Big Al's Aquarium Services Ottawa
Posted by Chris Inch on Sept. 16th, 2010
Here's why I can never shop at at Big Al's Aquarium Services Warehouse Outlets ever again. I apologize for the length of this article, but want to be accurate and detailed.
For the past 3 years or so, I've had a 30-gallon aquarium in my office at work. It's a relaxing (often mesmerizing) element of my office that both myself and coworkers have enjoyed for years. I feed my fish every day when I get to work, and I've always done regular water changes and cleanings to keep my fish healthy and my tank looking good.
It's a very rare occasion that I add new fish to the aquarium, since I'm not too pleased with the small pet stores around my office, but on Aug. 27, 2010, my wife and I made an unusual trip across town to Big Al's located at 1900 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario for the sole purpose of buying new fish to add to my aquarium. I purchased 10 new fish for my aquarium, and my wife, a school teacher, purchased a Betta fish and fishbowl for her classroom. Our bill was just over $60. We specifically made this drive to purchase from Big Al's because I knew Big Al's is a large chain and thought I could trust this store to purchase fish and supplies from.
After returning to my office, I introduced the fish to my aquarium after first floating the unopened bags in my aquarium to equalize the temperature. The fish seemed to get along just fine with my existing mature fish. That was until a few days later, when one of the new fish died. I know that it is not uncommon for a new fish to die within a few days of being introduced into a new environment, so I didn't think much about it.
One week later, on September 7, 2010, I arrived at the office to find that nearly all of my fish, young and old, were either dead or dying. The fish that were still clinging to life were lethargic and covered in small white specs. The ones that had died were covered with a visible slime and littered throughout my aquarium. A three-year-old silver dollar fish that was nearly 5 inches long was now stuck to my filter. Other fish were floating upside down, or darting with pain across the tank. Overnight, I went from 17 fish in my aquarium, to 6.
I immediately called Big Al's to inform them that their fish must have been infected with something that had now killed off my entire aquarium. I spoke to Karen, who was the manager on duty. She immediately identified the problem as "Ich" (pronounced "Ick"). I was told to go immediately to purchase a treatment for the water which not only took time out of my work day, but also cost me $10. I was told to call back the next day and speak with the manager, Jody, who would be able to help me further. Over the course of that day, I started the Ich treatment and watched as more of my fish died in front of my eyes.
The next day, on September 8, I called Big Al's again and spoke to Jody. I explained the situation in full and how devastated I was that fish from his store had destroyed an aquarium I had been working on for years. The conversation was pleasant, and I told Jody I would call him back after the Ich treatment had finished, and after I knew exactly how many fish had been killed. I explained that I wanted to contact him as soon as possible to let him know what was happening with my aquarium.
That next weekend, I finished medicating my tank and changed 25% of the water, as per the instructions. First thing on Monday morning, I called Jody back to discuss. To my surprise, Jody expressed that Big Al's would not be compensating me at all for this situation. I was told that they only cover their own fish, and never the existing fish in a tank. Even for their own fish, they only guarantee they live for 5 days, including the day that the fish was purchased. And even if all those stars had aligned, they would only compensate me 50% of the cost of the fish. Sure enough, all of this information was written in a box at the bottom of my order form. As Jody explained, this was "Big Al's policy".
As politely as I could, I explained that I understand the policy must exist for people who may not know how to keep an aquarium, or for people who forget that fish need food. However, in this case, it is quite obvious that the fish I purchased from Big Al's were infected with the Ich parasite and that they were responsible for killing nearly all my fish which I've had perfectly healthy for years. Even after Jody himself admitted that it's likely the Ich came from his fish, he was firm on the company's policy. I begged Jody to ignore his arbitrary policies and to simply do what is right. I asked him to consider the minuscule cost of replacing my fish that would leave me a happy customer for years to come. Yet, he did nothing in order to rectify this situation.
