so here is the email they sent and my response back to them
From:
allsoupedup@live.ca
To:
hagen-service@mailnj.custhelp.com
Subject: RE: extreme displeasure with your food [Incident: 091103-000005]
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 10:42:58 -0600
.ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P{padding:0px;}.ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage{font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}tell ya what if your complaint form allowed for me to put both kinds of nutrafin max in the form you would have found that I also have right in front of me your predator sticks exp 01/2012. I have no idea where your lot number is!!!!!!
I am not a noob fish keeper friend I know what to feed my fish with the particular tank in the picture the ratio of food is 20% spir to 80% carnivor sticks. For the 150g right beside the tank my frontosa colony it is 90% spir to 10% carnivor etc.. etc.. etc.. for my various tanks here.
Im sorry to inform you that it is not blow back coming out of the fish's mouth friend, rather it is blow out going through their gills as they mash it. Take my west african lungfish gramps. I tried feeding the carnivour sticks to him and trust me he does not spit out what he inhales he mashes it and to watch as particulate literally flows out his gill plates.
I repeat steve I am not a novice fish keeper who just dumps loads of food in the tank to let them have a free for all. Let's take my 180g reef and my 75g reef. The food that goes in them has no time to hit the bottom as I feed the proper amount to my fish. I know the absolute dangers that are presented by suspended food particulates in aquaria and how they mess up water chemistry. I also don't allow my fish to gorge themselves on food to the point that they puke. By the way I am a chef of 34 years, with extensive training in the slow food movement which basically premises at this-the proper mastification of the food that one ingests with the express purpose that proper digestion takes place as a direct result thereof. So please don't try to belittle me by dropping the insinuation that I am placing so much food in my tank as to have the fish regurgitate it!!!!!!!
The stock on the 300g in the picture is as follows 3 full grown zilli tilapia, 3 full grown zebra tilapia, 2 recently removed full grown oscars, 5 juvi jack dempsy, 1 juvi red devil, 1 adult red devil, 1 juvi red terror, 1 juvi christyi and some catfish for clean up crew. For this amount of fish approx 30-40 pellets were placed in the tank resulting in the serious mess that filled the tank!!!!!!
Steve are you trying to suggest that the above stocking level of fish being fed that amount of pellets 1 time in a day is enough to make them so full as to puke it all up?
I can tell you that the effect on this tank and my others here was not a result of over feeding but this food literally dissolving and as my fish went after it and had it coming out of the gills. If so explain to me how 2-3 pellets per fish makes them so full as to puke it up?
How many tanks do you have steve, what kind of stocking do you keep.
From:
hagen-service@mailnj.custhelp.com
To:
allsoupedup@live.ca
Date: Tue, 3 Nov 2009 11:02:08 -0500
Subject: extreme displeasure with your food [Incident: 091103-000005]
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Subjectextreme displeasure with your food
Discussion Thread Response (Steve Pond)11/03/2009 11:02 AMDear Chef James Scott,
We thank you for taking the time to contact us. We are soprry to hear that you are disappointed with the Nutra FIn Max Spirulina Sticks. I forwarded your comments to our Aquatic Category Manger for Nutrition and he did make a few observations:
By looking at the fish in this tank, its very normal that they will inhale a stick and spit
some out....Our new Spirulina stick actually incorporates a new binder and
stays together better....the snow storm is the result of fish spitting out food,
also a factor when offering any new food, sometimes it takes a few days for
them to get used to the food...
He is also using the wrong product for the fish in this pic....He should be
using Predator Sticks and feeding sparingly, If you drop in excessive
food, fish such as this will keep going till bloating and then start to
regurgitate excess. The new Predator Sticks have been used long term
on a number of large predatory fish with no issues...in fact some species
that were previous fed on live food only gobbled these sticks down from
day one.
We would like to replace the Spirulina Sticks with Predator Sticks, but would require your fuill mailing address to send them to you. Once we have that, we will get this new product to you for your fish to enjoy.
Best Regards,
Steve Pond
Customer Service Manager
Rolf C. Hagen Inc.
Customer (Chef James Scott)11/03/2009 04:29 AMI attended a presentation by your rep at the regina aquarium society yearly show at the regina in a few months ago. In this presentation he extolled the virtues of your new line of nutrafin max foods.
So I thought I would give them a try last time I was in the pet store a week ago. After all the presentation spoke in great detail of the fine qualities of your new line of foods probiotic qualities and such.
First may I tell you I run 9 tanks in my restaurant that are done as display quality for people to enjoy as they eat. I spend on average 15 hours a week doing maintenance and waterchanges since my 9 tanks comprise of over 1350g of active water, and there are 3 more tanks with a volume of 900g that are to be added in the next 5 mths. I also use chemi pure as the filter media in my filters, total of about 3 cases when you get down to all that is committed and if you do the math you will see that is not cheap.
Well I tried this food out twice in my tanks since I bought it last week and I could not believe the snow storm that filled my tanks as the fish tried to eat this stuff but it simply melted and just flowed through their gills.
I thought the first time it was me putting to much in, so I tried a lesser amount but same result. Here is a picture for you. My camera though could not catch the full effect as it focuses on the fish not the snow storm in the used to be pristine water.
http://i320.photobucket.com/albums/nn352/chefjamesscott/all souped up/IMGP5926.jpg
I also made a post on the forums of a fish club I am part of to express my great dislike of your product. The word dislike is not actually what I will use, let me say hatred.
I work long and hard to keep my tanks full of appeal to those who come to my place, and now thanks to your food I have had to pull apart my filters and give them a express cleaning to get rid of this sludge that they now have in them.
Thanks for producing a product that dissolves so fast that it passes right through the gills of my fish and destroys the water quality I have worked so hard to maintain. Thankfully it will only take me a few days of working all night to fix this mess. NOT!!!!!!!!!!
Auto-Response11/03/2009 04:29 AMSuggested solutions displayed to consumer
Question Reference #091103-000005Product Level 1: Aquatic
Category Level 1: Food
Category Level 2: Pellets
Date Created: 11/03/2009 04:29 AM
Last Updated: 11/03/2009 11:02 AM
Status: Consumer Response
Brand: Nutrafin
Country: Canada
Expiry: 02-2012
Item #: cichlid spir stick
Lot #: Mfg. Date: Date Received: Product Description: Problem: Return Date: Tracking Number: Pesticide Report: Report Date: 11/03/2009
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