How to acclimate fish from 1.017 to 1.025 correctly?

lba4590

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I’m receiving some pre-quarantined fish soon from on online vendor. So the fish will be shipped overnight and I know that once you open the bags, there will likely be an ammonia spike. From my last experience with them, I’m expecting salinity to be around 1.017 and I want to ensure I acclimate them appropriately. In the past I’ve always QTd my own fish and matched salinity in the QT tank so it’s never been an issue.

I’ve read so much mixed advice I have no idea if I need to do this quickly or slowly, knowing the fish are already stressed and in poor quality water when they arrive.
 

FishTruck

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My personal experience is this.

Go slow. Going up too fast is fatal and a real problem for these fish that have been living at 1.017 for gosh knows how long.

I would recommend setting up a QT at 1.017 and allowing the salinity to increase by evaporation only. Or... if you just cant' wait that long you can drip tank water to go up by no more than .001 per hour and .003 per day.

For fish that are 1.022 and above... I can get them to 1.025 in a day (no faster than 3 hours) by drip acclimation and they are fine.
 
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lba4590

lba4590

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I spent the extra $$ on these guys to avoid using my QT tank (which is broken down at the moment) so I’m really trying to avoid taking multiple days to bring up the salinity - this is what I’ve always done, but I’ve also never bought fish that have already been fully quarantined. I’ve read acclimation over an hour can be harmful - but it sounds like I have no other option? what can I do about the poor quality water they are shipped in during a slow acclimation?
 

guylaga

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Match the salinity in the bag first. I use a hypodermic needle and draw some of the bag water out then tape over the hole. Test the salinity and then match using RODI and premixed SW from storage. Float to temp match the new water.

Get the fish out if the bag discard all water and place directly into the new SW. Then drip from the display to match the new water over several hours (longer the better).
 

dcmcwi08

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I’m receiving some pre-quarantined fish soon from on online vendor. So the fish will be shipped overnight and I know that once you open the bags, there will likely be an ammonia spike. From my last experience with them, I’m expecting salinity to be around 1.017 and I want to ensure I acclimate them appropriately. In the past I’ve always QTd my own fish and matched salinity in the QT tank so it’s never been an issue.

I’ve read so much mixed advice I have no idea if I need to do this quickly or slowly, knowing the fish are already stressed and in poor quality water when they arrive.
Hey! Sorry to revive this old thread, but I’m curious how you ended up doing this and if it was successful. I’m in the same boat, was planning on matching the water salinity in my DT, but the inverts ship at a higher salinity than the fish, so it’s not an option anymore.
 

FishTruck

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Hey! Sorry to revive this old thread, but I’m curious how you ended up doing this and if it was successful. I’m in the same boat, was planning on matching the water salinity in my DT, but the inverts ship at a higher salinity than the fish, so it’s not an option anymore.
You could start with just the fish.... when the QT SG is high enough for the inverts, then order the inverts.
 

dcmcwi08

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You could start with just the fish.... when the QT SG is high enough for the inverts, then order the inverts.
Unfortunately, I ordered the inverts and fish together, which are shipping Monday. I wasn’t expecting the fish to ship at 1.017 since the website says they ship at 1.023-1.025. Apparently the inverts ship at 1.025. Today got a notification that the fish are somewhere between 1.017 and 1.021 and the inverts are 1.023-1.025. It’s a little too late to cancel either, so now I have to figure out how to acclimate them. I am able to adjust the salinity if the DT since it’s brand new.
I’m pretty annoyed because I honestly did my research and thought this out, but the website info was bad :( Worst case scenario is I’ll get a small QT just to acclimate salinity.
 

dcmcwi08

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I’m glad you asked because I went back and re-read everything because I would never want to call out someone online without being sure of myself. Turns out, I was completely wrong and didn’t understand what I was reading. All of the info on their website was correct, I was actually reading their acclimation and quarantine procedure prior for when THEY receive it. Not when I receive it. The actual shipping parameters are 1.021-1.023 for the fish and 1.024-1.026 for the inverts. It’s Dr. Reef’s Quarantine Fish. I would highly recommend because I’ve ordered from the past and he does all the QT stuff without charging a whole lot more, it’s awesome. I’m sorry for wasting everyone’s time, I can handle the acclimation now I think.
 

bvanfish

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I’m glad you asked because I went back and re-read everything because I would never want to call out someone online without being sure of myself. Turns out, I was completely wrong and didn’t understand what I was reading. All of the info on their website was correct, I was actually reading their acclimation and quarantine procedure prior for when THEY receive it. Not when I receive it. The actual shipping parameters are 1.021-1.023 for the fish and 1.024-1.026 for the inverts. It’s Dr. Reef’s Quarantine Fish. I would highly recommend because I’ve ordered from the past and he does all the QT stuff without charging a whole lot more, it’s awesome. I’m sorry for wasting everyone’s time, I can handle the acclimation now I think.
I just ordered from them too and read through that. I just didn’t want to give out the advice if it wasn’t the same place. Glad to hear it should be ok!
 

Tcook

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I’m glad you asked because I went back and re-read everything because I would never want to call out someone online without being sure of myself. Turns out, I was completely wrong and didn’t understand what I was reading. All of the info on their website was correct, I was actually reading their acclimation and quarantine procedure prior for when THEY receive it. Not when I receive it. The actual shipping parameters are 1.021-1.023 for the fish and 1.024-1.026 for the inverts. It’s Dr. Reef’s Quarantine Fish. I would highly recommend because I’ve ordered from the past and he does all the QT stuff without charging a whole lot more, it’s awesome. I’m sorry for wasting everyone’s time, I can handle the acclimation now I think.

The coral can go right in after dipping. For the fish (after temp matching) I would still match salinity of the bag in a small bucket then transfer the fish without any of the bag water to the bucket then drip from there.
 
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