Coming into this situation, I had a healthy tank with 3 mature silver dollars, 3 mature tiger barbs, a rosy barb and an assassin snail.
Leaving this situation, I have a credit card charge for $60.85, for fish and supplies from Big Al's in East Ottawa, a charge for $10.16 from a separate local pet store for Ich treatment, two dead silver dollars, two dead tiger barbs, one dead punctatus cory, five dead penguin tetras and one dead green barred danio. Not to mention the time I've had to spend on the phone, administering treatments, gathering dead fish and generally being upset at this situation.
It is now clear to me that Big Al's is much more concerned with making a quick buck selling diseased fish, than standing behind a quality product that they are selling. This was my first interaction with Big Al's and will definitely be my last. I have absolutely no incentive to give another penny to this company.
Feel free to share your own comments and stories about Big Al's Aquarium Services Warehouse Outlets below.
Tags: Life, Complaints, Misc
Comments
#2 Robert Hahn commented on Sept. 17th, 2010 at 5:08 p.m.:
So, I totally get your frustration; we've had stuff like this happen before too.
But when I shared this with my wife, who is a fishkeeper, she said that your expectations were unrealistic.
For example, the outbreak of disease may well be b/c the fish were stressed (imagine being scooped up, put in a bag, and driven across town - you'd be stressed too!)
At the Big Al's in Kitchener, they quarantine all incoming fish, and any tanks that show signs of disease, including ich. This means they will not sell them until they're healthy again. I suggest you ask the Ottawa store if they quarantine fish (or just go in and see for yourself)
All this leads to the point I'm going to make: whenever you buy fish, if you don't put them in a quarantine tank for 2wks prior to introducing them into your main tank, then you're taking a risk. My wife doesn't use a QT, but she's quite aware of the risk she takes, and she perseveres anyhow. Sometimes she loses a bunch of fish. Sometimes she doesn't. Happens all the time, and we get fish from more than one fish store.
#3 Chris commented on Sept. 18th, 2010 at 9:37 a.m.:
Robert, thanks for your comments. Interestingly enough, when I spoke to Karen from Big Al's on the first day that I found the Ich, she recommended quarantining new fish, just as your wife has. However, when I spoke to the manager, Jody, the next day, he said that while it is a good way to prevent disease outbreak, it was unrealistic to expect hobbyists such as myself to maintain a separate aquarium for the sole purpose of quarantining new fish. Especially in a situation such as mine where the aquarium is at work and I purchase new fish very rarely.
I agree that quarantining new fish is an excellent way to avoid disease outbreak, and I will strongly consider it in the future. Thank you.
#4 Andrew commented on Sept. 20th, 2010 at 9:39 a.m.:
The Store clearly owes you contractual duties (at a minimum, that the goods they sold are fit for their purpose and of merchantable quality) and in partiuclar that their product will not damage your other fish. The waiver at the bottom of your receipt is ineffective to release them from liability unless it was brought to your attention before the transaction occurred. Even then, the limit of liability appears only to relate to their own fish, and would not release them from liability for the other fish in your tank. It is very reasonably forseeable that the other fish would be damaged if they sold you diseased fish. I suggest you consider filing a law suit in small claims court to recover all of your costs inlcuding the cost of replacing your previously owned fish. It will take time, effort, and expense on your part, which will probably outweigh any benefit you stand to gain, but you will send them a message to be more careful with other customers. If you don't fight these guys, who will?
#5 Nikaleles commented on Nov. 20th, 2010 at 2:04 p.m.:
First of all, I want to say that I'm truly sorry about the loss. I know the horrors of losing fish, especially when you've had them for so long.
But you cannot shove the blame onto the fish store for this. Just from reading this post it became clear to me that you had very little idea what you were doing. I have been dabbling in fishkeeping for about six years - nothing serious, just a small tank. However, this is important to me because I have adopted abused fish over the years and managed to nurse some of them back to health. Even though I am just a small-time fishkeeper, I can see several things you've done wrong.
