Kole Tang Keepers

So improper QT process? or just QTing this fish in general? It was my first attempt to QT which could definitely be the problem and the process i have is by no means set in stone.

 

No offense and not trying to be smart or rude. But that method is for freshwater only. Saltwater is way more complex than freshwater plus fish are 3x more expensive. Maybe you have the money to waste if your fish doesn't make it but most people don't. Salinity, temp, light, acclimation time all play a roll in the reduction of stress and if the fish is ill can cause more difficultly with its health and success to survive you just don't know when you get a fish from a lfs or online. So it is vital to make sure you practice these methods for a good success rate. Now it's not 100% guarantee but I'm sure it increases your odds tremendously!!!

 

What are your water parameters in your qt? You say slow drip also, your drip should be 1-2 drips per second. Also you don't have to float the fish before you start the drip that temperature adjusts also. To know when your fish is ready the parameters in the bucket should match the tank or be very close. I also just leave the light off until the next day.

 

Ill be short with this one and will say that I do drip acclimate the fish I have received in the past but not corals or inverts.

Vinny is on to something, I know it seems like a FW method only but really it plays more into SW than most of us like to believe. Drip acclimation is extremely stressful and the problem really stems from how long the fish has been in the bag. The longer the fish is in the bag the more concentrated the fish waste in that water becomes leading to a rise in ammonia. At the same time the pH level goes down which detoxifies ammonia, the reason why a FW tank with a pH of 6.5 can have an ammonia reading off the charts yet the fish seem to thrive normally and not instantly go belly up. As you drip acclimate and expose the old water to your DT or QT tank water with high pH and fresh air, the pH will rise and the ammonia will become more toxic stressing and possibly killing your fish. Fresh air also increases pH levels as the old air in the bag is more and more CO2 concentrated the longer the bag is sealed. If you drive 20 minutes to your pet store to buy a fish this in basically useless information but if you have a fish in a bag for hours on end it becomes extremely important to remember. I have always bought my fish in person and close to home so bag time is 45 minutes max.

Copy and pasted from john at reefcleaners

1. Float the bag in your tank to get the animals used to the temperature in your aquarium.

2. Wait 15 minutes.

3. Add animals to the tank, discard shipping water and any towels used in the packaging.

4. DO NOT DRIP ACCLIMATE.

It is normal if many of the shipping bags have little water, and a wet paper towel. They were shipped that way purposefully.

Important: Snails may go through shock during shipping, and be closed when they arrive. You should give them plenty of time to come out of their shells and move around before deciding they didn't make the trip. Snails may go dormant for up to 3 days.

You may find this to be different than the acclimation procedure you are used to carrying out. The reason we ask our customers to use this procedure is because our snails and crabs live intertidally, and can handle swings in ph/salinity without a problem. However, what they can't handle is toxic levels of ammonia. During the shipping process, ammonia levels in the shipping bags build, while the ph level goes down. As the ph goes down the toxicity of ammonia also goes down. However, when your tank water with normal ph is introduced to the shipping bags, and the ph rises, so does the toxicity of the ammonia, and you will be poisoning the livestock. Please don't do this and certainly never let livestock sit out in buckets with shipping water exposed to fresh air for a long period of time, we know of no surer way to kill your new arrivals. Please don't acclimate them in this way, we do not cover the losses that will result, and will enforce this policy strictly. We understand you may not prefer different acclimation procedures, but this works and the rest will lead to more losses so please experiment with other products, not ours we do not accept the additional risk involved. Any other method of acclimation voids the Alive Arrival Guarantee. It is an easy method of acclimation and it works fine, please follow it.


A small piece from liveaquaria which provided steps for both drip and float acclimation, the whole article can be found here http://www.liveaquaria.com/PIC/article.cfm?aid=157

"Never place an airstone into the shipping bag when acclimating your new arrival. This will increase the pH of the shipping water too quickly and expose your new arrival to lethal ammonia."

When it comes to fish I dont believe any of us test CA, K, pH etc on a consistant basis between bag water and DT. The biggest issue is SG and many of my fish come from reef systems at the lfs so the SG is pretty close to mine. I test both bag and DT and if they are close I have a pretty short acclimation period basically accounting for temp.

 

^^^^^^If my acclimation procedure was a problem (ie killing things)I would never continue to use it nor would I encourage others to do so.

There is a method to my madness...

 

QT parameters were pretty comparable to me DT.
Sainity 1.026
Temp 80 little warmer than DT
PH 8.2 little lower than DT
Nitrates were ~10, 0 on DT
Alk 9.6

Didn't check Cal Mag or Phosphates and don't have Potassium.

My drip was about 2 per second, i did float it first though and as i was wondered if dripping set the temp as well. There was light in the room i acclimated him in and the fuge light probably added light as well, but i covered the sides of the tank with newspaper so he wouldn't see everytime i had to walk by the tank. The QT doesn't have its own light so no light was ever turned on right above it.

This is how i acclimate coral and inverts.

So basically with temp and salinity the same i could reduce/delete any drip acclimation? That is basically what i was asking before, i could lower my qt salinity to the shipping bag salinity pretty quick and then move the fish in there pretty quick.

There is always a method to your madness. I have followed much advice of yours in the past and never been burned, but dropping a fish in after floating a few minutes is a bit hard for me to do.

 

Not to beat a dead horse but most online vendors will use ammonia binders and 02 for fish transported in bags.This will limit to some extent the lowering of the ph in the water and keep the ammonia from becoming as toxic when they are drip acclimated.

I like getting them in the system quickly.The quicker they go in the quicker they can get calm so to speak.Calm is good.
Everytime you move a fish,or keep them in a truly unatural enviroment you add stress.JM2C