Acclimating a Valentini Puffer

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

I have a baby (small) Valentini Puffer coming in this afternoon and I am getting WAY too many mixed responses on acclimation. It's the first shipped fish i've ever gotten.

What is the best way to acclimate it? Some say if you do a drip the ammonia will skyrocket and you can poison the fish, and others are saying to just plop it in after floating the bag (wont this cause issues with salinity differences?). Help!

Thanks.

dking271 · Oct 16, 2019

Where is the fish coming from and what do they recommend as far as acclimation? I usually will follow the recommendations from the supplier which most often is a drip acclimation. Depending on the sensitivity of the particular fish and condition upon arrival I will adjust my procedure accordingly. The two biggest factors are to get the salinity and temperature as close to matching as possible. I have never lost a fish during acclimation and have only had one DOA from various online vendors and more than two dozen orders. I have had a few wrasse fish that looked like they were on death’s doorstep but all recovered in QT in short order. Best of luck.

Leslie Tabor · Oct 16, 2019

The best luck I have had is following the acclimation steps on Live Aquaria. For whatever that is worth. Good luck, fun little fish!

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

dking271 said:
Where is the fish coming from and what do they recommend as far as acclimation? I usually will follow the recommendations from the supplier which most often is a drip acclimation. Depending on the sensitivity of the particular fish and condition upon arrival I will adjust my procedure accordingly. The two biggest factors are to get the salinity and temperature as close to matching as possible. I have never lost a fish during acclimation and have only had one DOA from various online vendors and more than two dozen orders. I have had a few wrasse fish that looked like they were on death’s doorstep but all recovered in QT in short order. Best of luck.

It appears they are ok with float or drip, but I also found some people saying I should also put some prime in there for the ammonia? Because of shipping

dking271 · Oct 16, 2019

MichaelReefer said:
It appears they are ok with float or drip, but I also found some people saying I should also put some prime in there for the ammonia? Because of shipping

Prime would not hurt. My goal is to get the salinity and temp in line as quickly as I can accomplish it safely. That may have me lowering the sg in the quarantine tank while I drip. If I can float for 15 and drip for 30-45min, I am comfortable. I have had some that I skipped the drip or extended the drip time. I try to replace the water 2-3 times in the drip acclimation box. Use your judgement upon arrival.

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

dking271 said:
Prime would not hurt. My goal is to get the salinity and temp in line as quickly as I can accomplish it safely. That may have me lowering the sg in the quarantine tank while I drip. If I can float for 15 and drip for 30-45min, I am comfortable. I have had some that I skipped the drip or extended the drip time. Use your judgement upon arrival.

I normally drip 1-1.5 hours. Is that too long?

SeaJay · Oct 16, 2019

I match salinity and temp in QT and drop them in. I used to drip, but I don’t really see the benefit of that most of the time. Seems to me that the extra time in the bucket could actually be more stressful.

Sailingeric · Oct 16, 2019

I float the bag and then do about a half dozen additions of water, pouring out some if the bag get too full. I love my valentini puffer. Dont freak out when you when you see it sleeping at night, often wedged up in the corner of the tank sound asleep.

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

Sailingeric said:
I float the bag and then do about a half dozen additions of water, pouring out some if the bag get too full. I love my valentini puffer. Dont freak out when you when you see it sleeping at night, often wedged up in the corner of the tank sound asleep.

Haha, good to know. My Wrasse always scared me when it would curl up in the corner and fall asleep.

dking271 · Oct 16, 2019

MichaelReefer said:
I normally drip 1-1.5 hours. Is that too long?

That is my normal drip acclimation time and have done so with shipped fish that didn’t look stressed with no adverse consequences. It really depends on how far apart the salinity between the two and the condition of the fish. Even when I drip 1-1.5 hours I’m trying to turn over the acclimation box 2-3x. On shipped fish I usually start slow and increase the drip rate as the salinity gets close. I feel that gives me the best chance to acclimate without causing ammonia poisoning. I guess the key point is I assess each case differently based on the factors presented. You know how to drip correctly and you’ll be able to tell if something faster is required. With puffers I make sure to transfer in water with a cup versus using a net to keep them from sucking in air.

Malifry97 · Oct 16, 2019

MichaelReefer said:
It appears they are ok with float or drip, but I also found some people saying I should also put some prime in there for the ammonia? Because of shipping

DON’T PUT PRIME. IF YOU PUT PRIME IN THE BUCKET AND THE PLACE YOU BOUGHT THE FISH FROM TREATED WITH COPPER, THE COPPER BECOMES WAY TO POTENT!

foxt · Oct 16, 2019

Ammonia issues can emerge with shipped fish (or any fish) that have been in the bag for a long period of time. In a sealed bag, CO2 can not escape, which in turn drives the pH of the water down to levels where ammonia is less/not toxic. When you open the bag, you release the CO2, the pH can rapidly rise, and the same level of ammonia that was in the bag at low pH now becomes toxic at the increased pH.

The trick is in getting the ammonia level down as quickly as possible once the bag is open. It is best to know the salinity of the shipped water ahead of time, so that you can match your QT salinity to that level. If you don't QT, then it is still good to know ahead of time the difference between the shipped water and your DT water - you'll know how much delta you need to overcome.

