Thoughts on LFS Info?

[SaltyShel]

Hey everyone so I went to my LFS today (not a good experience) & the owner said all tanks have pests, you can’t do anything about it, then showed me all the aiptasia & vermited snails in his tanks. He has no guarantee on any fish/coral/living things, per the sign he pointed out, but a YouTube video I saw said no guarantee or warranty is a red flag. I told him my nitrate kit isn’t here yet and asked for a water test & he stated “if I tested everyone’s water who came in here, I would have to shut down”. THEN he showed me the Magic Eraser he uses to clean the tanks - on the inside - with fish/coral in it. He said there’s no chemicals (but there is, I’ve looked it up) and then wrung out the water from it into the tank.

What do y’all think of this? It didn’t feel right to me, but maybe this is normal? I know I have multiple questions in one but this has all been bothering me all day. Thoughts? Opinions? Is this stuff normal?

 

[brandon429]

Someone found that magic erase hack in about 2008 it’s legit


but pales in comparison to whoever discovered putting bleach in a reef tank to fight dinos lol, no joke there’s no end to the funny stuff people put into reefs, bleach was the one I’d have lost money betting wouldn’t work, would be instant death. It’s tolerable lol and dinos are so bad folks try many ways. Bleach dosing never held on, it faded out but magic erase legit stuck and has been used in thousands of tanks.

I wouldnt squeeze it out into the tank due to the algae that puts back in plus melamine lol

never used it myself. Standard 35% peroxide when my tank is drained wiped on inside glass cuts all mess.

 

[James_O]

What do y’all think of this?

———

That has to be the worst thing I’ve read all day. He sounds so irresponsible and lazy, to not get rid of any Aiptasia in his tanks.

Edit: DEFINITELY not normal. Any reefer would be disgusted by his actions.

 

[JGT]

Someone found that magic erase hack in about 2008 it’s legit


but pales in comparison to whoever discovered putting bleach in a reef tank to fight dinos lol, no joke there’s no end to the funny stuff people put into reefs, bleach was the one I’d have lost money betting wouldn’t work, would be instant death. It’s tolerable lol and dinos are so bad folks try many ways. Bleach dosing never held on, it faded out but magic erase legit stuck and has been used in thousands of tanks.

I wouldnt squeeze it out into the tank due to the algae that puts back in plus melamine lol

never used it myself. Standard 35% peroxide when my tank is drained wiped on inside glass cuts all mess.

Run, don’t walk out of that LFS and never go back.

 

[Karen00]

Your story sent shivers down my spine and brought a tear to my eye! The poor creatures in his care (or lack thereof)!! I hope this isn't normal and is not something I have ever experienced in any LFS I've been to. I'm sorry you had to see that!

 

[ZipAdeeZoa]

As a LFS employee I really can't imagine treating someone that way, not being able to test someones water is one thing but being such a wise... about its just rude and inconsiderate. We test everyones water for free, it takes time sure but if it means someone can get some clarity into whats going on in their tanks then its well worth it. There have been days I haven't been able to leave the water test "station" for 2 hours with 6-8 back to back water test and walking each customer through the results and follow up trouble shooting.

Honestly the pest thing is hard to avoid on the scale of most LFS but to not even try anymore is also quite sad to me. We spend a decent amount of time with aptasia x and superglue, asides from that I check each frag as best I can before I sell it and if I see anything I let them know its there, the risk of introducing x into their tank and if they still want it then I tell them how to deal with it.

Our store doesn't have a guarantee on saltwater live stock unfortunately, I'm hoping I can change my bosses mind on that once we setup some off site Qt tanks- I wouldn't say not having a guarantee is always a red flag but even though we don't have a guarantee we do our best to work something out, based on the other things you've said it sounds like he would just say tough luck and thats it.

Frankly I would find a new LFS, there are good ones out there I promise and when you find one its pretty awesome to just connect with people about something they enjoy just as much as you do!

 

[SaltyShel]

Thanks Brandon!

Someone found that magic erase hack in about 2008 it’s legit


but pales in comparison to whoever discovered putting bleach in a reef tank to fight dinos lol, no joke there’s no end to the funny stuff people put into reefs, bleach was the one I’d have lost money betting wouldn’t work, would be instant death. It’s tolerable lol and dinos are so bad folks try many ways. Bleach dosing never held on, it faded out but magic erase legit stuck and has been used in thousands of tanks.

I wouldnt squeeze it out into the tank due to the algae that puts back in plus melamine lol

never used it myself. Standard 35% peroxide when my tank is drained wiped on inside glass cuts all mess.

I was definitely curious about it… but I have heard peroxide is okay for the coral dipping, I think I read it on here or heard on YouTube, just never tried myself cause I don’t have but like 4 little mushroom corals. But how does the bleach go into the tank without killing the fish and good bacteria, along with whatever livestock is also in there??

