Slow Acclimation

[Patterson333]

So... I'm kind of new to fishkeeping, but I really like it. Anyways, I bought two encyclopedias on fish, and one of them, I think its called the Mini-Encyclopedia on Tropical Aquariums or something like that, said that the whole idea of adding some of your tank water to the bag when you're acclimating your fish is a waste of time because it takes weeks for the fish to become acclimated to different water parameters.

It kind of confused me because everywhere else I heard differently (the guys at every fish store I've been to have told me to add some of my tank water to the bag to slowly acclimate them). I told the guy at my LFS about the book and he said I should completely disregard their recommendation and that the slow acclimation is very helpful.

Personally, I trust the guys at my LFS more than that little book, so I'm sticking with what they said. On a sidenote, the first few fish I bought I just plopped in there after floating the bag for about 30 minutes, and they were perfectly fine, but I'd still rather acclimate slowly just to be on the safe side.

Anyone have a definitive answer to this whole thing? Does adding some of your tank water to the bag help with acclimation, or is it just a waste of time like the book says?

 

[sumpnfishy]

My 2 cents - Once I began properly acclimating new fish I've very seldom lost them within the first month or two. I dump the bag into a hang on container (like the LFS uses to get your fish) and put it in the QT tank (never put fish in a tank you already have fish in). After a few minutes for the temp to equalize, use a turkey baster and every few minutes add water from the tank. If need be I'll also remove water from the container so I can add more. After 30 minutes or so I'll pour the fish from the container into a net with the water dumping into a bucket or sink. Gently release the fish into the tank and watch to make sure they don't act weird right away. This is easy and has worked great for me.

That makes me wonder about the rest of the information in that book.

 

[mgamer20o0]

its never a simple yes or no answer. for fish you are getting from a lfs test their water and yours. if you are like me most are almost the same so acclimating them by drip isnt always a must.

two things i want to stress that sumpnfishy said. 1st is use a qt this will be your best bet no matter what you do. 2nd dont use the dirty water this is more important when getting fish in thats been shipped.

with fish being shipped co2 tends to rise in the bag ph drops ammonia builds up. when you start dumping high ph water in it will raise the ph in the bag which the higher the ph the more leathal it is.

 

[Patterson333]

Yea, I had to deal with Ich once when I set up my 55 Gallon and went out and bought a QT in the hopes that I can prevent having to put up with that hassle again (or any disease for that matter).

Just yesterday I bought a few fish from my lfs actually, and I acclimated them slowly just to be on the safe side (they're in my QT now), but I was wondering, how long do you usually quarantine a freshwater fish?

 

[sumpnfishy]

how long do you usually quarantine a freshwater fish?

Depends. Most people will say a minimum of 2 weeks. Some will always go at least a month. I always look at how fish have been from the LFS I've purchased before (never done the shipping thing). Also depends on how you feel about the exsisting fish in the target tank. If I'm putting fish in a tank just receintly set up, I'll do 2 weeks, mostly to make sure they acclimated to my water and recover from the stress they went through. If I'm putting in my established tank with a lot of fish then I'll lean more towards a month. If any die during the QT period I'll extend that by 2 more weeks.

I'm sure everyone has their own prefrences but that's how I do it and I've had no problems so far.

 

[mgamer20o0]

the longer the better. i would say 4 weeks after the last sign or death.

 

[Patterson333]

Yea I think I'm gonna go safe and just keep them in there for anywhere between 2 weeks to a month, depending on how things go.

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[joy13]

One thing is the wild caught fish always allow extra time in the QT just to be safe when it comes to internal parasites.

 

[JasonC]

So what do you all do to your fish while in qt? Just observe for external signs of sickness? (ich, dropsy, obvious emaciation, sores, etc) Or do any of you have a treatment regimine that you always use to minimize chances of there being internal issues (parasites, bacteria, etc)?

 

[mgamer20o0]

dont treat anything unless i see something come up. make sure its healthy no signs of illness and eating.

 

[JasonC]

dont treat anything unless i see something come up. make sure its healthy no signs of illness and eating.

How do you account for internal disease that may not manifest itself during the qt period? For example, I just lost 2 angels that were in my tank for 2 months... both added at the same time, and both lost w/in 1 week of each other in the same way, and very suddenly with no outward symptoms (that I knew of) until the day they died.

 

[mgamer20o0]

there is no way to account for everything. really its about cutting down the risk. the longer you qt the less of a risk you might add something to your main tank.

 

[JasonC]

There is no real way to mitigate those more latent issues then? That too bad, cause all of my fish deaths to this point (and there have been a number unfortunately) have happened after more than a month...

Are there at least signs that I can keep an eye out for that would indicate a fish with early parasitic, or other internal infections?

 

[dwag88]

well I hate to disagree with people on my first post, but with freshwater fish, I've always tried my best to minimize fish's stressful time in the bag. I usually let the bag float in the tank for 15-20 minutes then I cut the bag open and dump it out into a bucket through a net to catch the fish (to keep the fish store water out of my tank), then I put the fish straight into the tank. I've used this method with every FW fish I've bought over the last 10 years with great success. The water at my LFS comes out of the same pipe that the water in my tanks came out of, and I keep my nitrates low, so I really don't see any merit in keeping the fish in a bag for a drip acclimation. The only deaths I have had within days of purchase were some swordtails that found a hole to jump out of the top of my tank. Just my 2 cents. I don't operate QT tanks either. I used to back when I did saltwater, but it just gets too expensive. QT tanks will lead to MTS eventually. I have an empty 10 gallon that I can use as a hospital tank in an emergency, but new fish get acclimated ASAP so they can get out of that bag quickly.

 

[aarongalvan]

well I hate to disagree with people on my first post, but with freshwater fish, I've always tried my best to minimize fish's stressful time in the bag. I usually let the bag float in the tank for 15-20 minutes then I cut the bag open and dump it out into a bucket through a net to catch the fish (to keep the fish store water out of my tank), then I put the fish straight into the tank. I've used this method with every FW fish I've bought over the last 10 years with great success. The water at my LFS comes out of the same pipe that the water in my tanks came out of, and I keep my nitrates low, so I really don't see any merit in keeping the fish in a bag for a drip acclimation. The only deaths I have had within days of purchase were some swordtails that found a hole to jump out of the top of my tank. Just my 2 cents. I don't operate QT tanks either. I used to back when I did saltwater, but it just gets too expensive. QT tanks will lead to MTS eventually. I have an empty 10 gallon that I can use as a hospital tank in an emergency, but new fish get acclimated ASAP so they can get out of that bag quickly.

Dumb question....
What is MTS

 

[JasonC]

Multiple Tank Syndrome.... a very serious disease of which I think I am starting to feel the symptoms ;P

 

[aarongalvan]

Ahh... yes; I think I've some symptoms.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yep, got ahold of me too... to my knowledge, no known cures