acclimating fish

My particular preference and method that I use is to
1.) Call the LFS and/or online retailer and ask them what they keep the salinity at that the fish will come from.
2.) Set up a QT with that exact salinity (it should be within .002).
3.) Once you get the fish, float for 15 minutes for temp acclimation.
4.) Open the bag and verify that the bags salinity and your QT tank are within .002 of each other.
5.) Dump the fish in.

As mentioned by inwall75, as soon as you open the bag ammonia starts to build up. This is more important when the fish has been in the bag overnight. You have approx 30 minutes or so before the ammonia build up becomes toxic, imo.

 

Can someone elaborate on this "drip" method? I'm confused.

 

The drip method is where you:
1.) Acclimate for 15-20 minutes for temp by floating
2.) Open the bag and dump the water plus fish in a small bucket.
3.) Grab some aquarium tubing, syphon water from the DT/QT and tie a knot in the other end of the tubing so that salt water drips from the DT/QT to the bucket that the fish is in (about 1 drop every 2 seconds). This will slowly acclimate the fish to the saltwater in the tank that you are placing the fish in.
4.) After 30 minutes or so, remove some of the water and continue. This method will slowly bring the salinity up in the bucket to the DT. After 1-3 hours, the fish should be acclimated.

This method works ok if you grabbed the fish from a LFS. If the fish was shipped overnight, however; ammonia will start to build up. IMO, this is not a good option if you had the fish shipped b/c of the ammonia build up.

You can also google "drip acclimation" if you need some more details =). You should get plenty of results.

Hope this helps.

 

I C... thanks for clarifying I never heard of this method but I have been out of the game for a long time. If the salinity is the same from LFS as my DT should this method still be used?

 

This is what I always use:
My particular preference and method that I use is to
1.) Call the LFS and/or online retailer and ask them what they keep the salinity at that the fish will come from.
2.) Set up a QT with that exact salinity (it should be within .002).
3.) Once you get the fish, float for 15 minutes for temp acclimation.
4.) Open the bag and verify that the bags salinity and your QT tank are within .002 of each other.
5.) Dump the fish in.

FWIW, I just added a Copperband Butterfly to my QT using this method 2 days ago and I also added 3 schooling bannerfish to another QT that I have with success.
The warehouse that these fish come from seem to always have the salinity at 1.018 which is what I always set my QT's at when the new fish come in. Works great everytime!

One other thing that I would like to add is that it is easier for a fish to adjust to a LOWER salinity than higher salinity. Therefore, if you error, make sure to error on the "low side."
(e.g.: if the bag the fish is in is 1.020, it is easier for the fish to adjust to 1.017 than it is for 1.023.).

 

Comments to the procedure below:

If you are going to drip for an hour or more then temperature acclimating up front is not necessary as the the water will be close to room temp by the time you're done anyway.

You can also get an airline tubing valve for easier use. I've got about five tubes with valves on them for just this purpose.

Additionally, a drop every two seconds is far too slow. You want anywhere from 2-4 per second or enough to double or triple the initial water volume in about an hour.

The lower end of the 1-3 hour mark is more appropriate. Three hours would be way too much time.

You can use the drip method for shipped fish, but have some de-ammonizer on hand and put a few drops in the bag as soon as you open it.

Additional comments:

- Don't put an airstone in the acclimation container, especially if the fish was shipped. When a fish is shipped, CO2 builds up and lowers the PH. Adding O2 can raise the PH rapidly. This does two things... first it raises the PH rapidly! Second, low PH causes ammonia to morph into lesser toxic ammonium. When the PH rises it converts back to ammonia, which is toxic and adds a lot of stress to an already stressful situation for the fish.

- I've used a modified drip method (accelerated) when I've had fish come in that were on their side, barely breathing. What I do here is add a cup of aquarium water to the acclimation bucket first then put the new arrival in. I add de-ammonizer to neutralize any ammonia. Then I start a very fast drip and every 10 minutes or so add another cup of water from the aquarium. This method reduces the acclimation time/stress, but can be dangerous if water parameters are dramatically different. I've never lost a fish doing this method and have saved quite a few. Again, only for when a quick acclimation is necessary.