Curious what the lfs’ take on live rock transfers is for the customers, as most places at least wet pack them out of concern for bac loss
your lfs just sends them out after lifting them out of the tank, no water or wet pack? If so they’re the only lfs doing that, it’s pretty progressive stance on bac for sure, the reigning mode is constant fear bacteria on wet surfaces have been killed. Do they give a usage timeline/ max time a customer can have the rocks out of water?
we can assess your skip cycle today by seeing a pic. If water is clear and fish are distributed normally vs hovering at the top sideways, we know you skip cycled.
specifically, a positive ammonia test reading in the presence of normal water, no smell, normal fish behavior does not mean there’s a problem. It’s all in the visuals.
that your lfs pays for wet shipped rock (weight/live) then dries it out, killing everything but the bac, and then pays again on the rock with storage time and bottle bac after it showed up wet (meaning full of bacteria) is the most backwards lfs rock handling I’ve heard of, they’re losing money. It’s like they don’t want any pods being sent home with customers