Wow, Thats A Lot Of Salt!

[NonstickRon]

Stopped by Petco last night just to have a look around and noticed that they have containers FULL of salt in their tanks. I'm talking like, betta containers with lids on them and holes in the lids and the entire thing full of salt... In each tank... I was kinda amazed that it wasn't killing all their freshwater fish. Now I've been salting my water changes, as it reduces the toxicity and stress from ammonia and nitrites and my cycle is midway right now. But 1/2 teaspoon per gallon is a lot different than a bucket of salt in the tank.

 

[Corleone]

A lot of freshwater fish can survive with some levels of salt, but it isn't good for them by any means, and you're generally not supposed to dump it right into the tank, because rapid change can be worse than just the salt. The nearest Petco to me smells like a fish market when you walk in, partly for this. I usually make a tour of fish stores on the days they get shipments in, and I've seen petco with nice freshly filled tanks of dead corys and plecs. Only nice thing I can say about any of the locations I've been to is that they have a marvelous betta selection if you're willing to rehab them, and the ones with a marine section actually has one of the nicer marine sections in the area.

My usual opinion with bad LFS posts is that responsibility begins at home, but I do have a special reservation when you can't even get them home.

 

[OldMan47]

I think it's a corporate thing with them. Every time I've been into a Petco it had the tub of salt in every tank. I never buy fish there because they often don't look in very good shape. I don't know if it is the result of the salt or just poor maintenance but I won't move those fish into my tanks.