Highly highly unlikely I know, but something was obviously very very off about the whole thing.
I gently acclimatised the fish after my findings. About 24 hrs have elapsed since I got them and everything's fine, but I have this niggle at the back of my mind now. Was I right? Was he right, or was he bullshi*ting me? Or were we both right and some strange chemistry was going on with that bagged up water?
