Advice - Bad or Good?

I think this sums it up pretty well:

"When ever a fish is moved from it's tank to another it experiences high levels of stress without good acclimation this can greatly increase the stress levels making new fish very susceptible to various diseases. This is why good acclimation is so important, just like jumping into a nice cold lake on a hot summer day can be a real shock to humans adding new fish to a tank can be just as big a shock to the fish. Acclimation is done to help reduce the level of shock, which can stress fish, when being introduced to a new tank. Temperature however is not the only thing that fish need to acclimate to. There are several chemical properties of the water the fish must also adjust too such as PH, water hardness, salinity, and any other chemical treatments being used. This is why the standard "float the bag in the water for 15 minuets to get it to temp and release the fish" method is not really recommended anymore. "

I know for one that PetSmart uses salt in their tanks. And no telling how many people out there are putting all kinds of chems in their tanks.

I can't do it. Two + hours for me and my fishies regardless of the .25 feeder goldie and up. Just makes sense.
 
as far as the problem of ammonia/ammonium buildup in the bags which can turn toxic when the bags are opened - after floating bags for temperature, i treat a pitcher of tank water with a bit of prime, and use that for acclimation. the prime neutralizes the ammonia so that the potential sudden toxicity doesn't harm the fish.
 
wataugachicken said:
as far as the problem of ammonia/ammonium buildup in the bags which can turn toxic when the bags are opened - after floating bags for temperature, i treat a pitcher of tank water with a bit of prime, and use that for acclimation. the prime neutralizes the ammonia so that the potential sudden toxicity doesn't harm the fish.
Click to expand...

Would that not defeat the purpose? If you use tank water treated with chemicals then it isn't just tank water is it? When they then get netted and transferred to the tank they would have to adjust to having none of those chemicals (atleast not in that dose) and would that not stress the fish anyways?
 
13enzene said:
Would that not defeat the purpose? If you use tank water treated with chemicals then it isn't just tank water is it? When they then get netted and transferred to the tank they would have to adjust to having none of those chemicals (atleast not in that dose) and would that not stress the fish anyways?
Click to expand...

There would be no chemicals added in, at least no more than you would put in your tank on a normal basis during a water change..
 
adding prime isn't going to make a difference. that's not something they have to adjust to. if that's a problem for you, throw a double dose in the main tank and then scoop the water out for acclimation. problem solved.
 
I think the question is what factors do fish need to acclimate to, and which do not bother them.

Temperature - definitely. Fish need different enzymes at different temperatures and it takes time to "flip" the genetic switches to start making the right ones.

pH - yes but. A bit pH change - say well over a point - could lead to blood pH fluctuations, but in more normal situations these are shortlived and I can find now evidence that they are harmful; my experience is that they are not; I find fish can move over a full point in a few minutes and be in full colour once again within ten minutes.

TDS - yes; massive. And this is the bummer because (apparently) it takes fish days to adjust their chemistry to cope with big osmotic changes. Drip acclimation is not actually going to do anything about this.

Don't get me wrong, I do acclimate my fish. I just don't think that either drip acclimation or mixing water in the bag are actually achieving that. When I say "dump", I mean I dump the fish from the transfer vessel (usually a bucket from the QT tank) into the main tank. As it happens, I do then add water from the display tank to the bucket but this is simply because to my mind it's the simplest way of equalising temperatures (I actually think floating the bag can cause psychological distress as the fish try to swim through it, and occasionally physical damage when they get stuck in corners); I can't avoid this when the fish move from LFS to QT tank but I don't repeat it between QT and display tank.

Actual acclimation happens in the QT tank, if necessary. Fortunately my local shops use much the same water supply as me and don't add salt (not often done in the UK). If they did, I'd salt the QT tank and gradually dilute it out over the QT period. When putting fish in the QT tank I don't worry about bringing store water over; they've been in it for weeks so it's not going to harm them further. If I were putting fish straight into display aquaria it would be an issue, but I don't do that.

My beef with drip acclimation is that it is giving false assurance that you are acclimating the fish; I'm not convinced you are; the biggest killer is osmotic shock and you'd need to drip over anything up to two or three days to combat that.
 
Wow! You guys all have great ideas. There are factors to acclimating that have to be taken in to consideration. First, any LFS uses tap water. If you are in the same area (meaning local) then your parameters are similar if not exact to theirs. Caveat to that is if you are not using straight tap at home. LFS fish can be drip acclimated anywhere from one hour to many hours to ease the process. I recommend doubling the acclimation water at least once. Fish that are shipped is a different story. As stated above, ammonia goes toxic when air hits it. CO2 is released and Ph rises. This make ammonia toxic!! Best practice when receiving shipped fish that has worked very well for me is lights out, float for 1 to 2 hours for temperature differences, then net in to the QT or home tank. Works like a champ! No deaths to report.
 
Well, it looks like I know how far I can trust my LFS. :(

One question that I am not sure if we covered, can I change the water during cycling without delaying the cycle? My LFS says the tank will never cycle if I change the water. I would like to do a couple of 33% changes to get the water chemistry back in line.
 
colinsk said:
I have been given a lot of advice in the last few weeks. Some from reading on the net and some from the LFS. I want to make a list to see what others think.

The only way to cycle a tank is to add fish.Nope- bad way to cycle, fishless is a lot less stressful and alot less work

You should not change water for 6 weeks during cycling.true

Dip strips are as good as titrations.You mean test strips in dip strips right? and what is a titration?

.5 ppm ammonia at pH 7.5 is OK for platies.NO ammonia is good for all fish, anything above and u should do lots of water changes to get it down

Biospira is the only cycling aid that ever worked.True, but its never stored right and barely ever works

To acclimate a fish before adding it to your water, dilute the fish store water with your tank water a little at a time over a few hours.True

Only feed fish when ammonia levels are 0 during cycling.Not true at all, fish need to be fed and if u have ammonia, u should water changes


I am cycling a 29 gallon tank with two platies. I tried to add a third twice but I have had no luck getting it to work.

Here is todays readings (Day 12) with dip strips:

Ammonia .5
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 10
Total Hardness 75 (much of this is magnesium hardness in my tap water)
Chlorine 0
Alkalinity 120
pH 7.5

With titrations:

Ca++ 17 ppm
Mg++ 20 ppm
Na+ 16 ppm
Cl- 9 ppm
SO4-- 110

Thank you in advance for any comments.
Click to expand...
I'd listen to the folks on AC over an LFS anyday so remember that when they start tellin ya this stuff
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom