Anybody have a fish die from a freshwater dip?

[flfireman1]

I purchased a redtail tamarin wrasse today and did a freshwater dip since I've read most wrasses come in loaded with flukes. I dio the dip as I normally do and cut it to 3 minutes. I then placed the wrasse iban observation QT which was unmediated. The wrasse looked healthy enough at the LFS. Any species that are more sensitive to freshwater dips??

 

[Shaddow_wolf169]

20 min dip did not die.

 

[flfireman1]

20 min dip did not die.

Thank you for your profound and detailed response. However, im pretty sure a freshwater dip is only suppose to be 5 min max.

 

[Humblefish]

Did you aerate the water both before & during the FW dip? Temperature control the water? And use RODI?

 

[ngoodermuth]

The anampses wrasses can a little more sensitive than other wrasses, much like leopards. Even so, if the dip was done like humble mentioned above and the fish was healthy- it shouldn't have died. There was likely something else at play.

When doing a fw dip on more sensitive wrasses, ph becomes a little more important. Splashing a bit of tank water in at the last moment should help bring it up a bit.

 

[melypr1985]

I've done hundreds of freshwater dips and the only fish I've ever lost was already past saving. Those had severe issues and the freshwater dip was a last ditch effort for them. As long as you follow the protocol exactly, only go for 5 minutes max, then you should generally be fine. PH does come into play with the more sensitive species, though I rarely mess with that myself.

 

[flfireman1]

The only thing I suppose that I could have done is aerate the water while the fish was dipped. I aerated it only while getting the temps to match.

 

[eamike261]

I've done hundreds of freshwater dips and the only fish I've ever lost was already past saving. Those had severe issues and the freshwater dip was a last ditch effort for them. As long as you follow the protocol exactly, only go for 5 minutes max, then you should generally be fine. PH does come into play with the more sensitive species, though I rarely mess with that myself.

That makes me feel better. I just did a freshwater dip last night on my little Orchid Pseudo and he died about within about 30 seconds of putting him into the fresh water dip. I was worried that I killed him by causing him undue stress but he was already doing pretty bad so I'm guessing there was slim chance of him recovering on his own anyway.

 

[flfireman1]

Since this post I now aerate the water heavily prior to putting the fish in for the dip and during. Haven’t had another death since.

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I was wondering if you could do a freshwater dip using water taken from a healthy freshwater tank. Already conditioned and aerated so possibly easier on the fish. Just theorizing here is all.

 

[Gareth elliott]

I was wondering if you could do a freshwater dip using water taken from a healthy freshwater tank. Already conditioned and aerated so possibly easier on the fish. Just theorizing here is all.

I dont think the 10 minutes the fish spends in the tank cycled water would make a difference. A living system is also close to impossible to get a match on ph to an also living marine system. As biological processes occur they all have effects on this. My 7 year old planted aquarium is quite far from my initial parameters even with 50 % wc a week.

I think matching ph and temperature after water is aerated to make sure co2 is not a factor should suffice. Use a calibrated meter not a test kit though. Test kit is fine for spot checking a tank, not so much for verifying a match between 2 different samples.

 

[4FordFamily]

I dont think the 10 minutes the fish spends in the tank cycled water would make a difference. A living system is also close to impossible to get a match on ph to an also living marine system. As biological processes occur they all have effects on this. My 7 year old planted aquarium is quite far from my initial parameters even with 50 % wc a week.

I think matching ph and temperature after water is aerated to make sure co2 is not a factor should suffice. Use a calibrated meter not a test kit though. Test kit is fine for spot checking a tank, not so much for verifying a match between 2 different samples.

Agree 100%. PH and temp are what I’d watch. I use a couple drops of AragaMilk (for PH) for my FW dips.

 

[shashintha]

I do a fw dip then 50 freshwater 50 Salt water. One the day i dont fish goes on their side on the qt tank. I heard going back to salt water is more difficult for the fish. I did this for a wrasse and though it died in fw (4 mins later) but she was ok after 50/50 then QT(With copper 2.5) - Just a thought (-im very new to this so i might be totally wrong)

 

[shashintha]

I do a fw dip then 50 freshwater 50 Salt water. I heard going back to salt(35 PPT) water is more difficult for the fish. I did this for a wrasse and though it died in fw (4 mins later) but she was ok after 50/50 then QT(With copper 2.5) - Just a thought (Matching temp, Airation included)