Acclimation concern

[Feet4Fish]

This morning I received a gorgeous Aussie harlequin tusk. I was at my work, but my wife acclimated him. I guided her through the entire process. First she temp acclimated the bag for 15 minutes. She then drop acclimated him for two hours. She doubled the volume in the acclimation container twice. She the left the room dimly lit for 5 hours or so.

Since being in my QT tank he has been resting in a corner. He looks great and healthy. Non labored breathing. Doesn't look stressed, but just not wanting to move. He is the only one in the QT tank. QT tank parameters are temp 78 and salinity 1.024.

Should I be concerned or is he just trying to cope with his stressful day?

 

[Feet4Fish]

 

[Retro Reefer]

Hopefully he will snap out of it he looks a little bewildered.. IMO it's best not to do a long drip acclimation on new fish that have been shipped, I use a small cup to pour a little of my tank water at a time into there shipping bag until it's almost full then pour half off and repeat.. I do this a few times then float bag to bring temp in line and get them in my tank asap.. within a hour or less of receiving.

 

[rayn]

Could have been to long, but give it some time. Tusks are a bit skittish to begin with too. One I tried ran and hid every time I came in the room.

 

[Feet4Fish]

Hopefully he will snap out of it he looks a little bewildered.. IMO it's best not to do a long drip acclimation on new fish that have been shipped, I use a small cup to pour a little of my tank water at a time into there shipping bag until it's almost full then pour half off and repeat.. I do this a few times then float bag to bring temp in line and get them in my tank asap.. within a hour or less of receiving.

Is your rationale to do this quicker with "shipped" fish is because the shipping water is so "toxic@?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Is your rationale to do this quicker with "shipped" fish is because the shipping water is so "toxic@?

I don't know about being toxic but it's certainly dirty.. The main thing is oxygen deprivation and stress from being in that little bag in the dark and being thrown around for the last 24 hours during shipping..

 

[Feet4Fish]

Thanks.

 

[Duke4Life]

1 of the best ways is to empty half the water in the bag before dripping, helps cut down on time a bit.

 

[Retro Reefer]

Thanks

Good luck with him, he is a great looking Tusk..

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I just put a new fish in QT and I didn't acclimate and I just took this reading on the shipping water. The fish is 3.5" and was shipped in 20lbs worth of water. Can you imagine if it was in the regular amount of shipping volume?

 

[Duke4Life]

I just put a new fish in QT and I didn't acclimate and I just took this reading on the shipping water. The fish is 3.5" and was shipped in 20lbs worth of water. Can you imagine if it was in the regular amount of shipping volume?

That's the size of a nice male fairy wrasse roughly. Wow! If Prime is added wouldn't this 0 it out? Or be more harmful?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I don't use it because of the O2 risk.

 

[sc50964]

Prime will help to prevent any further damage due to ammonia poisoning but cannot do anything to the existing damage.

 

[Lionfish Lair]

If you get them out quick enough, you will keep the damage as minimal as possible. There's nothing to prevent that, besides not having fish shipped overnight.

 

[sc50964]

That's a good point. If prime is really doing what it says it could go, why don't shippers put them in the bag water to begin with. Maybe it only becomes useful when there is existing ammonia. Maybe if there is no ammonia to begin with, it becomes useless right after. Now you go me thinking. Lol

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I tried adding it to bags and it killed the critters. The oxygen is again the issue. It's also hard dosing for what isn't there yet. A certain amount of Prime is needed for a certain value of ammonia. If you undershoot, then there's still ammonia present. If you overshoot, you'll have driven the O2 too low necessarily.

We tried this with shipping shrimp years ago. We were trying to get the greatest number of shrimp possible, in the least amount of water necessary, for the longest possible amount of time.

 

[Duke4Life]

That's a good point. If prime is really doing what it says it could go, why don't shippers put them in the bag water to begin with. Maybe it only becomes useful when there is existing ammonia. Maybe if there is no ammonia to begin with, it becomes useless right after. Now you go me thinking. Lol

I've been debating what it really does all day hahaha

 

[sc50964]

Need a chemist here to make senses of all these. Where is Randy?

 

[Lionfish Lair]

I'm about to test bag #2.

 

[DannyB]

The beauty of using a QT is that you can match the salinity of the shipping water in your QT while floating the bag for temp. Then just move the fish to the QT.