how to pass water test

[snus29]

ok so i recently bought 2 fish and a shrimp from petco, added them to the aquarium, and they looked great. they eventually died the next day (all three) every other fish ive had in there for about 3 months now all healthy. im going to bring them back tonight and i was wondering if there was a for sure way to pass the water test. i was gonna put tap water in a bottle and then put a few drops of water conditioner in there to kill all threatening bacteria, ammonia, chlorinw, etc. will this work? i NEED to get these fish back, it came up to a combined price of $40 for 3 things and they all died the next day. im just extremely mad at the condition of them. PLEASE give me some advice on how i can 100% pass the freshwater test. i appreciate it.



THANK YOU

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Well what does your water test as? If the water is fine, just bring that sample in (probably were sick from the store in that case - likely that the store has lost several in the mean time as well). If something is out of whack with the water, and they're just going to give you new fish, which will then die because of some kind of funky water condition in your tank, you are still out $40 (because they aren't going to replace them a second time...). Plus the dishonesty...

My advise would be to do a big water change (50% if possible). IF the fish were healthy from the store, my guess would be that the nitrate level in the tank was super high (from doing few / no water changes for quite a while), and the fish currently in the tank are used to it but new fish can't adjust to it that fast. Or similarly, an extremely high or low pH that the current fish are used to but not the new guys. Either way, that will be good for the current fish and make it more hospitable for new fish.

 

[FishDad]

You want advice on how to lie?