sorry its long:
went to walmart today - it was mobbed AND there were 4 obviously dead bettas in dark brown water, 3 in not quite as disgusting water in the process of dying and 2 girls that seemed to fare not much better in clearer water. I've complained before - got nowhere with the manager (thats how bettas live no matter what you say)but did get them to change the water and feed them. Today I made my complaint, mentioned it was a health department issue at this point, was assured someone would get to it in a little while since it was so insane in the store, so I left and came back in an hour. Went back and found the woman who is in charge of the pet section. She is new, been there 1.5 weeks. She was given the job and couldn't believe the terrible condition of all the tanks. Unfortunately? She knows dogs, cats, birds etc. but has never had fish and has no clue how to take care of fish. She asked the manager who said "just to take care of it since it was her job, follow the papers, and use what she needed from the department". She said the papers they gave her were all propaganda and no help so she went to the library and took out a few fish books (our library is tiny so they would be seriously old) Now THAT is called a good employee. Anyway she found out that filters needed to be cleaned - figured out the filtration system and discovered it was clogged solid. She cleaned it (showed me) then took apart each tank and cleaned them how the books suggested. She realizes its cycling, is taking tests and trying to keep up with it. She is using stress coat, ammo lock and has put in melafix because she knows the fish have to be sick because of the conditions but has no idea what they have so she figured any help had to be better than nothing. She's spent the last 1 1/2 weeks cleaning entire filtration system and all the many large tanks - an incredible job since I know how gross it was and she isn't quite full time. It definately looks 100% better than I've ever seen it. She was near tears as she explained all the many fish that died and how disgusting everything was. I asked her about the bettas. She took me to her "information area" and gave me the one sheet on bettas. It was the walmart checklist sheet - appalling! Basically its a what you should tell people who are upset about how they are kept - bettas live in puddles so they are happy, bettas move little so they are happy, walmart uses larger than the accepted standard size betta cup, the water will turn colors because a fish is living in it (but change water if a customer gets upset - IT ACTUALLY SAID THAT!)
The only care it suggested was a water change in the cup once a week with warm declorinated water, not a mention about food. She took care of the other fish first because she at least had information on how to help them. She said "Help, I have no idea what to do with them". I helped her with the bettas, gave her the rundown on water changes, etc. helped point out what was wrong with the fish as best I could (and I am no pro - she needs help from the more experienced) explained feeding... She asked if I could please put it in writing so she wouldn't forget and could refer to it. NOT A PROBLEM!!! She has no internet and has no access. I'm going to write and print out a check list for her and I want to print pictures of different fish diseases so she can at least tell what may be wrong with the fish.
My question to you - do you know of any websites with some excellent betta info that could be passed on to her? fish disease info/photos? anything would be helpful. I have a few places to start but you may know of something better. She does deserve a heck of a lot credit. I haven't run into very many employees that took their job that seriously. She will have as much help as I can give her. I'm not going to mention where or which one it is - I'm afraid she may no longer get to keep her job! The manager on the other hand deserves to be shot.
went to walmart today - it was mobbed AND there were 4 obviously dead bettas in dark brown water, 3 in not quite as disgusting water in the process of dying and 2 girls that seemed to fare not much better in clearer water. I've complained before - got nowhere with the manager (thats how bettas live no matter what you say)but did get them to change the water and feed them. Today I made my complaint, mentioned it was a health department issue at this point, was assured someone would get to it in a little while since it was so insane in the store, so I left and came back in an hour. Went back and found the woman who is in charge of the pet section. She is new, been there 1.5 weeks. She was given the job and couldn't believe the terrible condition of all the tanks. Unfortunately? She knows dogs, cats, birds etc. but has never had fish and has no clue how to take care of fish. She asked the manager who said "just to take care of it since it was her job, follow the papers, and use what she needed from the department". She said the papers they gave her were all propaganda and no help so she went to the library and took out a few fish books (our library is tiny so they would be seriously old) Now THAT is called a good employee. Anyway she found out that filters needed to be cleaned - figured out the filtration system and discovered it was clogged solid. She cleaned it (showed me) then took apart each tank and cleaned them how the books suggested. She realizes its cycling, is taking tests and trying to keep up with it. She is using stress coat, ammo lock and has put in melafix because she knows the fish have to be sick because of the conditions but has no idea what they have so she figured any help had to be better than nothing. She's spent the last 1 1/2 weeks cleaning entire filtration system and all the many large tanks - an incredible job since I know how gross it was and she isn't quite full time. It definately looks 100% better than I've ever seen it. She was near tears as she explained all the many fish that died and how disgusting everything was. I asked her about the bettas. She took me to her "information area" and gave me the one sheet on bettas. It was the walmart checklist sheet - appalling! Basically its a what you should tell people who are upset about how they are kept - bettas live in puddles so they are happy, bettas move little so they are happy, walmart uses larger than the accepted standard size betta cup, the water will turn colors because a fish is living in it (but change water if a customer gets upset - IT ACTUALLY SAID THAT!)
The only care it suggested was a water change in the cup once a week with warm declorinated water, not a mention about food. She took care of the other fish first because she at least had information on how to help them. She said "Help, I have no idea what to do with them". I helped her with the bettas, gave her the rundown on water changes, etc. helped point out what was wrong with the fish as best I could (and I am no pro - she needs help from the more experienced) explained feeding... She asked if I could please put it in writing so she wouldn't forget and could refer to it. NOT A PROBLEM!!! She has no internet and has no access. I'm going to write and print out a check list for her and I want to print pictures of different fish diseases so she can at least tell what may be wrong with the fish.
My question to you - do you know of any websites with some excellent betta info that could be passed on to her? fish disease info/photos? anything would be helpful. I have a few places to start but you may know of something better. She does deserve a heck of a lot credit. I haven't run into very many employees that took their job that seriously. She will have as much help as I can give her. I'm not going to mention where or which one it is - I'm afraid she may no longer get to keep her job! The manager on the other hand deserves to be shot.
As for the websites, there's a pinned topic at the topic of this section (stuff for beginners or something like that) and that has loads of info and links to great pages.
/www.bettadreams.com/diseases.html