First of all, you can not just go out to a store and bring home ten fish at once. You are to introduce one or two fish at a time, and let the tank adjust to their presence before introducing more. Dumping ten fish into your aquarium is going to set the tank entirely out of whack, stress out all of the inhabitants, and likely cause mass death - which is what happened to you.
If you care for the lives of your fish then it would do you well to put new arrivals into quarantine for a while before introducing them into the tank environment. Otherwise, you are putting your entire tank in jeopardy. If things like this happen, which they are wont to do, then you must accept it as your own responsibility, for you have not taken optimum care of your fish. You cannot just dismiss it as "too expensive and time-consuming" to have a separate tank. Fishkeeping is an expensive and laborious hobby- if you cannot dedicate yourself to it, then in all honesty, it would be best if you did not participate in it.
That said, if you can only meet your fish's needs halfway, then you have no place to be blaming your fish store and certainly no right to be demanding compensation from them. It is not the fish store's fault. You bought too many fish, the tank environment was unbalanced, the fish became stressed and prone to disease, and the inevitable happened. Besides, the mix of fish you had in that tank shouldn't have happened - and besides that, all those fish of all different kinds in a 30 gallon tank seems pretty overstocked. It wouldn't have taken much to cast things into chaos, and clearly it didn't.
I'm sorry if that sounded condescending or brash in any way, but the store can't be blamed for this. If you intend to go back to fishkeeping, I suggest that you make sure you are willing to dedicate optimum time, money, and effort to it - either that, or be ready to accept responsibility when things go wrong. Fishkeeping isn't stamp collecting - there are living things at stake, and it is cruel to only go halfway for lives under your care. It's better not to do it at all then to do half the job, and if you don't have the money or time to dedicate to it then it might be best to give it a rest.
I am so sorry about your fish and I hope that the future holds better luck for you.
#6 Jeff commented on Jan. 6th, 2011 at 10:35 p.m.:
Saltwater fish are always a gamble for stuff like that ,its just playing the aquariasts game and sometimes you lose but in a 30 gallon tank u WAY overloaded it in my 29 callon i have a picasso triggerfish a snowflake eel and a blue damselfish and they coexist perfectly and those whit spots can also be caused by an ammonia buildup from the fish feces and the ones that died off and sat there, simple as this,you put wayyy to many fish in the tank and your protein skimmer couldnt handle it and there is very noticeable injurys cause by the other fish because they were territorial over the tank and they will kill eachother over in and ich is a common occurance in an overpopulated tank and those fish at big als are kept long enough to make sure they are healthy so it was owner error in my opinion, kepp your population small and youll not have this problem agagin and do 25%water changes every 2 weeks and you will avoid these types of problems ,ive been a big als customer for more than 6 years and i have never been dissapointed
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#8 Owed Money commented on March 7th, 2011 at noon:
I heard that Big Als does not pay their bills, maybe they are going out of business ???
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#21 MR A commented on July 21st, 2011 at 1:34 p.m.:
well like it or not Big Al's is really the only decent place to get fish this could happen anywhere you should know the risks i went to a "trent" petstore yesterday and they had dead fish in every tank and it looked like some of them had been dead for few days to weeks and they did nothing i even told them and they responded with an annoyed "soo?" i walked out right then i was never treated like this at big al's nor have i seen them leave dead fish in almost every tank i've seen very few to no dead fish at big al's..sometimes policy sucks but it's there job to fallow the rules and do there job i have to do the same at my work even if i wish i could help i can't i don't want to lose my job,really i think you should just put it behind you and be more careful you need a quarantine tank as fishkeepers we know the risks this could happen from any store always keep a good eye on your new fish.
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#24 Jane Stratton commented on July 31st, 2011 at 4:17 p.m.:
Totally sympathize with your experience with Big Al's. They either don't know or don't care. Have been given wrong advice there so many times. Amazing my fish survived it.
