I read online that if your fish were shipped to just get the bag temp to match the tank, open bag, drain water in bag in a sink, throw the fish in the tank. I'm obviously not a huge fan of this idea but the thing I read said that since they are packed with CO2, that once the bag is open that the ammonia spikes since the CO2 is gone. Any advice?
Acclimating fish that have been shipped.
- Thread starter moog24
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Thats the way to go.
Ammonia will build up in the bag during shipping, but the water will also acidify as dissolved CO2 rises through respiration and the ammonia will be non toxic ammonium. As soon as the bag opens, CO2 will offgas, pH will rise, the ammonium will become toxic free ammonia.
Temperature match the bag by floating. Open the bag, pour the water and fish into a net over a bucket or sink immediately. The net catches the fish, water goes into the bucket and this limits the time fish spend in the increasingly toxic water. Move the fish into your tank.
This is how i acclimate fish all the time without issue, even though im getting fish locally with no transportation. Sometimes drip acclimating isnt the best idea such as when you have a long shipping process.
Caveat. I notice this is in saltwater, and im not a saltwater person. So what im saying is freshwater advice and may not be relevant to saltwater which has other water parameters to also be aware of. Saltwater will be higher pH anyway so the low pH/low toxicity may not be relevant. Is that why they are injecting CO2 into the water so the pH and toxicity is reduced?
Ammonia will build up in the bag during shipping, but the water will also acidify as dissolved CO2 rises through respiration and the ammonia will be non toxic ammonium. As soon as the bag opens, CO2 will offgas, pH will rise, the ammonium will become toxic free ammonia.
Temperature match the bag by floating. Open the bag, pour the water and fish into a net over a bucket or sink immediately. The net catches the fish, water goes into the bucket and this limits the time fish spend in the increasingly toxic water. Move the fish into your tank.
This is how i acclimate fish all the time without issue, even though im getting fish locally with no transportation. Sometimes drip acclimating isnt the best idea such as when you have a long shipping process.
Caveat. I notice this is in saltwater, and im not a saltwater person. So what im saying is freshwater advice and may not be relevant to saltwater which has other water parameters to also be aware of. Saltwater will be higher pH anyway so the low pH/low toxicity may not be relevant. Is that why they are injecting CO2 into the water so the pH and toxicity is reduced?
Last edited:
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Just curious, where did you read that the fish were shipped in CO2 vs O2? I do know that CO2 will develop over time in the bag but to start off with no/little O2 makes little sense to me.
i stand corrected, they are not shipped with CO2 but with Oxygen but they excrete ammonia and CO2.
There will be build up of both CO2 and Ammonia, which should normally be a bad thing. But the CO2 will keep the water pH low meaning Ammonia, the undesirable and the conveniently more toxic element will be less potent.
But once your fish is home and you open the shipping bag, the CO2 will escape into the atmosphere and drive the pH way up making the Ammonia extremely toxic to the fish.
https://aquariawise.com/how-to-acclimate-new-fish-to-tank/#acclimate-saltwater-fish
There will be build up of both CO2 and Ammonia, which should normally be a bad thing. But the CO2 will keep the water pH low meaning Ammonia, the undesirable and the conveniently more toxic element will be less potent.
But once your fish is home and you open the shipping bag, the CO2 will escape into the atmosphere and drive the pH way up making the Ammonia extremely toxic to the fish.
https://aquariawise.com/how-to-acclimate-new-fish-to-tank/#acclimate-saltwater-fish
Andy Sager
Aquarium Advice Addict
Okay, that makes more sense.
I will tell you how we used to acclimate our marine fish in my wholesale house and pet shops I've worked in. I strongly suggest that you use a quarantine tank for the fish since you won't know what kind of pathogens the new fish may be carrying. Your quarantine tank's water should be the same parameters as your main tank.
Yes, once you open the bag, the CO2 in the air will be gone and the ability for the Ph to rise is there however, just opening the bag does not cause the Ph to rise. ( If possible, check the Ph of the water the fish is coming in before adding any new water or aeration. )We found that having heavy aeration in the acclimating containers raised the Ph so here's the work around:
We used a drip system which was nothing more than airline tubing with a plastic valve to control the water flow. Aeration was supplied but since the fish came in in cooler/colder water, the aeration was only needed at a low rate. Once again, having a valve in the airline to control the air flow is very important.
We did not float the bags because the time in the acclimation container with the tank water coming in will adjust the temperature of the water. You want to use a container of at least couple of gallons of water. The more fish you acclimate at the same time, the larger the container should be. You open the bag and empty the fish and water into the container. You need to assess the fish's condition once you put them in the container. The fish may look like they are sleeping when they are in cold water. If they are actively swimming around, the water was probably only cool or room temperature. Assuming the water temp is cold, add the aeration at a slow rate. Start the drip line at a steady drip. For really cold water, adjust to 1-2 drops per second. For cool water, 2-3 drops per second. Let this run for 5- 10 minutes then adjust the water flow to slightly faster. Depending on the activity of the fish, you raise the aeration. If the fish is inactive, no need to raise the air. If the fish is breathing heavily, you increase the aeration. Over the course of the next 15-20 minutes, you adjust the water flow and aeration based on the fish's behavior. Once the fish is active and the water in the container is 90% new water and 10% the packing water the fish came in, it/they should be good to go into your quarantine ( or main) tank.
I'm not familiar with the author of the article you posted but while I agree with most of his theory, there are a couple of points I have issues with. First off, quarantining fish for 1 to 2 weeks is fine for bacterial or fungal diseases but there are marine parasites that have a life cycle of over 60 days so a quarantine period of 6-8 weeks will be more proactive in preventing any pathogen from entering your main tank. Second is the Ph rising just because you open the bag. The still water will not change the Ph rapidly. In fact, we experimented with pre-reducing the Ph of the water in our acclimating containers prior to the fish arriving at our warehouse so we could remove the fish from their bag water and immediately place them in this clean reduced Ph water with no stress before starting our drip system. The end result was no difference from the method I described above, just added expense. :^s
The bottom line is that you want to change the parameters of the water the fish is in, slowly. The more information you have about the water the fish is in to start with, the better off you will be. You adjust accordingly. A Ph test and a thermometer will be your best friend in the long run.
I also can't stress enough the importance of using a quarantine tank vs adding new fish directly into your main tank. Shipped fish go through more stressors than fish you get from a local shop and so they are subject to coming down with issues more. Even tho you are talking about clownfish and most clownfish now are tank bred and raised so they should be hardier, you don't know what other fish were in the system those fish were being held in. Many a main tank has been lost to disease from a lack of quarantining new fish. Just an FYI.
Hope this helps.
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