Acclimating fish bought online

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I bought 4 chromis at saltwater aquarium and they come on Friday.
I’m worry about them being for so long on the bags and s soon as I open the bags to drip acclimate them, the ammonia will become too toxic for them to handle while I acclimate them.

I heard using seachem Prime will help reducing the ammonia toxicity.

Any experience with this??

 

[winzig]

I float the bag for 30 min then put half tank water and half bag water for another 15 min.
Have not lost a fish yet.

 

[Baylott224]

Float bag method and add water gradually from your tank in bag. Unless the supplier has a specific method you need to do to not void the arive alive guarantee. Depending on which vendor you chose

 

[Baylott224]

I would keep. Adding water every 15,, min until you have at least doubled the volume of water. if possible

 

[christinna77]

This is what I do now for any new fish that's being shipped to me. I don’t bother with vendor guidelines anymore since I’ve been given wrong info before (using seachem prime and dripping was one of them).

As soon as you open the bag, transfer the fish right away. Beforehand, ask the vendor what salinity they keep their system at and match your quarantine tank to that. On arrival, temp float for 15 minutes without opening, double check the salinity levels, then release the fish.

After that, you can slowly adjust the quarantine tank salinity to match your display tank.

 

[Fish Fan]

This is what I do now for any new fish that's being shipped to me. I don’t bother with vendor guidelines anymore since I’ve been given wrong info before (using seachem prime and dripping was one of them).

As soon as you open the bag, transfer the fish right away. Beforehand, ask the vendor what salinity they keep their system at and match your quarantine tank to that. On arrival, temp float for 15 minutes without opening, double check the salinity levels, then release the fish.

After that, you can slowly adjust the quarantine tank salinity to match your display tank.

Nice reply!

 

[skey44]

This is what I do now for any new fish that's being shipped to me. I don’t bother with vendor guidelines anymore since I’ve been given wrong info before (using seachem prime and dripping was one of them).

As soon as you open the bag, transfer the fish right away. Beforehand, ask the vendor what salinity they keep their system at and match your quarantine tank to that. On arrival, temp float for 15 minutes without opening, double check the salinity levels, then release the fish.

After that, you can slowly adjust the quarantine tank salinity to match your display tank.

Came here to say exactly this. Drop ship wholesaler salinity is typically 1.020. Once you open the bag to outside air the ammonia buildup becomes toxic. Don’t want to drip acclimate after a fish has been in a bag overnight. Temp and drop. Match tank to the shipping water.

 

[Fish Fan]

I do think it's important to follow whatever guidelines the vendor provides because usually your guarantee will hinge on that. Unless, of course, the vendor is offering incorrect advise, which makes me think, why am I ordering form this vendor

It's important to know that fish that are shipped and been in the bag a long time should not be drip acclimated as there's a risk of ammonia poisoning. This is different from fish that come from a local store and are only in the bag a short time.

Here's Jay Hemdal's article on acclimation. For those that don't know, Jay works professionally for large public aquaria, and is one of R2R's most respected member on fish diseases:

Acclimation Methods

Acclimating Animals to Aquariums Jay F. Hemdal c.2020 Introduction to acclimation techniques Most beginning aquarists hear that they must “acclimate” any new animals they add to their aquarium. Acclimation (sometimes termed...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Fish Fan]

I also wanted to address using SeaChem Prime to reduce ammonia, which does not work - don't use Prime to reduce ammonia!

Some very smart reefers tested these ammonia binding products, and at least in saltwater aquaria, Prime and most others do not reduce ammonia in any useful way. Here's a link with more information:

A Deep Dive on Ammonia Neutralizer Chemistry - Prime, ClorAm-X, Rongalite and friends.

Summary (the whole thing in one paragraph) ClorAm-X is the best-performing of a barely effective product concept. Under the label usage ClorAm-X (but not Prime, or other common products) can be measured to lower the amount of total ammonia in a saltwater sample. This process is slow...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Thank you all for your advices.

I will probably do what the majority are suggesting. Float the bag for 30 min and drop them in the tank without drip acclimating.

 

[Fish Fan]

Thank you all for your advices.

I will probably do what the majority are suggesting. Float the bag for 30 min and drop them in the tank without drip acclimating.

That's better than drip acclimating fish that have been shipped, but just at least consider trying to accommodate any change in salinity. A lot of times fish wholesalers and vendors keep their fish at a lower salinity than we would normally run a reef tank in an effort to keep fish parasites down. Please know, that fish need more time to adjust to a higher salinity than they do going down in salinity.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

That's better than drip acclimating fish that have been shipped, but just at least consider trying to accommodate any change in salinity. A lot of times fish wholesalers and vendors keep their fish at a lower salinity than we would normally run a reef tank in an effort to keep fish parasites down. Please know, that fish need more time to adjust to a higher salinity than they do going down in salinity.

So if I open the bags to check the salinity and adjust it, it will take some minutes. During that time the ammonia will start becoming toxic.

How long do I have from the moment I open the bag to the moment I have to take the fish out and into the tank so I don’t risk ammonia poisoning??

 

[ga2040]

Check the salinity from the vendor before hand to prepare your qt, then temp match and drop in your qt. Gradually rise salinity if it was low.

 

[Fish Fan]

So if I open the bags to check the salinity and adjust it, it will take some minutes. During that time the ammonia will start becoming toxic.

How long do I have from the moment I open the bag to the moment I have to take the fish out and into the tank so I don’t risk ammonia poisoning??

You certainly have time to check the salinity of the bag. It's the dripping of new tank water into the bag that cause the ammonia to become toxic again as the pH of the bag rises.