# Big Al's Hamilton



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Anyone know what's going on in the fish room? We were there today and their new saltwater tanks all look like total crap. Many tanks with dead fish, a dead anemone... The top level of coral tanks did not appear to be draining and had gross chunks of red slime in them, and there was a lot of red slime in most other tanks, too. And they have a tank full of dog face puffers that are horrendously emaciated (and at least one needs dentistry BADLY) but they are up for sale. I was tempted to speak with the guys but the ones I know weren't there and the ones that were there were busy trying to look busy and talking among themselves...

I didn't even check out the FW section, I was so grossed out I had to leave...

I'm curious what's going on. They're like any BA's, sometimes better than others, but this was disgusting...

System problem? Fish room manager on vacation or quit? Owner away?


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

isn't that where doug is? that sounds horrible.


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

Yea, but he's not in the fish room, unfortunately...


----------



## Angelic (Sep 13, 2010)

I thought it was just me when I went in last time. There was barely any fish to look and and anything that was there looked sick and there was always dead fish at the bottom of the tank :/ 

Also, they are usually really friendly with me and the last time I was there noone talked to me and even though there was at least 4 people there, they are "looked busy" or they were just hanging out talking to each other. 

Its the only big pet store that I really go to in my area so it was really disapointing to see it looking that way. I don't really know when i'll go back there again


----------



## rhstranger (Dec 23, 2010)

My wife, son and I went on the weekend for the first time. Great prices on food, Malaysian driftwood, wood-on-slate, but i agree, fish selection and health in quite a few tanks was questionable. We went for some angelfish, which they had very few of. Koi angelfish were on sale for 8.99 each. Unfortunately the tank marked for Koi was filled with what looked like white blushing angels. They had a few stragglers in another tank, a couple marble & pinoy (I think) that were in pretty drab shape. I was also looking for plecos, which they had tagged pretty generically. "Spotted pleco - $5.99" left alot of possibilities open. It was busy, but for the 25 min of me standing around, trying to catch someone's attention, it was pretty poor customer service. 
I bought the supplies, but ended up buying a couple angels & and clown plec at my LFS. Prices were higher, but I was helped quickly, and the fish are pretty good quality. Disappointing, as I was really excited to go there.


----------



## Angelic (Sep 13, 2010)

One other thing I remember. I went in a couple weeks ago and saw a tank that said rummynose tetras so I ran over all excited cause I wanted some and they never have any but they looked "off" so I asked one of the younger boys who worked there about it and he actually told me they aren't true rummynose but they list them as rummynose anyways.....


----------



## Jackson (Jan 30, 2009)

I have never been to a big al's and seen a healthy puffer. IMO nonpuffer should be brought in unless it's a special order and a nonrefundable deposit is taken first. 
I hate seeing puffers abused the way they are. 

The worst Ive seen was Newmarket holding 10+ miurus puffers in one tank. Let's just say not a single puffer in there was not missing a few chunks.

From what I've seen the NY store has stepped up some. They used to be very bad.


----------



## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Hi Carmen, I was just there on Saturday and the tanks were much better than you described them, aside from the emaciated puffers. Only two marine fish were seen dead (one clownfish in with the puffers/lionfish, and something I didn't recognise in with the tangs). the one in with the puffers was no doubt an attempt at feeding these guys.



carmenh said:


> Anyone know what's going on in the fish room? We were there today and their new saltwater tanks all look like total crap. Many tanks with dead fish, a dead anemone... The top level of coral tanks did not appear to be draining and had gross chunks of red slime in them, and there was a lot of red slime in most other tanks, too. And they have a tank full of dog face puffers that are horrendously emaciated (and at least one needs dentistry BADLY) but they are up for sale. I was tempted to speak with the guys but the ones I know weren't there and the ones that were there were busy trying to look busy and talking among themselves...
> I didn't even check out the FW section, I was so grossed out I had to leave...
> I'm curious what's going on. They're like any BA's, sometimes better than others, but this was disgusting...
> System problem? Fish room manager on vacation or quit? Owner away?


Doug is the dry goods manager I beleive and has little to non to do with the livestock. He wasn't in on Saturday while I was there.

I bought a crab and a feather duster for my pico, 12 rumminose, 9 ottos (1.99 ea), and some turquoise rainbows.


----------



## carmenh (Dec 20, 2009)

There may well have been 2 separate problems that occurred between Saturday and Monday. Problem 1, I would guess that no maintenance/clean-up had been done AT ALL. There were a number of tanks (aside from the puffer tank) that had fish in them that were in various stages of illness, death, and decomposition :-( And problem 2, there must have been some sort of hardware failure affecting at least part of the system...seriously, the top level coral tank was damn near stagnant :-( The issues may not have been related, but IMHO it was very alarming that none of the guys were making the slightest attempt to attend to either...
I often patronize this location, but I certainly wouldn't buy anything yesterday and I hope like hell this doesn't become the norm for them...



Will Hayward said:


> Hi Carmen, I was just there on Saturday and the tanks were much better than you described them, aside from the emaciated puffers. Only two marine fish were seen dead (one clownfish in with the puffers/lionfish, and something I didn't recognise in with the tangs). the one in with the puffers was no doubt an attempt at feeding these guys.
> 
> Doug is the dry goods manager I beleive and has little to non to do with the livestock. He wasn't in on Saturday while I was there.
> 
> I bought a crab and a feather duster for my pico, 12 rumminose, 9 ottos (1.99 ea), and some turquoise rainbows.


----------



## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

carmenh said:


> I often patronize this location, but I certainly wouldn't buy anything yesterday and I hope like hell this doesn't become the norm for them...


Especially after all the work that was put into dismantelling and rebuilding all the cichlid tanks and all the marine tanks.

At the very least it was nice to recently see their shark go a larger 5000 gallon tank.

Hopefully things are under control again soon, as I hope to be back next weekend or the one after.


----------



## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

carmenh said:


> Anyone know what's going on in the fish room? We were there today and their new saltwater tanks all look like total crap. Many tanks with dead fish, a dead anemone... The top level of coral tanks did not appear to be draining and had gross chunks of red slime in them, and there was a lot of red slime in most other tanks, too. And they have a tank full of dog face puffers that are horrendously emaciated (and at least one needs dentistry BADLY) but they are up for sale. I was tempted to speak with the guys but the ones I know weren't there and the ones that were there were busy trying to look busy and talking among themselves...
> 
> I didn't even check out the FW section, I was so grossed out I had to leave...
> 
> ...


i think this was when they were getting ready to revamp the fish room they gutted the whole marine section, swapped out a bunch of tanks and reworked the plumbing


----------



## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

mrobson said:


> i think this was when they were getting ready to revamp the fish room they gutted the whole marine section, swapped out a bunch of tanks and reworked the plumbing


This was after that.


----------



## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

oh really eh thats no good i havent been by since i scrapped my 55g, if you go up on the mountain were all the new outlet stores are i think its rymal rd there is a pjs express they have some reasonably priced stuff that doesnt look to bad i got a potted anubias afzelii for around $5 when i got it home i saw i had gotten 2


----------

