Acclimation questions...help

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arminkropp

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
Messages
398
Location
Winnipeg,Manitoba,CANADA
Well tonight I went out and got my first fish(Yellow Hawiian Tang). I had a 2 hour drive home and now the questions....

I used the acclimation method stated in the Marine aquarist handbook, dump 1/3 of the water. add 1 cup tank water, wait 15 min. dump water again, add tank water again. I did all this after letting the bags float for 20-30 min.

Any how now my tang is on the bottom of the tank(lights off) and pretty much lying on its side, breathing rapidly. Is this normal?
Did I do something wrong. This fish was in great shape when I bought him and even when I got home. now this.
My tank has been done cycling for 3 weeks now and all water tests are fine.
I really dont want to loose my first fish.
Should he bounce back after a couple hours,days????

thanx
 
Not sounding so normal. Hopefully it isn't fatal, but it could very well be. The best thing to do is to is to check the water parameters (SG & pH) before releasing the new fish and if they don't match keeeeeep going! When I was using the "cupful" method I would use a shot glass every 5 minutes to make the transition as gradual as possible. Dump half anytime it gets kind of full. The best method would be drip but the shot glass method had worked well for me with my first few fish additions.

A yellow tang should be one of your last additions due to aggression issues (I made this same mistake) so if it doesn't live you may want to wait a bit for one anyway and move to the next fish on your wish list. Is a 50 big enough for a YT? I thought you needed at least a 75 for any tang, but I could well be off on that.
 
Unfortunately there is not much you can for the tang right now. I’m not trying to be negative but his chances are 50/50 right now.

1 of 2 things has likely happened. He is either extremely stressed out and will bounce back in a couple of days or you did not fully acclimate him before release and you may find him lifeless tomorrow morning.

I would highly recommend the drip acclimation process. It takes 2 to 3 hours (sometimes longer) to properly acclimate a fish.

How long did you acclimate him?
 
In total it took about 1 1/2 hours.
This sux. its a little frustrating. I feel bad for him just lying there. :(
I hope he'll bounce back, I guess I'm baseing this on how healthy he was before.
I guess only time will tell.........
 
when you temp acclimate after a long time in the bag be sure to keep the bag tied. This will reduce large pH swings. I use 1/2 cup of tank water every 5 min for an hour only dumping excess when necessary. Once the numbers match all is well and you can add him in. It normally is about an hour to an hour and a half for me. No deaths yet.
 
Drip method is the best way.. Very important to check the LFs water SG/salinity and then check yours. Start a slow drip only dumping extra water when needed. I drip until the SG matches then I go an extra 30+ min. A big swing in SG too fast will harm the fish and a big Ph swing will do the same thing.

Some LFS keep there SG low around a .017-.019 and most of us keep the tanks in the .023-.025 range so it can take several hours to bring the SG up slowly.
IMO saying too acclimate a fish for 1 hour is not right, you can not set a time limit on this. Every tank si different and not all LFS keep the same SG.
With fresh water the 1 hour rule works fin but no in SW.
 
As I stated earlier the matching of the water is needed and it has worked for me at the hr mark several times with an 1.5 hr acclimation twice. Time is not the important factor but matching the pH and sg. The only time factor is not changing these numbers too quickly and doing it gradually.
 
I didn't properly acclimate some damsels and recently killed them. My SG tester was out of whack and I dunked them into 1.018 water very fast. They were used to 1.024. I am to used to fresh water.

I have seen my buddies just dump FW fish in. And they would be happy as they could be 5 minutes later.

I think I am going to try the drip method next fish I get.
 
Well I'm sorry to say my tang and scooter blenny died last night at 3:00am.
This is really crappy :cry:
I'll have to check pH and SG next time....whenever that'll be.
I just a little frustrated right now. I'm out $65 for the two, but most of all I CAUSED their death.
I'm agree with what everyone has said and I'll have to drip acclimate next time.....even if it takes hours!

Sob.......
I'm open to any and every tips for acclimation I can get.
 
sorry to hear about the loss of yoru fish. I have done many things for acclimation and this is the best way i think and easy to do.

Let the bag float about 10 - 15 min
drip acclimate the fish for at least an hour, maybe 1.5 hrs.
add to tank and mine usually swim around picking at algae, etc immediately. very pleased with the results. i HIGHLY recommend the drip method and it's not muc work.

Jim
 
So I just drip tank water via an air line with a knot or a valve on it. How fast should it drip? Slower for inverts than fish? I've read the article here and it doesnt say
 
I've found it useful to float one of those plastic gerbil keepers in my sump(with my dripees in it) while dripping, so that I don't have another temperature issue at the end of the drip.
 
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