FishProfiles.com Message Forums

When I joined here 6 mo. ago I posted a topic, "Help with PH debate!" I was using "Jungle" test strips from wal-mart......brand new & not outdated. Everyone here said do not use test strips, they aren't very accurate. I said I would get a good liquid test kit & compare the two & put the results on here.

Today I got a Master Test Kit from API. I tested one of my tanks with the Jungle strips & then tested the same tank with the master kit. The results are below.

Jungle Test Strips
............................
ammonia .5 stress level

nitrate 40

nitrite 0

hardness GH 300 very hard

alkalinity KH 300 high

ph 8.4 high
....................................

API Master Test Kit
..........................
ammonia 0

nitrate 40 or 80 (was hard to tell)

nitrite 0

(no tests for hardness or alkalinity)

ph 7.6
........................

One of the reasons I wanted a good test kit was cause the Jungle said we had ammonia coming straight out of out tap water. It even said a jug of just opened bottled water had ammonia in it! I just tested our tap water with the master kit.......no ammonia in it.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN TEST KITS!

There sure is, ive been using the API kits for a long time now. Those strips are about as stable as a troubled child on crack. Dont know why people bother with them TBH.

Hi,
Test strips are subject to the environment in which they
are stored. They have to be kept dry, cool, and in a dark
place. If they aren't, they can absorb moisture,
and become contaminated. Even exposure to light
can affect their readings.
Couple that with the problems many folks have
distinguishing shades of some colors, and one can wind
up with questionable findings.

The liquid test kits, especially those that produce a
complete color change (blue to green or green to yellow,
etc.) are more accurate as you are actually titrating the
test sample and count the number of drops needed to
accomplish the color change rather than comparing the
change to a color chart. These test kits are more subject
to age, than storage problems and one should pay attention
to the date of manufacture for these kits. Because they
are more expensive than strips, they can languish on a
shelf at a LFS and be sold "out of date." I keep my API
test kit closed up in its plastic case, and out of habit,
in a cool dark place. I also change it out annually.

Test kits that use sealed "pillows" of powdered reagents
are probably the most accurate that the average fish keeper
can use. These are manufactured, and sealed under controlled
conditions, and as long as the "pillow" is sealed, the
tests are good. These kits are much more expensive and
not necessary for most of us.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

The thing that got me about these Jungle test strips Frank was when I first got them brand new & not outdated (you guys had me check), it said my tank was full of ammonia, so I started doing water changes like every couple of days to try & get it down. It's a 55 gal. tank & I didn't have a python then!

Then when I tested our tap water & bottled water & it said there was ammonia in them too, that's when I became suspicious & didn't do as many water changes. I got down to doing it once a week & have pretty much kept it up.

I just tested our tap water with the strips again. It says the same thing it did 6 mo. ago brand new....... 3.0 ppm of ammonia in our tap water = harmful. The master kit says 0.
So I was doing all that worrying for nothing, thinking my fish were living in ammonia & that we were drinking it, & doing all those water changes!

I'm done on this site for right now, so I'm going to write that company & tell them what I think of their test strips! They caused me needless worry & $20. down the drain! I got the master test kit on line for for $15.99 & $7.45 shipping. A much better deal for the improved quality!

I wrote that company yesterday complaining about their product & telling them everything in detail. Today they send me a reply that sounds like a form letter they send to everyone that complains! HA! This is it below. No one is probably interested, but it makes me feel better to post it here.

Thank you for your inquiry about Jungle(r) products. I understand what you are saying and we in Customer Service at Jungle Laboratories are also here not only to help solve problems with fish, but to listen to our customers' recommendations. We do pass on to our management any recommendations that our customers feel are important to them, and they are given consideration in new packaging and products.

Jungle(r) Quick Dip(r) test strips are designed from the same technology used in medical and science laboratories, giving you fast and accurate results. Jungle Quick Dip test strips are safe, nontoxic and simple to use. Just dip and read your results in seconds.

Extensive testing has been done to assure their accuracy. The resulting data indicate that these test strips can perform equal to or better than the leading reagent test kits for the parameters tested when manufacturers' directions for use were followed. Quick Dip test strips were often as accurate or even more accurate than reagent test kits in laboratory-prepared samples, designed to imitate aquarium water.

We are available to answer any questions you may have. Please give us a call at 1-800-357-7104 anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 4:45 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday, or e-mail us at info@junglelabs.com.



Sincerely,

Cassandra Kearns
Customer Resource Representative
1-800-357-7104
www.Junglelabs.com
www.Junglepond.com

Lol, that would be based on scientific research designed specifically to prove that they are as good as the other test kits , as oppose to disproving that fact.Its amazing how data adds up when a little spin is added.

I dont think theyre fooling anyone. If research isnt independantly regulated to a standard, regarding ethics, and large control groups used, conditions of study satisfactorily met, and all data included in the results, etc etc, might as well throw the results straight in the trash. That, along with the advertising of such products should all be properly government regulated, and ...it aint. Even the meds arent regulated. Tested for safety maybe, but do they work? Not often enough they dont.

The industry is in a poor state ethically, but they have lawyers making sure they get away with it. If people could sue over fish deaths the same way that they do for humans , youd see half the stock on the shelves of your average LFS disappear overnight.

Notably a lot of fish shops use those test strips as part of their guarantee for water testing in case of fish returns. Wouldnt surprise me if so many of those strips register ammonia that they can say no on a return to almost everyone. Cunning eh?

I suppose you could always try irritating them by asking for the specific quality control and test results, plus the research data, and ask who conducted it , when and how. Probably find they just asked somebody in the street for testimonials. You know type of person they ask, the dude with an abnormally low forehead, whos been on tv 5 times this year describing what a tornado sounded like for tv news.


Or the company that did the research was the same one who quotes anti ageing products reduce visible lines by 5 times. Visible to what, an electron micrograph? Or those tests that show 9 out of 10 cats (presumably all hand selected from cats who eat nothing but one brand since they were a few weeks old) prefer a certain brand. Notably the same one they eat all the time as opposed to one thats made exclusively from wheat fillers and smells like a whale carcass. Maybe its like those dewormers for dogs and cats sold in supermarkets, where are scientifically proven to kill worms. Or as the case may be, scientifically proven to kill one worm in 50, which is about the same as your pet eating a pickled onion.

"Other leading brands" I love that term. Other leading brands in say a small province of guatemala, or maybe chernoble. They always neglect to give the details of "leading brands".

I love corporate research. Theres lies, damn lies, and then theres corporate research.

It's all about the money. Any company that is on the US stock market has to show a profit or they are not a company anymore. They send big money to our congressmen to change law at we never see. You know those thing called rider bills. Until, we unite as a world they will continue to sell products that don't work while suppressing the one's that do. There no money in curing, fixing a problem.

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

What can I say? I believe I tend to agree with both of you. I'm contemplating writing a return letter. Not that it will do any good......but just to voice my side of the situation & reassure them that I did the tests many times & correctly & the results were still wrong.They said in this quote below:

We do pass on to our management any recommendations that our customers feel are important to them, and they are given consideration in new packaging and products.

I will tell them to pass on to the management that I feel that it is important & that my recommendation to them is to quit making & selling such a lousy product.

Maybe even that it would be the right thing for them to refund my $20. cause I wasted it on a product that didn't even work right & had to spend more money on one that did.