The Proper Way To Acclimate?

[noobasaur]

Hey there my fellow fish lovers!

I recently learned a new way of acclimation from an importer and wanted to know if the guy is right or speaking from his ass.

As far as I know, there are only two ways to acclimate fish - Float method and Drip method

The importer talked about the Dump method?

 

They imported a large stock of fish, which took 3 days in transit. 
Hung the bags in the tank for 15 minutes, and then dumped them inside. 

 

While in my head major alarms starting going off and a few of his fish did die, others did not. 
Attatching the images below.

 

In his defence, he said - 
You try drip acclimating a new fish shipment, you end up with a dead shipment. 
There's too much non toxic ammonia in the bag. 
It's non toxic because the pH is lower than normal.
The moment the water comes in contact with air, the pH shoots back to 7-8.
That's the moment all that ammonia that has gathered in bag for the past 26-30 hours becomes toxic.
And the fish all die.
So goal is to temperature acclimate only and try to match the bag salinity as much as possible.
But salinity changes (unless they're HUGE) dont kill fish.

That got me really puzzled. Should I actually acclimate fish?
Or should I dump them like he does?

Hoping someone can help me find a solution to this mystery. 

[Nano_Addict]

I don't have the right answer, but I can confirm that I've read some articles about the dangers of drip acclimating after shipping.  Interested to see what the community has to say on this one.

[noobasaur]

Just now, Nano_Addict said:

I don't have the right answer, but I can confirm that I've read some articles about the dangers of drip acclimating after shipping.  Interested to see what the community has to say on this one.

Thanks for replying mate.
And yeah that's what I am trying to figure out. 

[Ratvan]

I'm of the 15 minute float camp, during shipping there will be a lot of ammonia build up within the bag unless oxygen is forced in. I just get the fish up to temperature and then transfer to the aquarium/QT as fast as possible while trying to avoid transferring across any of the shipping water

[noobasaur]

6 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I'm of the 15 minute float camp, during shipping there will be a lot of ammonia build up within the bag unless oxygen is forced in. I just get the fish up to temperature and then transfer to the aquarium/QT as fast as possible while trying to avoid transferring across any of the shipping water

So how do you make sure the salinity and other paramters are the same?

 

And if you don't mind me asking, how has the success rate been?

[Ratvan]

Just now, noobasaur said:

So how do you make sure the salinity and other paramters are the same?

I don't, if they're going into display I'll put them in a breeder box so i can monitor them and get out quickly if i need to.

Temperature match and away they go 

[noobasaur]

2 minutes ago, Ratvan said:

I don't, if they're going into display I'll put them in a breeder box so i can monitor them and get out quickly if i need to.

Temperature match and away they go 

Oh ok this is something very new for me.
I have been keeping SW tank for 8 months now - So I am fairly inexperienced. 

[Ratvan]

Just now, noobasaur said:

Oh ok this is something very new for me.
I have been keeping SW tank for 8 months now - So I am fairly inexperienced. 

Its personal choice really, if it was something like an invert I would drip acclimate as salinity is a big factor there

If it was a fish either shipped or from LFS I just temp match and release. Just could add a cup of tank water to the bag every so often if it was from the LFS to match salinity.

 

All depends on how long they have been in the bag really

[noobasaur]

1 minute ago, Ratvan said:

Its personal choice really, if it was something like an invert I would drip acclimate as salinity is a big factor there

If it was a fish either shipped or from LFS I just temp match and release. Just could add a cup of tank water to the bag every so often if it was from the LFS to match salinity.

 

All depends on how long they have been in the bag really

So if I say they have been in the baf for 3 days, will you simply match the temperature and move them? To avoid toxication from Ammonia?

[Clown79]

Most just float the bag for temp acclimation.

 

Ammonia levels rise in the bag and especially so when the bag is opened, leading to a greater likelyhood of fish not making it.

 

After temp acclimation i add the fish to qt. I don't take chances in that. 

[M. Tournesol]

I am not an expert (I actually receive only one shipped fish and some invertebrates.) but if you still want to drip acclimating, you could use product that neutralises ammonia (I used "stop ammonia" from prodibio). 

[noobasaur]

59 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Most just float the bag for temp acclimation.

 

Ammonia levels rise in the bag and especially so when the bag is opened, leading to a greater likelyhood of fish not making it.

 

After temp acclimation i add the fish to qt. I don't take chances in that. 

That was my thinking too!
So what I did was drip acclimate in and out of the bag at the same time.
So as newer water enters, older water is siphone out (hopefully).

39 minutes ago, M. Tournesol said:

I am not an expert (I actually receive only one shipped fish and some invertebrates.) but if you still want to drip acclimating, you could use product that neutralises ammonia (I used "stop ammonia" from prodibio). 

Not an expert either, but I add SeaChem Prime.
It is known to lower ammonia.
But I also drain the water from the bag then.

[mcarroll]

On 4/9/2021 at 7:49 AM, noobasaur said:

I recently learned a new way of acclimation from an importer

 

The importer talked about the Dump method?

 

They imported a large stock of fish, which took 3 days in transit. 
Hung the bags in the tank for 15 minutes, and then dumped them inside. 

You are not an importer and "should be" highly unlikely to ever receive fish that have been in shipping for three days.  So the advice is highly unlikely to apply to you.

 

At least it shouldn't.  For best results buy locally so you can pre-inspect fish AND so you can be responsible for their SHORT ride home.

 

It's good that you are taking the time to understand what's important during this phase – advice on the topic of acclimation usually seems kinda "all over the place".  👍

 

WARNING – Reading will be required!  😉  I can help by linking Sustainable Aquatics' Acclimation White Paper. 

 

In a nutshell, all of the concerns revolve around ammonia.  But it is more complicated than just knowing your ammonia level.  pH, temperature, salinity and other factors also weigh in very significantly along with all of the other concerns noted in the thread so far.  Check out that white paper.  👍