Shipped Fish. To acclimate or not

[Joiningsession]

Hi, was wondering what the consensus is on the acclimation of shipped fish. I have a quarantined wrasse arriving tomorrow and not sure if I should acclimate or just put in the tank. Have glanced and read mixed thoughts, just wanted to hear yours. Shipped water should be about .023 and tank at .026

Thanks in advance.

 

[Seancj]

I'm a firm believer in acclimation. Temp, salinity, and PH really should be very close before adding the fish to your display. PH drops significantly in the bag when shipped overnight. In addition to floating the bag for temp regulation, and the slow addition of tank water to the bag, I also put a small air stone in the bag to help raise PH.

 

[FoolishWizard]

Vendor should provide their suggested acclimation process... I ordered from @Biota_Marine and they specifically stated NOT to drip acclimate. I floated the bag for temp and introduced fish (with lights out if i recall).

 

[brandon429]

jay says it should take a long time to bring up .003 so yes I would acclimate

Biota may be shipping closer to reef salinity/ due to that recommend.

 

[Tcook]

Hi, was wondering what the consensus is on the acclimation of shipped fish. I have a quarantined wrasse arriving tomorrow and not sure if I should acclimate or just put in the tank. Have glanced and read mixed thoughts, just wanted to hear yours. Shipped water should be about .023 and tank at .026

Thanks in advance.

If you can’t lower the QT salinity to match the shipping salinity then I would dilute a gallon of QT (aged) down to 1.023 and drop the fish into that after temp acclimating. Then you can do your slow drip. I would not leave the new fish in the shipping water after opening the bag for any length of time due to ammonia.

 

[Baka Mop]

Unless the shipper has an aclimmation procedure that they want us to abide by (which is usually part of their refund policy), I plop & drop.

A good analogy I heard in a reefbeef podcast was if you were locked in a garage with toxic gas slowly building up over several hours, would you rather someone slowly open the door over the course of 30 minutes or let you out asap?

 

[2020 Worst Year]

No ammonia will kill them DO NOT ACCLIMATE my fish went from 1.019 to 1.025 and every 1 lived DO NOT acclimate shipped fish

 

[KrisReef]

Float the bag for temperature equalization and open the bag and hand delicately release the wrasse into the observation or Display tank. Tell the fish you expect it to eat and thrive in the new environment and that you are not going to eat it. You will be surprised how quickly a fish will thrive if you explain the situation.

 

[brandon429]

there is a way to acclimate them outside a bag

=observing disease protocols using a receiving tank (that is set low salinity to match ship water, then slowly raised over three days, you might decide to keep them longer once up to par for observational quarantine if they aren't already)

reading advice here vs Jay's acclimation advice is night vs day quality

don't think the only way is with the shipping bag.

 

[ErikVR]

Problem with shipping is that the fish may have been in that small volume of water for a long time. Building up ammonia. As soon as you open the bag, the pH rises and the ammonia becomes more toxic.

My vendor that ships fish advises against drip acclimation. Instead they tell you float the bags for 15 minutes to get the temp right. Then to dump the water into a container with the fish. Observe for a few minutes. Then add tank water to the container (same amount as the water in the bag). Repeat that twice with 5 minutes apart. And then release them into the tank (without the water!!).

They do ship the fish in 1.023 sg.

 

[Biota_Marine]

It's best to ask the company you're receiving from how to acclimate, we have our acclimation guide specifically for our animals and we are very clear we do not cover losses caused by drip acclimating.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Drip acclimation is almost universally done incorrectly. In those cases, it does more harm than good.

The only water parameter that must be effectively dealt with is a RISE in salinity. This is best done by matching the salinity of the receiving tank to that of the shipping tank prior to arrival. Fish do not handle a rise in salinity very well.

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

 

[cstiff85]

No ammonia will kill them DO NOT ACCLIMATE my fish went from 1.019 to 1.025 and every 1 lived DO NOT acclimate shipped fish

Not true. You add Prime to the bag water first before acclimating

 

[Gtinnel]

Not true. You add Prime to the bag water first before acclimating

That is normally what I do, but you have to be sure there isn’t copper (or at least cupramine) in the water.

 

[LPS Bum]

I buy most of my fish online. Usually through Divers Den. I’ve learned the hard way not to buy from their regular LA stock.

I float for 15-20 min to equalize temp, then fast drip acclimate for about 40-45 min to equalize parameters (dumping out some of the water halfway through). Then straight into my QT tank.

Never had a problem this way.

 

[2020 Worst Year]

Not true. You add Prime to the bag water first before acclimating

thats very false and should never be done if the LFS uses copper (most do) it will amplify the copper and kill the fish

 

[2020 Worst Year]

so yea it is very true don't correct me if you don't know what u are talking about

 

[Jay Hemdal]

That is normally what I do, but you have to be sure there isn’t copper (or at least cupramine) in the water.

I prefer to use Amquel.

Jay

 

[Gtinnel]

I prefer to use Amquel.

Jay

I’m not familiar with Amquel. Does it still have the limitation of not being able to be used in water with copper in it? What’s its advantage over Prime?

 

[radreef02]

My process is to temp acclimate 15-25m then I pour some water in every few minutes and in they go, haven’t lost one since. I think fish are much hardier than I thought since I first started when it comes to temperature and salinity swings. Ammonia is the killer from my experience. Any new tank done improperly or not WC fast enough killed fish in QT for me OR Acclimating to slow

Coral is the only thing I acclimate due to they’re sensitive to parameter swings