Extreme Acclimation

[etmanning1]

Help please, I just brought home a TINY (~1") Yellow Coris wrasse and floated the bag to even out the temperature then opened the bag and checked the salinity to find that it was ridiculously low at 1.020SG where my tank is a bit high at 1.026... I Can't alter the salinity in my QT tank because there is already another fish in it also at 1.026Sg so I began a VERY slow drip acclimation. I know that after opening a bag, ammonia spikes but there was nothing I can do. Should I just let him slowly acclimate over the span of 2-3 hours or should I set up a bucket with the lower salinity and keep him in there for an even longer acclimation? any help is appreciated.

 

[Humblefish]

If you are sure there is no copper in the bag water, dose an ammonia reducer (e.g. Prime, Amquel). You will also need to temperature control the water (heater) and provide oxygen (air stone) for that long of an acclimation period.

You can shorten the acclimation period by simultaneously dropping the SG in the QT. Fish can handle going down in salinity a lot easier than going up.

 

[chamjack]

Thats not a crazy difference in salinity for a fish in my experience. I would just use the float method from live aquaria https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/157/?aid=157. If you just transported it home from your live fish store, assuming it’s close, the fish hasn’t been in the bag that long to build up ammonia like as if it was shipped overnight. I wouldn’t sweat it and do it either way you like.

 

[George Villasenor]

The drip acclimation will do just fine, perhaps just make the drip rate slower than usual.

 

[eatbreakfast]

Exposure to ammonia is worse for the fish than salinity swings. Ammonia burns the gills, which affects it's ability to breath for the rest of it's life.

 

[Victoria M]

You can shorten the acclimation period by simultaneously dropping the SG in the QT. Fish can handle going down in salinity a lot easier than going up.

This is what I have done in the past.