? how to acclimate a fish ?

[Landry]

[I have been told recently by several people that my acclimation procedure might be causing undue stress. The following is my typical procedure.

* Float bag for 10-15 min to adjust for temp
* Empty contents of bag (gingerly) into an empty tea pitcher
* Use an IV drip to adjust for pH etc for about 45min or until full
* pour off most excess h2O then place critter into tank

Does this seem excessive or harsh? Would like recommendations for what has worked for y'all.]

 

[Richard]

[I also check to see if the salinity is pretty close to the
tank's water before I put the fish in.]

 

[melev]

[I know the drip method is recommended, but I've never done it myself.

Float the bag as soon as I get home, sealed. Open the bag after 10 minutes, clamping it so it can't sink. (If the tank is full of corals, floating it in the sump is a great way to protect corals.)

I pour in a small cup of tank water into the bag every 10 minutes, using a timer to remind me to stay on schedule.

As soon as the water volume in the bag is doubled, I pour the excess into the sink and add the piece of livestock or fish. I try to reduce as much of the foreign water from entering my system. You can even pour your creature into a net over a bucket, to remove all water. However, some livestock needs to be submerged all the time such as some starfish and all sponges. Even some fish need to be poured in, because a net may damage them, ie: puffers.

If you think it will be a long time due to major issues - Very busy day; Salinity way way way off from matching the display tank's water; etc... Add an airstone. I had the new Rose BTA in a specimen box for about 11 hours before I was able to add it to the tank. I kept it in place over my phytoplankton cultures, because I use a 65w 50/50 PC bulb and the temperature was stable that day. Keeping the airstone bubbling, the water was oxygen rich and circulating gently, and the Rose was perfectly healthy once added to my tank.

One time it took me about 11 hours to acclimate some Mexican Turbo snails that Cody delivered. Specific gravity was 1.031, and the tank was 1.023 Granted, I was using the small dosing cup (30ml) I normally use for B-Ionic, and kept forgetting to add water in a timely fashion, but none of those snails died. It was 2am when sg finally matched!]

 

[mwolek]

[I do what Marc does, float for 10 min, open the bag and make a "cuff" around the top and float it, adding aquarium water every so often, then dumping the water thru a net and adding the fish.

One thing to note, the O2 content of water with an open bag is MUCH lower, then when the bag is sealed and pressurized.

Another thing that is usually not an issue but might be....If you ever get a fish that is still bagged from shipping, often the ammonia is very very high, way to high, the fish should be dead but its not....why?? Well, when you have high ammonia in a closed pressurized bag of air, pH tends to plummet. I have opened bags of fish with pH's of like 5 but the fish are ok. When you open the bag the pH tends to rise, making the ammonia more toxic to the livestock. (when ph drops ammonia becomes less toxic) On rare ocasions its best just to get the fish out of the nasty bag water and into the tank. Luckily our LFS's take this hit for us for the most part, but imo you should still be aware.]

 

[Amanda]

[Another note to add to Mwoleks ammonia toxicity is that adding an airstone to a bag in this condition can cause the ph to rise extremely fast and the ammonia level to become fatal for the fish. Dont add an airstone to a fish/critter that has been shipped!

I pretty much use the same method as Marc. The drip method is too time consuming for me and moving the fish around could cause more stress.
I add smaller amounts of water every 3-5 minutes, like a turkey baster full or a small measuring cup. I always check the salinity of the bag first to see how far it is off.]

 

[mwolek]

[

Quote:
Another note to add to Mwoleks ammonia toxicity is that adding an airstone to a bag in this condition can cause the ph to rise extremely fast and the ammonia level to become fatal for the fish. Dont add an airstone to a fish/critter that has been shipped!

Quote:

I think the reason for that is the build up of CO2 in the water, that would explain why the airstone would cause such a rapid increase. Would be interested to see a CO2 test on bag water after a shipment.]