Just Wondering on The Logic

We all go to a great deal of trouble to acclimate our fish to keep them healthy and improve their survival rate in their new home. So with that in mind we bring home a new fish and float the bag in the tank for varing lengths of time (depending on who you listen to) adding amounts of tank water using different methods over various lengths of time. Now the fish is ready to be added to it's new home. BUT WAIT! Some say this is the time for a fresh water dip which at best is the same temp and PH but nothing else matches. After a few minutes in this fresh water NOW into it's new home. :-/ Somehow this seems illogical to me. Could someone set me straight on this?

 

FWIW, I've never done a freshwater dip on a new fish....

 

That's because it is illogical. I've never done this and never will.
That's supposed to kill any parasite that might be on the fish prior to addition. However doing this will stress out your fish and I don't see the benefit.

The best thing to do is to have a QT tank and put the fish there until ready. I personally just add the fish after acclimating. I try to pick them as healthy as possible though.
Then I feed really nutritious food and all my fish have been healthy.

 

I'm glad to hear that others think this is illogical too ;D It seems that the addition of a new fish poses the greatest risk for parasites etc. thus the need for the dip. :-/ From my experence if one fish gets a bug they all are exposed and COULD come down with it along with everything in the tank, LR gravel etc. Going to dip the whole tank? How about a fast water change with freshwater then quick change back to saltwater?!! NAWWW! that won't work! How about some info for when a freshwater dip makes sense.

 

I have read where a freshwater dip can be one of the methods used to treat a fish that has come down with some sort of parasite such as ich but even then it's one of many methods that can be recommended. I considered once to treat a small spot on a fish I had but then chose not to because parasites are more likely to pop up when your fish is stressed and by chasing it around the tank, then putting it in a freshwater dip, actually IMO would create more stress so I opted to just feed well with food mixed with garlic, kept an eye on it and the spots eventually disappeared.

 

The reason for a freshwater dip is to remove any external parasites such as flukes. The osmotic change is not as stressful as a sudden temperature change on a fish

Illogical in my eyes is not having a QT system set up. Then you can have easy access to the fish and you can treat it as needed while training it onto food and acclimating it to trusting you.

 

Agree, no logic.

 

See, if you QT and treat everything first, then you don't have to worry about catching and treating later. Depends how many problems you want to make for yourself later on.

It also doesn't hurt to test the sg of the bag water vs your QT tank. If the bag water is much lower, as some fish stores tend to run low sg, the you need to do a much longer drip. If it's very close, I just match temperature for a short acclimation. With corals, I also test alk. It's not uncommon to see it at 6, while mine is at 10.