Acclimating new fish - lots of questions

[eekball]

Newbie here and just finding out all kinds of stuff. Just wanted to get a general consensus on what the best way to acclimate a new fish is.
I understand now I need to get a QT tank.

How do you acclimate a new fish from the LFS to the QT tank?
How long do keep them in there?
Then what?

Also - do you need to keep anything in the QT tank? (i.e. damsels, chromis, inverts? )

Do I use water from my 75 gal SW to set it up?

Sorry to sound so stupid - I really did research before I got a tank. There's just so much stuff that books, LFS, etc. DON"T tell you!
Thanks!

 

[steve r]

i drip acclimate everything for at least 2 hours. this includes inverts, corals and fish. it may not need to be as long for some corals but, better safe than sorry. your QT tank is a tank to watch the new animal and possibly treat it for parasites and diesease before it has a chance to infect your main tank. i didnt do that, so right now i am dealing with a 8 week QT period to treat my fish for ick. you dont keep inverts in your QT. if you have to treat for ick and use cupramine you will kill them.

just an observation, it looks like from your other posts you cycled your main with damsels. this is no longer the prefered method. a small chunk of raw shrimp will do the same thing with out any fish suffering or dying.

steve r

 

[Phyl]

The *best* way probably the drip system. Temp acclimate them and then put a heater in the bucket used to drip acclimate them.. Making sure to keep the water up to temp while you're acclimating. Here's the link I mentioned in the other post: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=18

That being said, I've had good luck so far using the shotglass every 5m, making sure to test water parameters before releasing the animal.

I would keep the new fish in QT for 4 weeks. Longer if you discover anything that needs to be treated.

You can keep the sponge from your filter in your sump from your main and just pull it when you're ready to put fish into your QT. When you start your QT you can start it using water from your main if the parms are good otherwise use aged (24-48 hrs) new saltwater. I do this as part of a water change.

While they're in QT (especially if you have many or big fish in there) you will need to carefully monitor ammonia, trite and trate to make sure that they don't climb.

Once they're through the QT period you want to do the acclimation procedure all over again to move them from QT to the main. When you're done with the QT you can break it down or keep it running. Mine is usually running with new SW that I then use when the time comes for my WC and then I fill the QT back up again. I used my QT most recently to drop some pesky crabs I caught into while they waited to go to their new home.

This is how we all learn. The LFS just tell you enough to keep you spending senseless amounts of money with them. Here is where you learn to really care for the creatures that you're bringing into your home!

 

[IfoundNemo]

This is how we all learn. The LFS just tell you enough to keep you spending senseless amounts of money with them. Here is where you learn to really care for the creatures that you're bringing into your home!

Amen.