Acclimating a mail ordered fish

[jasonrusso]

I know that when a fish is shipped in the mail, the pH of the water goes down which lessens the toxicity of the ammonia which builds up in the water. For this reason, you are not supposed to drip acclimate the fish in that water.

Some people say to just match the SG of the QT tank and the bag water, float the bag to match the temp and them plunk them in. Should I be worried about pH shock if I am doing that? I've drip acclimated them before I read about the dangers of this, and I never really had a problem but I could have been lucky.

A fish from the LFS goes into a bucket with a small heater and then gets drip acclimated for 45-60 minutes. That's easy because it's a short trip and I don't worry about ammonia build-up.

 

[evolved]

Some people say to just match the SG of the QT tank and the bag water, float the bag to match the temp and them plunk them in.

Yup!

Should I be worried about pH shock if I am doing that?

Most fish are not all that sensitive to such, and usually it's not that far off anyway.

A fish from the LFS goes into a bucket with a small heater and then gets drip acclimated for 45-60 minutes. That's easy because it's a short trip and I don't worry about ammonia build-up.

Right - that's a much different story than a fish that's been in a bag 24 hours.

 

[ZoaCollector]

We deal with hundreds of fish and drip acclimating has always been the best method.
Just scoop out water as the containers fill to exchange the bag water.
If the shipper took care in packing and sent a healthy fish you shouldn't have ammonia problems.
There are a few types of fish out there that are really sensitive to ph swings, leopards and tamarin wrasse are a couple of them.

 

[eatbreakfast]

When acclimating transhipped fish the method I have found most effective is using reef water, dropping the ph to match the shipped water via co2, then dripping for about 20-30min.

For shipped fish, just match temp, no acclimation other than that.

 

[jasonrusso]

If the shipper took care in packing and sent a healthy fish you shouldn't have ammonia problems.

Wouldn't any fish release ammonia as waste, healthy or not?

When acclimating transhipped fish the method I have found most effective is using reef water, dropping the ph to match the shipped water via co2, then dripping for about 20-30min.

I don't think dropping the ph of a 225 gallon tank is practical, lol

 

[evolved]

I don't think dropping the ph of a 225 gallon tank is practical, lol

That's an awfully big QT!

 

[eatbreakfast]

We drop the ph of the drip bucket, in our case a big rubbermaid bin.

 

[dh350twin]

Sounds like a lot of people are getting fish shipped time for a new thread.

 

[jasonrusso]

That's an awfully big QT!

Good point, I wasn't thinking I could raise the QT to match the DT!

 

[jasonrusso]

Sounds like a lot of people are getting fish shipped time for a new thread.

Sounds like a volunteer!

 

[dh350twin]

Sounds like a volunteer!

I just started a new thread

 

[dh350twin]

When I have fish shipped and they have been in the bags for 24 hrs. I put them all in a tub. I check ph, temp,salinity. I drip acclimate with a heater and air stone placed in the tub and I use Amquel plus to remove ammonia and buff the ph up or down mostly up to match my qt. When salt,ph, temp match over the course of two hrs or so then they go in with lights out

 

[jasonrusso]

When I have fish shipped and they have been in the bags for 24 hrs. I put them all in a tub. I check ph, temp,salinity. I drip acclimate with a heater and air stone placed in the tub and I use Amquel plus to remove ammonia and buff the ph up or down mostly up to match my qt. When salt,ph, temp match over the course of two hrs or so then they go in with lights out

So you use an ammonia blocker. I use Prime, but it would be hard not to drastically overdose in a bucket.

 

[dh350twin]

So you use an ammonia blocker. I use Prime, but it would be hard not to drastically overdose in a bucket.

I have used prime as well. But if it's just one fish I will seriously only use a couple drops
Also not sure you can over dose that. Good question for @Humblefish

 

[bsagea]

Lately the fish we have received from LiveAquaria (not Diver's Den) have come in with the salinity at 1.19. It takes a few hours to raise that properly as to not hurt the fish. From another article "Hyposalinity is a very effective treatment for parasitic conditions such as Marine "Ich" (Cryptocaryon irritans.) and can also be used to lower stress in fish." I gradually change out the water. Don't believe just matching the temp without matching salinity and ph is the way to go IMO.
bsa

 

[dh350twin]

Lately the fish we have received from LiveAquaria (not Diver's Den) have come in with the salinity at 1.19. It takes a few hours to raise that properly as to not hurt the fish. From another article "Hyposalinity is a very effective treatment for parasitic conditions such as Marine "Ich" (Cryptocaryon irritans.) and can also be used to lower stress in fish." I gradually change out the water. Don't believe just matching the temp without matching salinity and ph is the way to go IMO.
bsa

Hypo is 1.09

 

[jeff williams]

Brew12 has a post on acclimating fish I've used it and it works just fine it goes basically like this.
Match SG in tank to shipping bag float bag in tank to temp acclimate 20 or so minutes then net out the fish and plop it in the tank. Ph really isn't a concern temp and SG are the big concerns.
I've also drip acclimated shipped fish I will add 1-2 drops of prime in the bag and ammonia is no longer an issue however make sure when you order your fish ask the saller what's in his water if there's copper don't add prime

 

[bsagea]

Hypo is 1.09

Very true on the hypo! I was just saying the lower salinity that fish are also shipped in nowadays. Possibly the 1.19 helps lessen the stress as well.
bsa

 

[Mike&Terry]

...Some people say to just match the SG of the QT tank and the bag water, float the bag to match the temp and them plunk them in. Should I be worried about pH shock if I am doing that? I've drip acclimated them before I read about the dangers of this, and I never really had a problem but I could have been lucky.

I use this method - much less stressful than drip acclimation.

 

[JasPR]

So you use an ammonia blocker. I use Prime, but it would be hard not to drastically overdose in a bucket.

well, if you have a more sensitive fish-- test the pH in the water. IF the fish has been in the bag a long time, the pH will be low ( 7-7.8) which is good because it makes the ammonia less toxic. IF you drip the fish the internal bag water will grow more and more toxic as the pH adjusts higher. So 'if' the fish is a known to be a sensitive species and 'if' the fish has been in the mail for 24-30 hours-- to be super safe it is best to lower your source water to the same low pH in a separate container and use that water for acclimation. If you think about it, most the damage a fish will experience is during acclimation as bag pH rises and ammonia becomes more and more toxic. With hardy species, it might be wise to adjust the pH lower to equal the bag and adjust temperature to exact and, IF your water is not peculiar in some other parameter-- simple move the fish from the bag to the adjusted pH water in the container and THEN begin acclimation to the actual pH of the Qtank water