Fish acclimation

[icemountain]

Hello! I was wondering what is a great acclimation method for fish that have been in transit for 24-48 hours? I’m always wanting to improve my acclimation. Currently, I match my salt water that I make to the same salinity as the fish that are coming in. I open the bags and toss them into freshly made saltwater without temp adjustment (only fish that I have found to not tolerate temp adjustment are chromis). I toss in a bubbler with MB for a couple of hours. Then they go into another bucket formalin and then into the aquarium.

Wanted to see if there is another method that I could maybe adopt that is even better for fish after those long transit times. Thanks in advance!

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Hello! I was wondering what is a great acclimation method for fish that have been in transit for 24-48 hours? I’m always wanting to improve my acclimation. Currently, I match my salt water that I make to the same salinity as the fish that are coming in. I open the bags and toss them into freshly made saltwater without temp adjustment (only fish that I have found to not tolerate temp adjustment are chromis). I toss in a bubbler with MB for a couple of hours. Then they go into another bucket formalin and then into the aquarium.

Wanted to see if there is another method that I could maybe adopt that is even better for fish after those long transit times. Thanks in advance!

Any transport longer than about 30 hours is going to be stressful, to the point where the stress increases geometrically towards the end of the period.

Skip the formalin! That is too stressful on the fish, right at the time when they are their most vulnerable. It is better to let the fish rest in a QT for 72 hours, then begin a quarantine process. If you choose to skip a full quarantine, you can do a formalin dip and move then.

Here is an article I wrote on acclimation:

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

Jay

 

[Rtaylor]

Yes, you need to consider Ph adjustments for fish that have been in transit. You actually need to reduce the Ph initially in your acclimation water and get them out of the bag water immediately as the water becomes toxic once exposed to oxygen. If you search the forum for Ph adjusted acclimation I’m sure someone explains it much better than I did.

 

[Rtaylor]

Quoting @Jay Hemdal
Long duration shipments
Animals that have been in shipping bags longer than 36 hours build up huge amounts of metabolic waste in the form of ammonia. At the same time, the animal has been releasing carbon dioxide into the shipping water. The combined result is that the carbon dioxide lowers the pH of the water, which in turn neutralizes the relative toxicity of the ammonia. Levels of ammonia at 2 or 3 parts per million and a pH of 6.0 are not unheard of. If you acclimate these animals in the normal manner, the process will drive off the carbon dioxide faster than the ammonia is being diluted. As the pH of the water rises, the ammonia becomes toxic, often killing the animals right in the acclimation container. The key is to measure the shipping water’s pH, temperature and specific gravity (If marine). Then, using water from the tank (not freshly mixed water) create water that closely matches all of these parameters and carefully move the animals directly into it. This is done by adjusting the specific gravity and lowering the pH with the addition of a proper amount of acid (Sodium phosphate monobasic, carbon dioxide or other acids have been used). From this point, the animals can be drip acclimated.

 

[icemountain]

The tanks that I have run copper and I don’t like using that water in case I need to do a bath or something which could cause a bad reaction with the copper.

So it’s better to test the ph in the bag and then test the ph of the water they are going into? After I match it, I take the fish out of the bag and toss them into the new water followed by raising the ph slowly?

Are the temp, salinity, and ph the only parameters I need to watch out when acclimating fish after long transits?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

The tanks that I have run copper and I don’t like using that water in case I need to do a bath or something which could cause a bad reaction with the copper.

So it’s better to test the ph in the bag and then test the ph of the water they are going into? After I match it, I take the fish out of the bag and toss them into the new water followed by raising the ph slowly?

Are the temp, salinity, and ph the only parameters I need to watch out when acclimating fish after long transits?

If you match up the pH, temp and salinity with the bag water, you can just move the fish over. There is no other parameter that needs to be adjusted for. Then, you can gradually adjust that water for pH and salinity to match that of the final destination.

Jay

 

[icemountain]

If you match up the pH, temp and salinity with the bag water, you can just move the fish over. There is no other parameter that needs to be adjusted for. Then, you can gradually adjust that water for pH and salinity to match that of the final destination.

Jay

Got it!

I think I read that we add an acid to lower it? Can you tell any specific/easy to obtain ones I can get to lower it and what is the best/easiest test kit to check for ph? I’m guessing to raise the ph we would just add a bubbler?

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Acids are tricky to work with, you would be best off using an aquarium product, like this one:


To raise the pH, You should just acclimate the fish back up to the tank's pH level by adding tank water.

pH pens have gotten really cheap, but there are also aquarium pG test kits. Here is a pH pen:


Jay

 

[icemountain]

Acids are tricky to work with, you would be best off using an aquarium product, like this one:


To raise the pH, You should just acclimate the fish back up to the tank's pH level by adding tank water.

pH pens have gotten really cheap, but there are also aquarium pG test kits. Here is a pH pen:


Jay

Thank you. I just ordered those. I’ll definitely add ph matching to me acclimation