Fish Acclimation - Long bag times or large fish

[Coral Hind]

There was a thread on here recently where a large fish was bagged and floated for an hour and it reminded me of a post on another board I saw years ago calling to not float fish bags. I just wanted to share the key points I remember from it and explain how I acclimate newly shipped fish to reduce some stress.

 

Ammonia poisoning is the big issue with bagged fish. Ammonia is more toxic at higher pH, and the warmer the water is. The fish waste and CO2 build up in the bag drives the pH down combined with the water that has dropped in temprature makes ammonia less lethal. So knowing that I say don't ever float the bag! First, it restricts oxygen exchange which happens between the bag plastic and the outter atmosphere. It also slowly raises the temprature which will increase the toxicity of the ammonia. The key is to get the fish out of the bag water, ASAP. Once the bag is opened the fish needs to be removed quickly as the fresh air entering the bag drives up the pH and that makes the ammonia more toxic.

 

Here is what I do:

 

Set up a five gallon bucket with a little tank water in it. Add NovAqua or similar product. NovAqua provides an organic virus and bacteria inhibitor and provides slime coat replacement. Add AmQuel, Prime, or similar ammonia binder. Have another empty bucket to discard the shipping water in.

 

Open the box, sort and inspect the fish like a triage dealing with the most stressed or biggest fish first.

 

Cut the bags open and drain most of the water into the waste bucket. Then dump the fish out of the bag into the treated bucket.

 

I let the fish sit in this bucket for about 15 minutes with you adding a little more tank water every five minutes or so to keep the temp stable and to help adjust SG. Then I use my hands or a plastic container to move the fish to the QT, I try not to use a net. Because the shipping water is normally lower than NSW I set my QT's at 1.021 and slowly bring them up later via evaporation. I also dose the QT with the ammonia binder and slime coat enhancer.

 

I've read that temperature considerations are important only if the tank water is cooler than the water in the bags. While the fish is in QT, make sure it is eating and acting fine before starting a medication treatment that will be stressful and cause a loss of appetite.

 

I know people have different views of how fish adjust to pH and water temps and everyone does acclimation differently. I'm just sharing how and why I do it. This fast departure from shipping water into a tank is for the average fish and not for delicate fish and inverts.

[Swimboy123]

Good info and methodologies to have!

[trockafella]

So do you consider this more of the how to do it when going to QT, samething if you were gonna put them in a DT? Do you ever do drip acclimation.?

[Coral Hind]

I do it the same way for a DT bound fish. I don't drip acclimate fish because of the same reasons. As the higher pH tank water and increased O2 exchange mix they raise the bagged water's pH so the ammonia will become really toxic. I just feel it is best to get them out of the bagged water ASAP. If you do drip acclimated then add the ammonia binder.

[steveoutlaw]

Ok, so what about getting the fish from a LFS or another member. I would always just bring home and drip acclimate for an hour and then scoop them into the tank. Is this a good method if they are not bagged or only bagged for a short period, say and hour?

[monkiboy]

interesting information and read. i've read similar inforation packaged in with shipments from dr. mac and john maloney.

[Coral Hind]

Steveoutlaw,

It is not as much of an issue for short bag times such as a trip from a local tank unless it is a large fish, particularly large angels. Large angels seem to not take low O2 and high ammonia as well as other fish, even in 5g buckets. I think if you want to drip that is fine just add a little ammonia binder to be safe. I'm talking about overnight shipments or even short with a large fish.

 

If you are going to make a long trip with a large fish have a battery air stone and put the ammonia binder in the bucket before starting the trip.

[CaptainRon]

So no issues with putting fish in warmer water, just not colder water?

 

What about salinity? I saw you reference using a lower salinity - what would you recomend if you can't find out the salinity of the bag water before opening it?

[Coral Hind]

Unless it is more 10 degrees there haven't been any problems. However a fast drop in temprature of just three degrees can kill.

