Shipped fish salinity mismatch. Ramp up time?

th365thli

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So I received some fish online. This vendor ships their fish low, around 1.18-1.19 is advertised. I tested the bag water and it was 1.16-1.17. No biggie, adjusted my 10 gallon acclimation tank and after a 30 minute temperature acclimation and dumped just the fish in. Longnose butterfly and melanarus wrasse pair.

Seems like the butterfly is doing okay, actually ate some PE Mysis 15 minutes after being dumped. Wrasses understandbly stressed, I messed up not putting sand in the tank.

My question is, given the large disparity in salinity (my FOWLR tank is 1.024), how should I ramp up salinity?
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Three days, per posts in the disease forum on acclimation

others do it faster, or skip acclimation at all…this is simply what the disease forum has said lately as ideal safe practices for costly fish. .003 jump over three days
 
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th365thli

th365thli

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Three days, per posts in the disease forum on acclimation

others do it faster, or skip acclimation at all…this is simply what the disease forum has said lately as ideal safe practices for costly fish. .003 jump over three days

Thanks. I wonder if just letting the tank evaporate will do the trick.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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They sure did say that was an ok method agreed


nice to see someone following the right prep modes too, good post. To have a receiving tank is rare here, most fish are just dumped right in.
 
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th365thli

th365thli

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They sure did say that was an ok method agreed


nice to see someone following the right prep modes too, good post. To have a receiving tank is rare here, most fish are just dumped right in.

I learned my lesson after losing a flame angle and previous long nose butterfly.

The local LFS gave me some bad advice, they told me to just do the cup method and not drip acclimate, even when I asked them about the salinity difference.

Somehow, the foxface didn't seem bothered, but I heard they are very hardy fish.

The flame and longnose expired only a day or two after.
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Pre rinse the sand like we do in rip cleans


don’t introduce clouding at all they don’t need that stress

simply tap rinse sand for an hour until truly laser clean. Final rinse the lump of sand with saltwater, to evacuate tap. This cloudless sand is right to use, don’t use cloudy sand. When he dives into it harmless snow globe grains spill over with zero cloud.
 

a.t.t.r

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What you are doing is best. A whole tank to adjust slowly
HOWEVER For going from bag to anytank:
Only drip acclimate if the fish was bought local.

If it was shipped temp acclimate only DO NOT open the bag until you are ready to transfer the fish.
The PH change when you open the bag and allow the CO2 to be removed will allow the ammonia to become more toxic and do more harm then a rapid ph change or salinity change.
 

lion king

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I'm so glad people are catching on to this. I got alot of push back when I first started discussing this. You've got plenty of time to get your sg up, probably enough to let it rise naturally, just top off with your display sg.
 
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th365thli

th365thli

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469B528E-16AA-4E8F-9AA2-3DA80F90850C.jpeg


It's a little jank. I need a proper cover. I didn't realize fish will need to be in there for multiple days. I put two bio balls from my display in for now. Might run to petco for a HOB filter
 

brandon429

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Also key in planning for quick setups

don’t use Prime just rely on the bio balls those are good

your display doesn’t need them at all. Move them to the qt holding setup / hob as skip cycle media. A main display reef does not need the extra surface area the qt needs, and that rock alone if from a live system I would think would carry the whole load anyway.

try to get one seachem alert badge not any other type

those aren’t 100% always accurate but between that gauge and water changes and that media the tank won’t fail to run ammonia

dont over add bottle bac to your cycling tank but each partial water change you might do, feel free to add half a capful of bottle bac back in. Slow salinity increase is just right.
 
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th365thli

th365thli

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Also key in planning for quick setups

don’t use Prime just rely on the bio balls those are good

your display doesn’t need them at all. Move them to the qt holding setup / hob as skip cycle media. A main display reef does not need the extra surface area the qt needs, and that rock alone if from a live system I would think would carry the whole load anyway.

try to get one seachem alert badge not any other type

those aren’t 100% always accurate but between that gauge and water changes and that media the tank won’t fail to run ammonia

dont over add bottle bac to your cycling tank but each partial water change you might do, feel free to add half a capful of bottle bac back in. Slow salinity increase is just right.
Hmm good to know. I only put two in, maybe I should've done more. The display has been "live" for some weeks now, already has fish in it, algae growth on dry rock etc.

Acclimation does have a seachem alert badge, all the way right in the picture. Love those things.

I'm at work right now, the acclimation tank only has what's in the picture, including the two bio balls. Is it okay for me to leave them for several hours? When I get back I'll do a very small water change.

Really hope the long nose makes it. I think it's such a cool looking fish. The fact it was eating right before I left for work is a good sign I hope. The wrasses were starting to get active too. The previous longnose when put in the DT just was never right. Was breathing hard from introduction to death. Maybe it was acclimation, I also think it just wasn't right at the store, as supposedly it was in a 1.026 sell tank.
 

brandon429

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I do bet it’s ok for a few hours as is
 
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th365thli

th365thli

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I took about 48 hours to ramp up the salinity from 1.017 to 1.023 (I had dropped my FOWLR display one point from 1.024 to 1.023). I did it mainly through water changes as evaporation was just going to take too long. Each time I did a water change (spaced several hours apart), I bumped up the salinity by .001g. After the bump, I'd wait 15-30 minutes and feed them to see how they were doing. I'd also check their respiration rate. If they breathed easy and ate, then the jump was acceptable.

Butterfly and wrasses are now active in the DT.

I'm now acclimating a Raccoon Butterfly the same way (1.015g -> 1.023g)
 

brandon429

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Great job, that's better than no acc/ well done
 

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