If you can't figure it out ahead of time, measure the salinity of the bag water as soon as you open it. After I float the sealed bag, I open it and empty everything into a container. If my tank's salinity and the shipped water are the same, I inspect the fish and then just release it to the tank (I QT everything, so I can easily adjust my QT to match the shipper water salinity).

If the salinity of the shipped water and the tank don't match, as soon as I empty the bag into the container, I double the volume of water by adding water from the tank. Then I keep dumping container water and refilling with tank water every 10-15 mins or so until the container matches the tank, and then I release the fish. I sometimes have to use a heater in the container to keep the water warm, but that's usually only in the winter - room temp is usually sufficient to maintain the container temp, especially since I keep adding tank water to it.

I rarely drip acclimate fish - anemones, maybe, but most fish can handle a short acclimation period. Some fish that don't ship well, or are looking stressed already before I open the bag, I might even skip the acclimation and just release them into the tank - again, that is greatly aided by being able to match the QT to the shipped water.

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

foxt said:
Ammonia issues can emerge with shipped fish (or any fish) that have been in the bag for a long period of time. In a sealed bag, CO2 can not escape, which in turn drives the pH of the water down to levels where ammonia is less/not toxic. When you open the bag, you release the CO2, the pH can rapidly rise, and the same level of ammonia that was in the bag at low pH now becomes toxic at the increased pH.

The trick is in getting the ammonia level down as quickly as possible once the bag is open. It is best to know the salinity of the shipped water ahead of time, so that you can match your QT salinity to that level. If you don't QT, then it is still good to know ahead of time the difference between the shipped water and your DT water - you'll know how much delta you need to overcome.

If you can't figure it out ahead of time, measure the salinity of the bag water as soon as you open it. After I float the sealed bag, I open it and empty everything into a container. If my tank's salinity and the shipped water are the same, I inspect the fish and then just release it to the tank (I QT everything, so I can easily adjust my QT to match the shipper water salinity).

If the salinity of the shipped water and the tank don't match, as soon as I empty the bag into the container, I double the volume of water by adding water from the tank. Then I keep dumping container water and refilling with tank water every 10-15 mins or so until the container matches the tank, and then I release the fish. I sometimes have to use a heater in the container to keep the water warm, but that's usually only in the winter - room temp is usually sufficient to maintain the container temp, especially since I keep adding tank water to it.

I rarely drip acclimate fish - anemones, maybe, but most fish can handle a short acclimation period. Some fish that don't ship well, or are looking stressed already before I open the bag, I might even skip the acclimation and just release them into the tank - again, that is greatly aided by being able to match the QT to the shipped water.

So you kinda do a "drip" method, you just dump a higher volume of water in to help dissipate the ammonia in a higher volume of water? And repair multiple times, instead of slowly doing drop by drop?

foxt · Oct 16, 2019

MichaelReefer said:
So you kinda do a "drip" method, you just dump a higher volume of water in to help dissipate the ammonia in a higher volume of water? And repair multiple times, instead of slowly doing drop by drop?

Correct. Most places where I buy online fish ship at about 35ppm, but places like Live Aquaria (not Divers Den, they are at 35ppm) are much lower and sometimes I don't bother lowering the QT to match - I just spend 30 mins or so repeating a couple of cycles of the process to get the salinity to match.

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

foxt said:
Correct. Most places where I buy online fish ship at about 35ppm, but places like Live Aquaria (not Divers Den, they are at 35ppm) are much lower and sometimes I don't bother lowering the QT to match - I just spend 30 mins or so repeating a couple of cycles of the process to get the salinity to match.

Mine is coming from Live Aquaria in California. Apparently the water there is a bit lower, so I do need to raise it a bit. I run my tank around 1.026 and theirs is around 1.021

foxt · Oct 16, 2019

I think I've even seen it lower than that at times, but haven't ordered anything from there in a while. You should be ok with the method I (and Salingeric) mentioned - no need to drip.

One other point, when the fish is ready to transfer, I do remove it from the acclimation container and then place it in the tank. I do not let the acclimation water mix with my tank water. Some places keep low levels of copper in their systems, and I don't want to add even a trace from that.

MichaelReefer · Oct 16, 2019

foxt said:
One other point, when the fish is ready to transfer, I do remove it from the acclimation container and then place it in the tank. I do not let the acclimation water mix with my tank water. Some places keep low levels of copper in their systems, and I don't want to add even a trace from that.

Whats the best way to do that with a puffer? Since they aren't supposed to be out in the air?

foxt · Oct 16, 2019

You can probably get the puffer to inflate while in the water before you transfer it. If not, what I would do is flood the acclimation container with tank water, so that it overflows and flushes most of the acclimation water. This may be entirely unnecessary, but I have always been careful not to introduce shipping water to my system.

K95ranger · Oct 16, 2019

When I got mine, I floated the bag for about a hour to acclimate the temp. Then I added about 1/4 to 1/2 cup every 10 minutes. When the bag got full I poured out 1/2 the water and kept doing it for 3 to 4 hours and never had an issue. Do it with all my fish and seems to work great.