Strip Tests vs Liquid Drop Test

[phillipsjo21]

Need some opinions/advice. My LFS that carry saltwater fish is Petco. Other nearest stores are minimum an hour away. I've had a nano AIO running for over a year now and the current fish in there came from my local Petco. I quarentined them first and they are still alive and well today. I set up a 50 gallon tank with a sump a couple of months ago and it's now cycled. I set up a QT tank as well and am running a sponge filter that I had in the large tank sump towards the end/after cycle. I decided to go ahead and try some more fish from Petco. I bought an Ocellaris clownish first but it was the only one they had that night. Two days later I went in and bought another Ocellaris and they had one 6 line Wrasse in the same tank. Thinking how cool it was, I bought him too. I got them home and acclimated them and put in the QT. 2 hours later, both clowns are fine but the Wrasse went belly up. So I tested the water with the API Master Saltwater liquid drop tests and my water was showing fine. 8-8.2 PH, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, less than 5ppm nitrates. I called petco and let them know it died in 2 hours and the manager agreed to give me a credit for the Wrasse. I just had to take it in with a water sample. I read online that Wrasses are known to stress out during transport and I think them getting it in the same day and me taking it home might have stressed it too much. Next day I took my water sample in and Petco used Tetra tests strips to test my water. The lady tested it twice and said my water was bad and had alot of waste. The strips showed apparent high nitrite and nitrate she said even though there was nothing she was checking it against so I'm guessing she knew what the colors meant. I showed her the pics of the tests I took with my kit and asked her which one was accurate because they were showing way different results and she said she didn't know but she trusted the strips because they use them in all their tanks. Funny part is that they sell the liquid kit I use in their store. Then she followed up with she was not able to sell anymore fish that day because those strips showed waste. To take it a step further, I went home and tested my water again in the QT, as well as the water from one of the bags they sent home the fish in I bought the day before, and the results showed about the same. If anything, their ammonia was actually higher. Sorry this is long winded but my main question is, should I trust my kit more, or these strips that Petco said were more accurate? In the picture I attached, my water is on the left and Petcos on the right.

 

[Spare time]

The strips are basically useless for salt water in my opinion. Also, nitrite unless it is extraordinarily record-breaking high, is harmless to marine fish. And honestly I don't think anybody knows at what point in nitrate is deadly to a lot of marine fish but it definitely would be quite a lot. Somewhere I've had found of paper and lots of saltwater fish they mentioned had issues when it got up into the several hundreds ppm. My guess was an acclamation issue

 

[gbroadbridge]

I don't trust strips or API test kits, but if I were forced to choose between two terrible alternatives, I'd rate the API kit over any strip.

You sound like you're doing all the right things.

Best advice I can give is use salifert tests, and don't shop Marine fish at Petco - hamsters okay, not Marine fish.

 

[Spare time]

Did she give you a value as to what the test strip said your nitrate and nitrite were at? Also I'm not sure if the supplies to the test strips but in many comical tests might tried will make nitrate appear way higher than actually is

 

[Spare time]

I don't trust strips or API test kits, but if I were forced to choose between two terrible alternatives, I'd rate the API kit over any strip.

You sound like you're doing all the right things.

Best advice I can give is use salifert tests, and don't shop Marine fish at Petco - hamsters okay, not Marine fish.

The API would definitely be able to tell if it's enough to kill a fish. Salifert is so much easier to read haha so I always tell people to go for that if they can over api. And yeah I also am not a fan of buying animals from Petco.

 

[phillipsjo21]

I don't trust strips or API test kits, but if I were forced to choose between two terrible alternatives, I'd rate the API kit over any strip.

You sound like you're doing all the right things.

Best advice I can give is use salifert tests, and don't shop Marine fish at Petco - hamsters okay, not Marine fish.

Okay thanks, I've also read online Salifert tests are good. I will try that route.

 

[phillipsjo21]

The API would definitely be able to tell if it's enough to kill a fish. Salifert is so much easier to read haha so I always tell people to go for that if they can over api. And yeah I also am not a fan of buying animals from Petco.

I'm not a huge fan of the petco buying either, with there was an actual LFS nearby. Also skeptical of getting fished shipped to me. However now I have this $35 credit from petco and they have a pistol shrimp in stock so I was thinking about just getting the shrimp and some snails or something, freshwater dip them and hope for the best lol.

 

[phillipsjo21]

The API would definitely be able to tell if it's enough to kill a fish. Salifert is so much easier to read haha so I always tell people to go for that if they can over api. And yeah I also am not a fan of buying animals from Petco.

This is it, right?

 

[phillipsjo21]

Did she give you a value as to what the test strip said your nitrate and nitrite were at? Also I'm not sure if the supplies to the test strips but in many comical tests might tried will make nitrate appear way higher than actually is

No value, just tested it twice, some colors came up and she immediately said water is bad and too much waste. Didn't check it against a chart or anything, told me I couldn't buy any fish and then threw them away. I started questioning her and then realized that I was just talking to a part time worker who was told to get fish out of a tank when a customer asked. It's not her fault because I'm sure she was just doing what petco told her, but I feel like my points were valid. But don't tell me that my tests aren't accurate when it's from a product that is sold in that store.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Okay thanks, I've also read online Salifert tests are good. I will try that route.

Just not the Salifert Phophate test - if you need to test phosphate spend the money on a Hanna Checker.

 

[phillipsjo21]

Just not the Salifert Phophate test - if you need to test phosphate spend the money on a Hanna Checker.

I was just making sure that was the brand and what the tests look like. I saw multiple online, I would need them all, just never bought it before so just double checking.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I was just making sure that was the brand and what the tests look like. I saw multiple online, I would need them all, just never bought it before so just double checking.

If you can afford it, Hanna checkers are the way to go. Don’t have to guess which color it is. It gives a digital readout. I would invest in a nitrate HR, phosphate ULR and a copper if your QTing in copper.
My Alk, Ca and Mg are all tested by my Neptune apex, but I check them against my RedSea test kit. I’ve never used salifert so I don’t have an opinion one way or the other there. I find RedSea easy in these three. As far as ammonia use up your api then buy just ammonia. You should t have to test ammonia after cycle is complete unless there is odd behavior in your fish. Gasping at the top of the water, swimming into power head current or twitching oddly. Ammonia should not really return unless you have a major die off of something or lose a large fish (relative to tank size), or you deep clean your sand bed all at once ( I have done this) only do a portion when vacuuming sand as releasing all of the stuff in it at once can overload your bio filter. Tank will stabilize but might not be fast enough for the fish.

 

[EricR]

...getting the shrimp and some snails or something, freshwater dip them and hope for the best lol.

I don't think you should freshwater dip inverts so, at the very least, research that before even thinking about it.

 

[HankstankXXL750]

I don't think you should freshwater dip inverts so, at the very least, research that before even thinking about it.

I believe that freshwater dipping shrimp is extremely dangerous.