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Better results with no acclimation

I've always read from many sources that you wanted to take time acclimating fish so as not to shock them. So that's what I always did. Dripped for about an hour.

Gresh stated that if the acclimation went past 30 mins there would be less dissolved oxygen which I never even thought about.

Lately I've decided to acclimate for only a short period, maybe only 10 mins. With this routine I've actually had 100% success so far as opposed to maybe 75% before.

I used this method for a Scott's Fairy Wrasse, Chevron Tang, Bluethroat Trigger, Naso Tang, and all are healthy and eating. They fish behavior observed was also much different. The fish ate within a day of introduction and were much less frightened.
 
For hobbyists getting fish from an LFS locally where no travel is involved, little to no acclimation is just fine. I think people tend to over acclimate which just causes more stress :)
 
i drip and use an airpump to keep DO up. the bag is in my sump so that the temp is constant. i always release new fish when all the lights are off too.
 
i dont use an airstone, but i do keep the airline weighted with a rock and rubberband. you just need surface agitation.
 
glee said:
i dont use an airstone, but i do keep the airline weighted with a rock and rubberband. you just need surface agitation.

The little agitation you'd get from a drip is no where near enough to drive the DO up. Try using a DO meter sometime and check it out :)
 
Whooops.... I thought glee said he was using airline for the dripping, not an air pump. Selective reading at it's finest :) Retract my last post please :)
 
yeah, i've used a DO meter among other lab grade probes when i took a water chem class a couple years ago. an airline tube dripping at a rate of 1 drop per second is not enough to keep DO at necessary ranges. i think DO should be somewhere around 7ppm, but i would have to check my lab notebook to be sure. aeration of water does keep pH up, but i'm not sure what is in an airstone or how much it would increase.
 
I didn't mean have you ever used one but rather have you tested you style ;)

it depends on temp and salinity. 7ppm is a bit low IIRC but sufficient.
 
I've always wondered why online companies want you to do such elaborate acclimation, it seems to me that as the DO and pH rise after shipping that the NH4 is converted to NH3 making the water more harmful. To me it seems logical that you want to shoot for a relatively short efficient acclimation in order to avoid gill burn. AFA, buying from your LFS, I don't acclimate at all other than temperature, I figure where the fish are going has better water quality than your average LFS, so that will make them happy.
 
Oh no, not hypo, that's less then brackish and marine fish won't live long at that salinity ;) They may keep it a bit lower but never enough to worry much about.
 
I think it's important to acclimate based on the differences between the water the animal is in and the water the animal is going into. PH, temp, SG, all have to be taken into account as well as determining how fast the animal 'needs' to be out of it's bag or original water. I usually ask at the LFS or wholesaler about the 3 parameters and then try to take into account bag time and temp change. I always do at least a fast drip acclimation unless it's an emergency. Even if all 3 parameters (PH, SG, Temp)were exactly the same, there's a lot we don't measure for.
 
tuberider said:
I've always wondered why online companies want you to do such elaborate acclimation, it seems to me that as the DO and pH rise after shipping that the NH4 is converted to NH3 making the water more harmful. To me it seems logical that you want to shoot for a relatively short efficient acclimation in order to avoid gill burn.

Most of the good online places now take this into account in their documentation - I also believe the good wholesalers do as well. The days of hours of acclimation should be behind us because they aren't needed. An hour at most if the animal is sensitive and you know the bagged water is good. Otherwise get it out in 15-30 min. If you think the water is bad in the bag, float the unopened bag to match temp, then get it out and into new water asap.

AFA, buying from your LFS, I don't acclimate at all other than temperature, I figure where the fish are going has better water quality than your average LFS, so that will make them happy.

I do 5-10 minutes with a rapid addition of tank water, then make sure none of the store water go into my tank. I also put the fish in a deli container and let them get their bearing on the new tank before letting them go.
 
I got lazy and did a 10-15 min aclimation yesterday on a red lizardfish. It was eating within the hour but then again I did buy it from Ocean Treasures....
 
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