At my new/second job, I work with a lady who has 2 75 gallon tanks. She said that she can't put anything in them yet because "they" said that she has too much vinegar in her water. (I don't know who "they" are)

I'm gonna ask her tomorrow if she can bring me a cup of her water so I can test it and see.

But why would vinegar be in tank water? Is it just another name for something else?

I have NO idea
Unless someone was trying to explain pH to her and said her water was acidic????

Vinegar is acidic? Shows how much I know.

I am going to ask her tomorrow to bring me some water and I'll post the results to see what in the world is going on. I'll have them posted Thursday night or Friday sometime Friday. And hopefully figure out a way to fix it. Even if she doesn't want to put goldies in the tanks, I'll still give her the site address so she can look things up as well.

Yep, vinegar is actually acedic acid

Let us know, I find it so strange that someone would say there's too much vinegar in their water!

Maybe "THEY" think she shouldn't own fishies...which makes you wonder when she'd be this gullible too hehe. If she's really a fish person and has moved up to owning 2 75 gals you'd think she'd know. Maybe she was pulling an April Fools joke on you?

well I don't know I think I may of read that if your water is super alkline that pure vinager helps if added carefully :idontmaybe she put too much in if thats the case

She wasn't there today. I'll try tomorrow...

She told me today that she meant ammonia. She has no idea what the parts of her filters are, what the cycle is or ANYTHING. She said that a man at some petstore told her to buy 10 feeders and put them in the tank and to replace them as they die off and when no more die, the tank is "ready for fish".

......................... Goldfish aren't fish? FISH is in the name: goldFISH! I tried to tell her about the cycle and that she could do it without fish and she thought that a fishless cycle was something you bought to put in the tank.

She thinks that goldfish only live for a few months. I showed her how big Lloyd is with my hands and told her that he's almost 3 years old.

I tried to help her and she got mean with me and didn't want to listen because, apparently, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Sorry about my little rant, but GRRR!!!!!

That is soooooooooooo frustrating!
I guess she's too stubbern to listen if you referred her to a good book or this website hey?

She didn't give me a chance.

That's so sad. All of those poor fish.
Did "they" even mention to her that once all of her "vinegar" was gone and it was "safe" to put the fish in - that the nitrates would probably be so incredibly high that she'd need a water change?

Perhaps you should write down the url to the forum and just say "I won't harp on you anymore about your fish, but if they keep dying and you don't know what to do, try coming here."

Who knows.. maybe she'll be a member before you know it. Unfortunately, you can't change the minds of some people. They think the lfs employees are the experts, and a co-worker just thinks they know what they're talking about.

I hope you can at least find comfort knowing that you tried. And good for you!!

Debbie