Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
Interesting discussion here guys. Here comes my spanner into the works.....
The water at my place of work is hard and alkaline.... pH 7.8 to 8.2. When we receive our fish, we do not have 5 hours, let alone 5 days for drip acclimatisation. The water in the bags does not allow for this either as ammonia is often high. If we open the bags for dripping, we lose the remaining oxygen and fish may start gasping, so consequently..... and brace yourselves......... we have to basically open the bags and pour the fish into a net and add them to our tanks. PH shock?..... we do this with cardinal tetras - last week I lost one fish a week after I added them.
We do drip certain fish, but not because of pH. Tiger barbs, tinfoils, rosy barbs, silver dollars and a couple of others seem to go into shock due to adjustment to oxygen levels..... they spin wildly then die quickly with mouths wide open! Addition of tank water to the bags over a period of ten mins or so alleviates this. Other than this, we have few problems adding fish.
OP, if you are still reading, what sympoms or actions.do your fish display once released? Also, are the bags filled with air or oxygen when you buy the fish?
Pip do you believe in nitrate shock? How difficult is it maintain a lower level of nitrates in your place of work?