 

[brandon429]

Because strong oxidizers can be handled by the systems if toxicity isn’t attained, if the dose remains below loss threshold

bleach and peroxide arent wildly different oxidizers on this spectrum of pushing it. For example, dumping peroxide in the water got fifty pages of happy testimony here:

Dinoflagellates my experience......h2o2 reefing tool!!!!!

aaaaaaarrrrrrr just wanted to share my recent battle and how i won!!!!!!!!! "i wish i took pics but i didn't..:(" so about 3 weeks ago my tank broke out pretty bad i mean bad!!!!!! my coast to coast overflow would get plugged and almost overflow my tank..... so i did my research and found...

www.reef2reef.com

peroxide is enough pushing it Id never dose bleach but some peers sure did for a while.

and driveway de icer

and stump remover


and damprid, into their reefs lol for calcium.

dipping frags in bug spray water was big in 2010 lol I’m not joking it’s on nano-reef.com in several places.

people online do reef hacks and it royally angers the sages.

 

[SaltyShel]

———

That has to be the worst thing I’ve read all day. He sounds so irresponsible and lazy, to not get rid of any Aiptasia in his tanks.

Edit: DEFINITELY not normal. Any reefer would be disgusted by his actions.

Yeah that’s what I thought too!! I was stunned to say the least… the fact he pointed out all the aiptasia and vermited snails and told me he knows they’re there but doesn’t remove because he doesn’t have time just bothered me.
What really upset me is, in one of his tanks, he had a Copperband and she would surface where her dorsal fin would poke up out of the water a little, and then she would fall over sideways and get pushed back into the corner.. and this happened over and over. I noticed the flow was strong and it was pointed right at her from the other side of the tank. I asked him why she was doing that and he said “i don’t know”. But I think it was the flow being too strong and she couldn’t swim around, just was trapped in that corner :/

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Trust your gut!

 

[Wasabiroot]

The plain magic eraser is melamine foam only and contains no listed chemicals. They do make one that has chemicals though. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like a common misconception.

Everything else is a red flag. I think it's acceptable to say that "no tank is pest free completely" but having aiptasia in every display and laughing it off is poor business sense. Even a rudimentary return policy is preferable. I would probably shop elsewhere if nothing else for the cavalier attitude about all your concerns, rather than agreeing to you or trying to make a customer feel more at ease.

For what it's worth, the situation with the butterfly would bother me too. Maybe find another employee or come back the next day and see if they can address it?

 

[SaltyShel]

Run, don’t walk out of that LFS and never go back.

Oh trust me I’m staying far away. I’d rather drive the 35-40 minutes to the next closest one. This is the second time I had a bad experience. There’s only 2 within less than 35 mins drive, and the first place was awful too. I mentioned it a couple times in other threads, but he ID’d a bunch of stuff wrong and said give my livestock away and dump bleach in my tank to nuke it (to get rid of the pests he ID’d poorly) and I said no to giving them away so he got so angry and wanted me to kill everything.

 

[SaltyShel]

Your story sent shivers down my spine and brought a tear to my eye! The poor creatures in his care (or lack thereof)!! I hope this isn't normal and is not something I have ever experienced in any LFS I've been to. I'm sorry you had to see that!

I know I felt so bad for them!! Especially that poor little copperband butterfly. She was probably so sad and stressed from not being able to swim with that poorly positioned flow

 

[MONTANTK]

That’s an LFS I certainly wouldn’t do business with. When I worked at my LFS we made sure we did everything in our power to at the very least control pests, and it was mainly just aptasia. Any other kind of pest was treated with zero tolerance. We also would test customers water for a very small fee but generally I wouldn’t charge them if they bought something. As for the magic eraser, I don’t really know anything about it but all I can say is that if I walked in and had that interaction I would walk out and never look back

 

[SaltyShel]

As a LFS employee I really can't imagine treating someone that way, not being able to test someones water is one thing but being such a wise... about its just rude and inconsiderate. We test everyones water for free, it takes time sure but if it means someone can get some clarity into whats going on in their tanks then its well worth it. There have been days I haven't been able to leave the water test "station" for 2 hours with 6-8 back to back water test and walking each customer through the results and follow up trouble shooting.

Honestly the pest thing is hard to avoid on the scale of most LFS but to not even try anymore is also quite sad to me. We spend a decent amount of time with aptasia x and superglue, asides from that I check each frag as best I can before I sell it and if I see anything I let them know its there, the risk of introducing x into their tank and if they still want it then I tell them how to deal with it.

Our store doesn't have a guarantee on saltwater live stock unfortunately, I'm hoping I can change my bosses mind on that once we setup some off site Qt tanks- I wouldn't say not having a guarantee is always a red flag but even though we don't have a guarantee we do our best to work something out, based on the other things you've said it sounds like he would just say tough luck and thats it.

Frankly I would find a new LFS, there are good ones out there I promise and when you find one its pretty awesome to just connect with people about something they enjoy just as much as you do!

