I'm sure this has been answered somewhere but I havent found it yet. I know how people temperature and drip acclimate their fish but does that assume your tank and bag SG are the same? I have my quarantine setup with water from my DT which is at 1.026. Today I picked up a couple of PJ cardinals ( first fish ) from an LFS and the guy told me their FO tanks are kept at 1.020. So now in the meantime they are drip acclimating but I am starting to have second thoughts about whether that is the correct way to go about doing this.
Acclimation
- Thread starter jejton
- Start date
What you describe is very common where the SG of the LFS tanks are kept lower than where we usually keep our fish. The acclimation process you describe is proper as long as you are sure by the end of the acclimation that the water the fish is in is as the proper temp & salinity as the QT tank you are moving him into.
Since you are QT'ing (good for you!
), you might want to consider keeping your QT at a lower salinity (if only new fish are going in there) so the fish can be moved into it sooner when the temp has stabilized and then you could raise the salinity in the QT slowly over the course of a week or two while you observe your new fish.
Since you are QT'ing (good for you!
), you might want to consider keeping your QT at a lower salinity (if only new fish are going in there) so the fish can be moved into it sooner when the temp has stabilized and then you could raise the salinity in the QT slowly over the course of a week or two while you observe your new fish.Kathy - thanks for the advice. For the next fish I will go with the lower SG but this time it was setup before I got the fish.
Two other questions - I had poured the fish and their water into a bucket and was dripping into the bucket but there wasn't enough water to have a heater in there so how do I temp acclimate them? I'm worried that if I float the open bag in the tank, I will contaminate the tank with LFS water.
2nd - Should I do any dips or treatments prophylactically or only if I notice problems? This is the most confusing part for me regarding new fish. Every source says something different - freshwater, formalin, metylene blue, hyposalinity, and all the combinations.
Two other questions - I had poured the fish and their water into a bucket and was dripping into the bucket but there wasn't enough water to have a heater in there so how do I temp acclimate them? I'm worried that if I float the open bag in the tank, I will contaminate the tank with LFS water.
2nd - Should I do any dips or treatments prophylactically or only if I notice problems? This is the most confusing part for me regarding new fish. Every source says something different - freshwater, formalin, metylene blue, hyposalinity, and all the combinations.
I made an acclimator out of some air line tubing and an extra large specimen container.
First I took an old u tube and cut it so it would fit over the edge of the tank and the specimin container. Then I took some air line tubing and glued it inside that utube extending about 2 inches past the end of the u tube tank side and about 5 inches slack in the specimen container.
Then I drilled a home in the bottom of the container and put some air line tubing in the hole and sealed it up with aquarium sealany. I let dry and now when I want to acclimate a fish I start a siphon from the tank into the box and put the fish/coral right in the container.
The water from the tank will slowly mix with the water in the container that came from the LFS and then drip out the bottom of the tank into a bucket on the floor where the airline tube runs to. After I am satisfied the fish is ok and acting normally and properly acclimated I net it from the container, put it in the tank and top off with fresh saltwater. This makes sure the fish is ok and also helps me do a water change. With Corals I temp acclimate then put them in for the most part unless they are sensitive SPS corals.
Pics will follow in the am.
First I took an old u tube and cut it so it would fit over the edge of the tank and the specimin container. Then I took some air line tubing and glued it inside that utube extending about 2 inches past the end of the u tube tank side and about 5 inches slack in the specimen container.
Then I drilled a home in the bottom of the container and put some air line tubing in the hole and sealed it up with aquarium sealany. I let dry and now when I want to acclimate a fish I start a siphon from the tank into the box and put the fish/coral right in the container.
The water from the tank will slowly mix with the water in the container that came from the LFS and then drip out the bottom of the tank into a bucket on the floor where the airline tube runs to. After I am satisfied the fish is ok and acting normally and properly acclimated I net it from the container, put it in the tank and top off with fresh saltwater. This makes sure the fish is ok and also helps me do a water change. With Corals I temp acclimate then put them in for the most part unless they are sensitive SPS corals.
Pics will follow in the am.
I like Chiefs contraption - looking forward to the pics!!
1st..The water dripping in from your tank should be the right temp..and should keep it fairly stable. If you want you can float the bag the fish came home in for a bit in your tank before you start the acclimation process. If you're uncomfortable that the bag might leak..then pop it inside of a bag you already have at home
2nd.. No! There is NO reason to treat a fish for something it doesn't have and potentially really lousy advice. Your aim in having a QT tank is to observe the fish. In the event you find something wrong, then you have the fish already in the proper environment to treat it. Treating a healthy fish with medications, dips, hyposalinity is asking for trouble as all can stress the fish.
You didn't ask the following but I will offer it anyway...
In the QT you want to make sure the fish is eating well (don't skimp on meals..that is stressful!) , swimming well, all it's parts (fins, eyes.. look healthy), even it's poop should look healthy for what it is eating.
I've always suggested that folks cover 3 sides of the the QT tank with dark paper or paint them so the fish has a comfort level (they have no clue there aren't predators in your home looking to eat them..) and activity outside of the tank will not startle them. You can add hard objects such as PVC piping or even plastic (yes, I said it) plants. No sand, no rock. Be sure to have a power head in there for circulation that MUST break the surface of the water for oxygen exchange..and a heater.
Are you running a filter in there? Even a $3.00 box filter is good and will help keep the tank cleaner & the water aerated, though I prefer sponge filters as you can always keep the extra sponge floating around in your sump & ready to go when you need to set up a QT tank quickly. (QT tanks should not be constantly running IMO, uless you are actuvely purchasing fish one after the other)
Lastly - do lots of water changes with new SW. Match temp & salinity first. The idea is water as pristine as possible, please don't use the water taken from your DT
Good luck to you & your new fish!
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- Location
- Flushing NY 11355
Depends on fish you are talking about, a lot wrasses will die if you raise the SG so fast days later.
A practice of some vendors will only raise SG by .003 per 8-12 hours. If you check the reacclimation process after hypro you should found that most suggest you to raise the SG from 1.009 to 1.023 over 36-40 hours. that equates to 4 to 5 times or raising the SG by .003 over 36-40 hours.
A practice of some vendors will only raise SG by .003 per 8-12 hours. If you check the reacclimation process after hypro you should found that most suggest you to raise the SG from 1.009 to 1.023 over 36-40 hours. that equates to 4 to 5 times or raising the SG by .003 over 36-40 hours.
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