Best Way to De-Bag Fish?

UnshackledAI · Jan 14, 2016

Hey guys,

So whenever I bring a fish home the part that always worries me the most is getting it out of the plastic bag without it getting caught in the bag. I do drip acclimation for all my fish so I first transfer the fish to a bucket from the bag and then I begin the process. What techniques do you guys use to make this less stressful for fish AND owner?

melypr1985 · Jan 14, 2016

At home I use scissors to cut the entire top of the bag off then just gently poor the fish and its water into the "acclimation vessel"

Lionfish Lair · Jan 14, 2016

I scoop them out and put them in the QT. O.O

Is there "Acclimation Police"? Should I be worried about a flame? LOL!

UnshackledAI · Jan 14, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
I scoop them out and put them in the QT. O.O

o.o you can do that? I thought they needed to be acclimated. I know some people do the type of acclimation where you put the whole bag in and then dip the tank water into the bag over time, but still.

melypr1985 · Jan 14, 2016

UnshackledAI said:
o.o you can do that? I thought they needed to be acclimated. I know some people do the type of acclimation where you put the whole bag in and then dip the tank water into the bag over time, but still.

As long as temp and salinity match, yes you can.

CoralClark · Jan 14, 2016

Temp acclimate in the bag. Then scoop fish out of bag by hand and release into tank.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 14, 2016

I'm not saying for anyone to do what I do.... it's just what I do. But lemme give you some background as to why with 4 pictures.

The green vials are the shipping water and that's ammonia you're looking at. I did this with different companies at different times and it only occurs with shipping critters, not with bringing them home from the store. I started using those quick dip sticks after that. If there was any indication of ammonia, I would take them out immediately. If it was clear, I would acclimate a little.

The choices are:
- acclimate and burn gills in ammonia (increasing stress)
- bypass acclimation (increasing stress) and put them in beautiful water.

Both increase stress, but only one will leave permanent damage.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 14, 2016

There's 2 vials because I always run a control.

E048 · Jan 15, 2016

I drip everything but coral

scardall · Jan 15, 2016

the ye-old drip method over 40 minutes at least. 20min. temp acclimation in tank than 20min water drip.

Jizu Puentes · Jan 15, 2016

I only drip inverts and sensitive fish. Everything else fish/corals are temp floated.

tigÃ©21v · Jan 16, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
I'm not saying for anyone to do what I do.... it's just what I do. But lemme give you some background as to why with 4 pictures.

The green vials are the shipping water and that's ammonia you're looking at. I did this with different companies at different times and it only occurs with shipping critters, not with bringing them home from the store. I started using those quick dip sticks after that. If there was any indication of ammonia, I would take them out immediately. If it was clear, I would acclimate a little.

The choices are:
- acclimate and burn gills in ammonia (increasing stress)
- bypass acclimation (increasing stress) and put them in beautiful water.

Both increase stress, but only one will leave permanent damage.

You make a compelling case.

hybridazn · Jan 16, 2016

melypr1985 said:
As long as temp and salinity match, yes you can.

Don't forget ph as well.

mtfish · Jan 16, 2016

I first ask the vendor what the salinity of the water they are shipping fish in. I then make sure the QT tank the fish is going in is matched for that salinity.I also always have the vendor send the fish to hold at Fedex or UPS, whichever they ship, at the local facility. I do this so I can get the fish as soon as possible and not have it ride around in a truck for who knows how long. When I get the fish home I immediately float the bag in the tank for 15 minutes or so to match temperatures. Only then do I open the bag by cutting the top off with a razor blade. I double check both QT salinity and bag salinity. If the same, I get the fish out by hand (do not use nets) and place in the QT. I never checked pH and never had an issue by using this method.

Fishinwall · Jan 16, 2016

E048 said:
I drip everything but coral

What do you do for corals? Sps?

Mike in CT · Jan 16, 2016

If your worried about ammonia soaring once you open the bag, you can aways put a few drops of prime to negate the ammonia during acclimation.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 16, 2016

Mike in CT said:
If your worried about ammonia soaring once you open the bag, you can aways put a few drops of prime to negate the ammonia during acclimation.

Naw, prime is not my thing.

I'm not saying this is "the best way" as the title says, as I wouldn't say that about anything I did. But think about it, wouldn't I have stopped by now if there was an issue with me doing it? Why would I add or take away any steps when it works for me perfectly. I've done this with rare fish, "delicate" fish and expensive fish. I USED to acclimate, then I stopped. There wasn't a difference,,,,,

One thing I've read from the aquaculture industry, is that fish don't actually acclimate in the short amount of time we give them. It's not something that takes, minutes or hours, but much longer. I forget the exact guesstimate they gave, but it was over a day. I'm going to see if I can find that reference again as I haven't looked at it in some years. I have ALOT of references though, so it'll take a bit. It was that and the ammonia that made me stop.

Broadfield · Jan 16, 2016

I keep a lot of Anthias and some are of weaker species. I have never lost one that I acclimated with the following procedure... a little over 2 hours in all.

Float bag for 2o minutes.
Pour contents of bag into bucket and drip acclimate for 30 minutes.
Pour 1 gallon of tank water into a 2nd bucket and use 1 packet of Safety Stop Green. Add air stone and heater.
Net fish from drip bucket into "green" bucket. Set timer for 45 minutes.
Pour 1 gallon of tank water into a 3rd bucket and use 1 packet of Safety Stop Blue. Move air stone and heater over from "green" bucket.
Net fish from green bucket and transfer to "blue" bucket. Set timer for 45 minutes again.
Net fish from "blue" bucket into QT or DT... depending on your method of introducing new fish.

Lionfish Lair · Jan 16, 2016

Gee, one of the books I think the reference is in is 540 pages.... I better get a readin'. I've been meaning to find these references, so now is a good time.

Think about the fact that we say not to change the temperature more than 1 or 2 a day or it causes stress. How would one address that during a 20, 40 or 60 minute long acclimation, if there was a 5 degree difference? They're still going to be stressed because it's too much, too fast.

When we bring salinity down for a treatment and then back up, don't we do that super super slow? Again, 20, 40 or 60 minutes is to be too much of a change, too fast. It's because they can't acclimate that fast, that's why we do these things so slow. If they can't acclimate that fast, they can't acclimate that fast. It doesn't make a difference if we just got them or not.

As a side note: One time the salinity in my shipping bag was 1.032. Crikey right!

hybridazn · Jan 16, 2016

Lionfish Lair said:
Gee, one of the books I think the reference is in is 540 pages.... I better get a readin'. I've been meaning to find these references, so now is a good time.

Think about the fact that we say not to change the temperature more than 1 or 2 a day or it causes stress. How would one address that during a 20, 40 or 60 minute long acclimation, if there was a 5 degree difference? They're still going to be stressed because it's too much, too fast.

When we bring salinity down for a treatment and then back up, don't we do that super super slow? Again, 20, 40 or 60 minutes is to be too much of a change, too fast. It's because they can't acclimate that fast, that's why we do these things so slow. If they can't acclimate that fast, they can't acclimate that fast. It doesn't make a difference if we just got them or not.

As a side note: One time the salinity in my shipping bag was 1.032. Crikey right!

My tank temp constantly fluxes between 77.5-79.5 so a 2 degree swing is not stressful on fish.

When using hypo salinity for disease treatment you drop the salinity from 1.022-1.026 all the way down to 1.008-1.009 in a matter of 2 days. Only when raising the salinity will you do it slowly. Over a course of a full week or so.