How do you acclimate or not? Why?

[jeninok]

hmm that is interesting.

I will still go with slowly acclimating more sensitive fish that haven't been in a bag for too long though. Even if it isn't the difference in PH that causes harm, the differences in water chemistry does seem to stress them out from what I have experienced.

 

[tayhudson]

Float the bag for about 20 mins. [no specific reason for that amount] then net the fish, never dumping in tank water obviously. Keep a close eye on them. And I've never had an issues with that method. Heartiest fish I own are my 2 bettas. Lol. But that's how I do it.

 

[Rbishop]

pH acclimation takes a lot more than drip...it is a physical procees over hours that the fishies body adjusts to and makes allowance for....it's not gonna happen in a few minutes let alone hours...

 

[fish-n-chips]

I drip acclimate everything unless I am transferring to another tank. After drip acclimating for an hour or so, I float the bag to get the temp the same as my tank water. It has always been my assumption(false?) that the fish I have shipped to me are fasted for24-48 hours to decrease any chance of fish poo during shipment. I do always add prime to the bag as soon as I open it though.

 

[msjinkzd]

I drip acclimate everything unless I am transferring to another tank. After drip acclimating for an hour or so, I float the bag to get the temp the same as my tank water. It has always been my assumption(false?) that the fish I have shipped to me are fasted for24-48 hours to decrease any chance of fish poo during shipment. I do always add prime to the bag as soon as I open it though.

Oh that is true. I fast ALL my critters before shipment but unless they are moved to a brand new tank with NOTHING in it, they still pick and graze and produce poo, just a whole lot less of it without being intentionally fed.

 

[Just Prince]

I have done all three. although i have stop using the last method. It also depends on who I buy the fish from. Last time I used the acclimation method I had a Badis Badis jump out of the container and fall 4ft to the concrete floor. Lucky for me the fish made it. He was a little dusty and covered in lint but survived.

 

[user_name]

I float to equalize the temp, and after 15-30 minutes I drop them in. I've never drip acclimated snails or shrimp, i just let the temps equal out, and then i plop them in...

 

[BettaFishMommy]

i float the bag and add tank water to it about a half cup at a time, every 5 to 10 minutes. once tank water and bag water are at about equal amounts i net the fish out and plop it in the tank. have never lost a fish with this method. pretty much all the fish i get are from local stores or other local hobbyists, so there is negligible difference in water sources.

 

[Chrisinator]

If switching fish to different tanks, I just plop and drop.
New stock from a trusted LFS gets a floating for 30 minutes, add some tank water, then plop and drop.
Stock from other places get a drip acclimation.

 

[saram521]

I have been drip acclimating my critters since I got serious about this hobby (three years ago).

I actually received a bag of koi angels from a club member earlier this year and they were good stock (healthy and normal). This seller put the angels in a bag of treated tap water instead of their tank water and brought them to the meeting for me. The meeting lasted 3 hrs. and the angels were starting to swim upside down before the meeting let out. I cam straight home, started drip acclimating and all 6 angels were dead within a half hour. I told the seller about it, he replaced the angels for me as he felt he initially caused their deaths by putting them in new tap instead of old tank water. I'm thinking ammonia had built up too quickly in the bag and that by drip acclimating, I increased the toxicity of the ammonia.

I will definitely drop fish straight in the tank next time I see them suffering like that in a bag. I may start doing this dump method with shipped fish as well.