Angel shipped in hypo?

[ngoodermuth]

I moved our nem back to his tank so I have a fresh QT for our new regal angel, set at 1.025. Got the shipment and poked a tiny hole to check the bag and it 1.015!! Checked twice, def 1.015.

So, bearing in mind he's been in this bag overnight...how would you go about acclimating him? That's a huge jump, even for dripping.

Also, it's gills are a little red and pinched looking so I'm anticipating the need for either a bath or antibiotics fairly quickly :(

 

[ngoodermuth]

Oh, and the other fish that was received with him was at 1.025 so I can't lower the QT for both of them. I could put the wrasse into the QT housing my sick tang, but then he will be subject to antibiotics for no reason...

 

[CarrieB]

Drop the QT to 1.015 before you put him in.

 

[Areseebee]

Can you quick warm up like a 5-10g bucket of 1.015 and then transfer the regal to that then slowly over an hour or two raise the slinity to 1.025? The idea would be once you get the angel out of that bag with the ammonia in it, you can take your time acclimating to the salinity of the QT.

Basically just to have a "landing pad" of proper salinity for both fish, then you can slowly get them used to the same salinity and exist in one QT.

Edit: Heck I feel like even a big gallon ziplock at the proper salinity, submerged in your qt will be fine... then just drip acclimate that bag over a long time.

 

[Humblefish]

Drop the QT to 1.015 before you put him in.

+1 He would need a day or longer to acclimate from 1.015 to 1.025. :eek: Best bet is to setup a temporary QT @ 1.015.

If the gills are red that probably means ammonia burn, so dose Amquel or Prime into the bag ASAP.

A MB bath (in a bucket) would be ideal before he goes into QT: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/methylene-blue.257467/

 

[ngoodermuth]

Can you quick warm up like a 5-10g bucket of 1.015 and then transfer the regal to that then slowly over an hour or two raise the slinity to 1.025? The idea would be once you get the angel out of that bag with the ammonia in it, you can take your time acclimating to the salinity of the QT.

Basically just to have a "landing pad" of proper salinity for both fish, then you can slowly get them used to the same salinity and exist in one QT.

Edit: Heck I feel like even a big gallon ziplock at the proper salinity, submerged in your qt will be fine... then just drip acclimate that bag over a long time.

The big ziplock is a good idea. I have warm RO water already (luckily) I'll add salt to match and float that in the QT. Thanks!

 

[CarrieB]

If the gills are red that probably means ammonia burn, so dose Amquel or Prime into the bag ASAP.
]

Humblefish, should we worry about copper in the shipping water when doing this?

 

[Areseebee]

Hopefully the moment you open the bag you are going to get him in fresh water right? Is it even worth opening the bag and letting him sit in the shipping water? or in this case are you even advising you open before temp acclimation and dose prime/amquel?

 

[ngoodermuth]

Here's some pictures. I contacted the vendor, apparently it was a shipping/packing error. Here is a couple of pics through the bag, you can see it's gills are red and kind of pinched near his mouth. He's calm and doesn't appear to be in distress, breathing a little faster than normal but not "frantic". What do you think? Prophylactic antibiotics a good idea for possible gill damage?

 

[ngoodermuth]

I know for certain the vendor uses copper, so no amquel. Too risky.

I filled a specimen container of fresh saltwater mixed to the salinity and temp and have an airline going in. I plan on dripping here until it matches QT, sound ok? I may have to remove some water because the container is fairly small...

 

[ngoodermuth]

@Humblefish @melypr any thoughts to add here? Would it work/help to add methylene blue or rally and make this a bath towards the end of acclimation, once the salinity comes up a bit higher? Or would you wait to see how his gills look after the salinity is back to normal?

Edit. I just saw your post humble, I don't have an extra QT at the moment. I have buckets, but not sure I trust my heaters in a 5g bucket for any extended period of time... how long can he stay in the container he's in now? I can keep slowly dripping/removing water until bed and resume in the AM? It will only be sitting overnight without water coming in or going out...or could the ammonia go bad that quickly? :/

 

[Humblefish]

If copper is in the shipping water, then using an ammonia reducer is a no-go.

@ngoodermuth I would wait & see how he looks in the specimen container, if the gill area still looks red. Is he now in fresh SW @ 1.015 or still bag water?

 

[ngoodermuth]

If copper is in the shipping water, then using an ammonia reducer is a no-go.

@ngoodermuth I would wait & see how he looks in the specimen container, if the gill area still looks red. Is he now in fresh SW @ 1.015 or still bag water?

He looks a little better, yes he's in fresh salt water @1.015

Just snapped another pic in the container

 

[Humblefish]

I don't see the redness anymore. You are going to need to use ammonia reducer while you drip acclimate him.

 

[Areseebee]

In principle, maybe also just a 100% water change at some point along the way? You could also maybe "meet half way" with the QT so no one fish has to take the entire burden of moving 0.01 in salinity? Not sure if that's better or not but it feels to me like moving both fish 0.005 or so would be more beneficial.

 

[Humblefish]

In principle, maybe also just a 100% water change at some point along the way? You could also maybe "meet half way" with the QT so no one fish has to take the entire burden of moving 0.01 in salinity? Not sure if that's better or not but it feels to me like moving both fish 0.005 or so would be more beneficial.

That's an excellent idea, as fish can more easily handle going down in SG than going up.

Make sure no ammonia reducer is present in the water for his last 30 mins of acclimation, and go ahead & give him a MB bath. It won't hurt anything. But it will help if he has been exposed to ammonia.

 

[ngoodermuth]

Hubby is going to pick up another 10g QT to set-up for him so we can take a couple of days to get him up to 1.025...this will be our 4th QT now :| They make support groups for this, right?

@Humblefish At what salinity would it be ok to give him the methylene bath? I'm just wondering if it is possible to do at his current salinity, before putting him in the QT?

 

[Areseebee]

Hubby is going to pick up another 10g QT to set-up for him so we can take a couple of days to get him up to 1.025...this will be our 4th QT now :| They make support groups for this, right?

And dollar per gallon doesn't start till Sunday. The whole system is rigged against us!

 

[Humblefish]

@Humblefish At what salinity would it be ok to give him the methylene bath? I'm just wondering if it is possible to do at his current salinity, before putting him in the QT?

You can do it at any time. The only thing is after 30 mins, you'll want to transfer him into clean water.

 

[ngoodermuth]

You can do it at any time. The only thing is after 30 mins, you'll want to transfer him into clean water.

What concentration do you recommend? I have Kordon Methylene Blue, the directions say either 1tsp: 10 gallons in-tank for 3-5 days; or 3tsp: 5 gallons for 10 seconds [emoji15] is there a happy medium for 30 minutes?