 

If doing a QT I would pick a number like the 1.021 as it is a safe middle number. I have seen fish come in as low as 1.015 but the norm is 1.019-1.024. The higher side is less common as it costs more money in salt to keep it up there plus fish are better resistant to ich at a lower SG. If you want to check SG, just open the bag and quickly add the squirt of ammonia binder, that gives you some time to check SG.

[Der ABT]

if im not mistaken ive always heard its much easier for a fish to go into a lower salinity than it is a higher salinity.....aka when it rains....but evaportaion (salinity rising) takes a much longer time.

 

 

Very good info here dave and thank you for posting....need to go pick up some binder etc...

[CaptainRon]

OK I understand. Thanks for posting this Dave. I've never ordered fish overnight before. But I've often wondered about this sort of stuff for even bringing fish home locally.

 

That makes sense ABT.

[zygote2k]

I believe I am the post that Dave is referring to. In that particular case, I floated the bag in the water to warm it up to see if the fish was even alive. I was only using the bag float method to warm 25 bags of fish before taking them to various places and the tank I was floating them in was just a warm place along the route. I didn't have too much extra water on hand either. When you order from a wholesaler, you have a DOA guarantee. If the fish is dead in the bag, it's very easy to get a credit. If the fish is dead in a bucket, it's not very easy to get credit.

When I normally get fish that are alive in the bags, I pop 'em open and put them into a bucket ASAP then start adding water from the QT or DT a little bit at a time over the course of 30-60 minutes. I generally don't use Amquel or other chemicals in this process but am not opposed to using them. Whatever it takes to save the fish.

[JerryJ]

I haven't tried it yet, but it seems to me a good approach would be to match the QT water to the water in the bag. If the QT is prepared with high salinity, you can always dilute it to match what the fish is currently in. Then why not use pH adjusting drops to bring the QT water close to the pH of the bag water? You can do drip acclimation with this adjusted water since it won't toxify the ammonium, being at low pH. Once the fish is in the QT, you can gradually bring the pH back up, although it will probably raise significantly by itself through buffering. Does this make sense, or am I missing something?

[basser9]

I really question if any fish whether they are freshwater/saltwater and our reef fish are really that sensitive to the type

of water differences they would encounter in the introducion to our tanks.

I have added over 60 reef fish over 20years into multible setups and never had any issue just dropping them right into the tank.

In bass fishing i add ice to all my livewells and really get it cold for bringing them home for my ponds.

I know tropical spec are less tolerant but i dont believe for a minute that a 5degree difference matters at all.

My tanks dont have heaters on them and only run around 72 this month and i have and will add fish without adjusting the water temp.

Now if i was to add a 500.00 fish i would maybe take the time but my experience dosent lead me to believe it matters.

[zygote2k]

I haven't tried it yet, but it seems to me a good approach would be to match the QT water to the water in the bag. If the QT is prepared with high salinity, you can always dilute it to match what the fish is currently in. Then why not use pH adjusting drops to bring the QT water close to the pH of the bag water? You can do drip acclimation with this adjusted water since it won't toxify the ammonium, being at low pH. Once the fish is in the QT, you can gradually bring the pH back up, although it will probably raise significantly by itself through buffering. Does this make sense, or am I missing something?

I see no point in trying to alter the pH of your QT system. The QT needs to be stable. The adjustment of the pH needs to happen as you mix the bag water with the QT water. If you do this slowly, you won't shock the fish.

FWIW, just like Mr. Bassman says, I've dropped thousands of fish right from the shipping bag into the DT without ill-effect.

On sensitive species or expensive species, I do the normal acclimation.

[Coral Hind]

I agree, adjusting the pH in a QT doesn't sound like a good idea. You would have to add a good bit of acid to lower the pH past the water's naturally buffering level. Once you did get the fish in the tank you would then have to buffer back up the tank. Just a waste of time and products that aren't needed.