not sick yet, but...

[shawmutt]

Just when I thought I had this fish thing down, I go and do something dumb. I went to petsmart to buy tubing for my C02 system, and I found them--the elusive otocinclus sp. I know, I know, they're pretty common, but for some reason no one in my area had them. I was so excited I bought 4 (even though in a prior post I said I'd never buy at petsmart ) and brought them home. Then I remembered what I had been doing to my tank. I'm trying to breed my cardinals, and I have been dropping my pH ( it was at 6.2 today) and my GH (it's currently at 6%). When I brought the otos home I floated them for 10 minutes, then put a little tank water in the bag, waited ten minutes, put more tank water in the bag, waited ten more minutes, and then let them swim out of the bag. They immediately attached themselves to stuff and started munching. It's been three hours, I just checked them again (my cardinals hate when I turn on the light after the timer turns it off!). I found two of the four, and they were just peacefully munching. I'm worried because the pH at the pet store was most certainly around 7.0.

Will my fish die of pH shock?

 

[reefrunner69]

If they haven't yet...it's doubtful that they will.

 

[shawmutt]

Update: It's about 8:20 AM, and they're still munching. I hope they're ok.

Question: How do I avoid pH shock when I get new fish (read my prior post for details).

 

[Somethingfishy]

I would think do what you did with the otos, add a little tank water every 10min for about an hour and let them slowly adjust to the drop in pH.

 

[EMS503]

I use the drip method. A piece off airline tubing with a knot in it and run it into a bucket at 2-3 drops/second. Length of time depends on the fish,etc.

BTW since using this method started when I switched to SW, we now use it on Cardinal Tetras. We use to buy 3-4 more then we wanted because we would lose some the first day, now we havent lost any. Now we drip all.

 

[reefrunner69]

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=18

This outlines what EMS503 was saying about the drip acclimation. FWIW, there is some debate that it is best to immediately dump the fish. This would apply to fish that have been in the bag for awhile. The theory is that the increased CO2 in the bag lowers the ph, the lower the ph, the less toxic ammonia is, and at a point the ammonia is converted to ammonium (which is relatively harmless). If the water is oxygenated quickly the ammonia in the bag will become very toxic as the ph begins to rise. IMO, it's a catch 22, and I drip acclimate.

 

[EMS503]

Great article. I may not always explain things the best way, But I think this article puts it plainly enough for all to understand.

 

[shawmutt]

Update: I'm just coming back from my weekend bachelor party. My fiance (who stayed home this weekend ) said they were active all weekend, and I looked at them tonight and they seemed fine , they really are busy buggers.