I have ordered fish via saltwaterfish.com that will be here Friday. My question and I have read alot of posts is to negate the drip acclimating method and to use the floating bag to match temperatures and empty water from the bagged fish and add some tank water to the bags over time before releasing into the tank.
I also read alot about a QT tank which I do not have at the moment and am working on before the fishes arrival. What you need to do when you get a mail-ordered fish is this. Put the unopened bag in the QT water for 20 minutes to equalize the temperature between bag water and tank water. Open the bag and dump out some of the water, enough so that the top of the water level just barely covers the top of the fish (this way you don't have to take a lot of the water from the QT). Now open the bag. Start putting a cup of water from the QT into the bag every 4 minutes. Your goal is to double the bag water volume every 20 minutes or so. After 20 minutes, dump out half of the bag water and repeat this process for another 20 minutes, and when that is finished net the fish into the QT. This whole process should take 40 minutes and not longer.
Any other advice if I can't get a QT tank by Friday? Thanks
This hobby is a learning experience so going forward I would agree with everyones' advice but given that everything is coming and there's no turning back let's see if we can make the best of it. Don't worry too much, just try to keep on top of everything.
Get yourself a 40 breeder or so with at least a hang on filter. For now get a sponge going in your own tank's sump to seed it with bacteria somewhat and make sure you have a lot of salt, an enzyme to start/add bacteria, some carbon just in case and meds that you like to use. Also some nice assorted sizes of PVC "Tees" and "Y's" for the fish to hide in.
What size tank is your DT? You don't want to add too many fish to a DT especially if it is a small tank. Sometimes the tank can't take the extra added bioload and it leads to a crash but sometimes people luck out. So even after you're done with Q, you'll leave some of the fish in the QT until the first 2 or 3 have adjusted and the tank is used to the bioload (if your tank is a small one)
Most wholesalers that ship to us (vendors) instruct us to use the drip method but I am more than confident that the method that you spoke of is a good one because there are times that I do that myself.
There are ways of NOT acclimating a fish as well:
1) test the Ph of all of the bags... they are usually the same or extremely close
2) prep saltwater to match salinity and temperature of your QT
3) Float all fish in the QT
4) Test the Ph of the QT
5) the QT water will usually be higher in Ph.... in a 40g tank I'd use about a CC or 2 of distilled white vinegar to drop the Ph of the water.
6) test the QT water Ph to make sure that it matches and adjust if needed using more distilled white vinegar and/or Ph buffer to raise it
7) once the water of the bags matches the the water in the QT, just dump the fish in minus the water that they came in
I might lose "A" fish out of 50 using this method but that fish probably wouldn't have made it anyway
8)slowly raise the Ph with buffer over the course of an hour +/-
another option: (if you're not going to setup a QT)
1) empty all of the fish in a container (usually the styrofoam box they came in BUT make sure u check the box for leaks first) and just dump all of the bags into the box and add a couple of cups of your DT water to it. Like you said, first make sure that there is only enough water in the box to cover the tops of the fish.
2)Add an airstone to the box and let the fish relax while u start a drip or your method with dumping a little of your water at a time
3)Prep a bucket of fresh R/O water and match the temperature and ph of your DT and add 10-20 drops per gallon of Quick Cure (i've used 25 drops per gallon successfully)
4)after a few hours and you see that the fish are swimming around freely not showing extreme signs of stress (please keep in mind that u have to keep an eye on temp and add a heater if necessary), take the fish 1 by 1 and put them in your bucket of RO/Quick Cure mix and relocate the airstone to the bucket. Quick Cure robs water of oxygen so an airstone is important.
5)leave fish in there for 15-20 minutes and just scoop them up and do 1 of 2 things:
a) if there are no other fish in your DT, put them straight into your DT
b) if there are fish in your DT, take a new container of your DT water and let them chill out with a cover over them before you put them in your DT. NOTE: lights in room and DT should be off as not to stress the fish
This in now way will guarantee that your fish are pest free however, if you don't have a choice for whatever your reason is, then it will give you your best chance. If a fish dies because of it, it was probably sick/over stressed anyway and chances are it would have made it in a QT either. Also, not all fish have anything wrong with them. Even if you choose to put them in your DT because you don't have a QT when the fish arrive, make sure you get one and have it on hand just in case your fish do get sick and now you have to take them out and QT them.
Best of luck
PS. I drip my fish for 30-45 minutes and sometimes less. Whatever you choose just don't rush. Give the fish a chance to breathe and relax once you have cleaner water in with them and an airstone.