Thank you for this info!! I think that the process at your store is much more reasonable. It sounds like y’all do everything you can to take care of all your livestock and coral, and customers!! That’s what I want to see when I go to a fish store, and I want to be treated like they care about the fact I need help. I told the guy I’m new to this hobby, literally 16 days in, and I’m stressed. He told me everyone was a beginner once… so it’s like ??? Why didn’t he help ??? So basically it’s just really weird to me cuz he was so uninterested. The other one with the incorrect ID was the same. Last time I went, I wasn’t even done talking to him (at least I thought I wasnt) and a customer came in for a 6 Line and the owner said “are we done here” and I was like uhhh I guess so??? Just really rude and annoying tbh lol

 

[SaltyShel]

Because strong oxidizers can be handled by the systems if toxicity isn’t attained, if the dose remains below loss threshold

bleach and peroxide arent wildly different oxidizers on this spectrum of pushing it. For example, dumping peroxide in the water got fifty pages of happy testimony here:

Dinoflagellates my experience......h2o2 reefing tool!!!!!

aaaaaaarrrrrrr just wanted to share my recent battle and how i won!!!!!!!!! "i wish i took pics but i didn't..:(" so about 3 weeks ago my tank broke out pretty bad i mean bad!!!!!! my coast to coast overflow would get plugged and almost overflow my tank..... so i did my research and found...

www.reef2reef.com

peroxide is enough pushing it Id never dose bleach but some peers sure did for a while.

and driveway de icer

and stump remover


and damprid, into their reefs lol for calcium.

dipping frags in bug spray water was big in 2010 lol I’m not joking it’s on nano-reef.com in several places.

people online do reef hacks and it royally angers the sages.

Oh my goodness lol people are wildin lolol. I actually heard about the bug spray though! I think a BRStv YT video mentioned it. They said only for experienced reefers though. I’m pretty content with testing out some SAFE coral dips first haha. I’ll definitely check out that thread though! Interested to see what people were saying. I THINK I might be getting the start of Dino’s but unsure… bunchhh of bubbles formed on my rock, only one was attached to a string though and it somehow broke off and never came back. But the bubbles are only on a single rock, as far as I can see, and it’s the same rock with 90% of the aiptasia. So I’m just gonna pull it and either clean it really well or throw it out.

 

[SaltyShel]

Trust your gut!

Yes I definitely am doing that in this case!! Two LFS down… one to go! I’m gonna try to talk to the one that’s 35 mins away if they’re open tomorrow. I only went once, but it seems I always have the worst experience on my 2nd or 3rd visit lol

 

[SaltyShel]

The plain magic eraser is melamine foam only and contains no listed chemicals. They do make one that has chemicals though. Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like a common misconception.

Everything else is a red flag. I think it's acceptable to say that "no tank is pest free completely" but having aiptasia in every display and laughing it off is poor business sense. Even a rudimentary return policy is preferable. I would probably shop elsewhere if nothing else for the cavalier attitude about all your concerns, rather than agreeing to you or trying to make a customer feel more at ease.

For what it's worth, the situation with the butterfly would bother me too. Maybe find another employee or come back the next day and see if they can address it?

Yes I’m definitely not going back because frankly I don’t feel like he deserves my money lol. I found out a few hours after I went there today, but the first time I went, last week, I took my 16 y/o cousin with me because he loves saltwater fish and corals, and apparently he asked the same guy if he could use their bathroom and the guy was super rude and said no because he would trip over stuff. Which sounds like an OSHA concern to me lol and just not a nice thing to do either. He could’ve at least said it’s for employees only, rather than being rude

 

[SaltyShel]

That’s an LFS I certainly wouldn’t do business with. When I worked at my LFS we made sure we did everything in our power to at the very least control pests, and it was mainly just aptasia. Any other kind of pest was treated with zero tolerance. We also would test customers water for a very small fee but generally I wouldn’t charge them if they bought something. As for the magic eraser, I don’t really know anything about it but all I can say is that if I walked in and had that interaction I would walk out and never look back

Yeah that’s basically how I see it too, it’s not a place I wanna go back to. He even bad mouthed another fish store in our city, but it’s like 30 mins north of him. And the aiptasia I understand but the vermited snails he could’ve just superglued. It’s not like it’s some crazy long process where he has to cook up a special concoction then use a magnifying glass to apply it exactly perfect. I know that’s really dramatic hahahaha but you get the point lol. And he even told me they hired a guy to do tank maintained and cleaning or whatever soooo if the owner isn’t doing it, and hired someone who isn’t doing it, they just don’t care at all to do it

 

[MONTANTK]

Yeah that’s basically how I see it too, it’s not a place I wanna go back to. He even bad mouthed another fish store in our city, but it’s like 30 mins north of him. And the aiptasia I understand but the vermited snails he could’ve just superglued. It’s not like it’s some crazy long process where he has to cook up a special concoction then use a magnifying glass to apply it exactly perfect. I know that’s really dramatic hahahaha but you get the point lol. And he even told me they hired a guy to do tank maintained and cleaning or whatever soooo if the owner isn’t doing it, and hired someone who isn’t doing it, they just don’t care at all to do it

And honestly it’s not like they’re busy at all hours of the day. Unless it’s a really big and/or popular store there’s plenty of time for maintenance