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#26 Adrian commented on Nov. 4th, 2011 at 4:10 a.m.:
You buy TEN new fish for a 30 gallon tank - which is way too much bio-load at one time to add - and you don't even quarantine them? What do you expect?
#27 Katie commented on Nov. 8th, 2011 at 8:51 p.m.:
When the first fish died, probably from stress....did you do a water change? The ammonia from the first death is what caused your other fish to die. A 25% change while medicating is NOT enough. The Ich in that picture is way out of control. I would say this is your fault for leaving dead fish in your tank long enough for them to MOLD!
#28 Aquarium Services commented on Nov. 14th, 2011 at 11:48 p.m.:
This is so inhuman..Feeling sad and its very painful for me to find such fishes in such conditions..
#29 Aqua North commented on Nov. 15th, 2011 at 8:38 a.m.:
Learn how to keep fish instead of blaming Big Al's.
You threw 10 new fish into a 30 Gallon aquarium all at once. That's way too many. A tank that size can't handle that many new fish all at once... Clearly, you don't know enough about fish keeping yet and are passing the blame onto someone else for your own ignorance.
If it sounds harsh, so was your judgement against the fish store. It's your fault. I hope that you will learn from this experience and if you choose to maintain an aquarium, please do proper research.
#30 Jeff commented on Nov. 17th, 2011 at 10:02 a.m.:
Its is well known that the Big Al's in Ottawa area are terrible aquarium stores. They have little knowledge of aquarium keeping with even the basic sometimes escaping staff. The fish are most often diseased and the water is pure poison. A quick look at the saltwater section is more than evidence its proof. The Big's Al's in Toronto are a different story altoghter.
#31 Katie commented on Dec. 9th, 2011 at 12:28 p.m.:
All Big Al's store are owned and operated by different people. Some stores are 'corporate' and some are family owned. By putting things like this on the internet, you bad mouth ALL Big Al's store, hurting small family owned business' that struggle to get by. This is the first image seen when anyone 'googles' Big Al's. Not acceptable. People dont understand that fish do pass away. Dead fish in a Big Al's tank doesnt mean its their fault. Suppliers are sometimes to blame as well. Fish are sensitive creatures, and shouldnt be taken lightly.
#32 David commented on Jan. 14th, 2012 at 2:44 p.m.:
Adding so many fish will cause ammonia spikes. You may be able to do it if you have a large bio filter, and do frequent water changes EVERY DAY until the bacteria re-establishes to the new bio load. A good water test kit can tell you how often you need to do the water changes.
There could be other reasons since the aquarium is in an office. Co-workers may have fed or overfed the fish (people like to feed fish). Janitors may have sprayed detergents around the office and the detergent got into the tank. This happened to me once that I got really sick immediately after drinking a glass of water left over from previous day. I blame myself in not getting a new glass of water.
I myself don't have a quarantine tank and I understand and accepted the risk. Local breeders are probably the best source for live fish. But there could still be problems with fish from local breeder. This happened once, but I was able to treat the fish with the help of the local breeder.
There are just too many causes. I can see why Big Al or any pet stores have their store policies.
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#38 tiff commented on Feb. 11th, 2012 at 4:46 p.m.:
First I would like to say I am sorry for your loss, I have lost fish due to a pet stores lack of care.but there are a few things that you did wrong. For one you had to many fish in your tank. 2.you should have inspected the fish before purchase i.e look for white spots slime build up head rot milky eyes. 3 you didn't quarantine if you dont quarantine you are taking a huge risk and with over loading your tank like that and not quarantine you just made the risk higher cause your fish are stressed and you introduced disease into the tank... do your research know what you are doing it prevents heart breaking disasters like this and saves the lives of many fish.
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#1 Simon commented on Sept. 17th, 2010 at 1:23 p.m.:
Oh man the pictures are heartbreaking