Got new fish in to QT.. Salinity extremely high

[PaulieReef]

So I couldnt find a distinct answer, so hoping someone can help. I have a QT setup with around 1.019 salinity. I checked the bag to see what the salinity of the fish shipped where and it was 1.029.

I was told lower salinity is better for QTing, and I already have copper at 1ppm. Should I quickly raise the salinity in my QT while the fish sit in a bucket with a bubbler? And if so, how much? I would prefer to QT at lower salinity as I had more success.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

So I couldnt find a distinct answer, so hoping someone can help. I have a QT setup with around 1.019 salinity. I checked the bag to see what the salinity of the fish shipped where and it was 1.029.

I was told lower salinity is better for QTing, and I already have copper at 1ppm. Should I quickly raise the salinity in my QT while the fish sit in a bucket with a bubbler? And if so, how much? I would prefer to QT at lower salinity as I had more success.

If there are no fish in the QT, could you add some salt to bring the SG up to around 1.023 and then acclimate the fish over. Since these are shipped fish, you need to move quickly.

Here is an article I posted recently on acclimation (click on the PDF at the right side of the page).

Acclimation Methods

Acclimating Animals to Aquariums Jay F. Hemdal c.2020 Introduction to acclimation techniques Most beginning aquarists hear that they must “acclimate” any new animals they add to their aquarium. Acclimation (sometimes termed...

www.reef2reef.com

Jay

 

[vetteguy53081]

So I couldnt find a distinct answer, so hoping someone can help. I have a QT setup with around 1.019 salinity. I checked the bag to see what the salinity of the fish shipped where and it was 1.029.

I was told lower salinity is better for QTing, and I already have copper at 1ppm. Should I quickly raise the salinity in my QT while the fish sit in a bucket with a bubbler? And if so, how much? I would prefer to QT at lower salinity as I had more success.

Welcome to the group. Yes you can lower salinity and do want to lower it to industry norm of 1.025-1.026
Through acclimation, you want to equalize the salinity of the bag to the salinity of the tank (something to keep in mind in the future)
As for copper, you at 1.0 are doing more harm than good and want to get it up to 2.25-2.5 as soon as possible- Not ramping up. Assuming you are using Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

 

[PaulieReef]

Welcome to the group. Yes you can lower salinity and do want to lower it to industry norm of 1.025-1.026
Through acclimation, you want to equalize the salinity of the bag to the salinity of the tank (something to keep in mind in the future)
As for copper, you at 1.0 are doing more harm than good and want to get it up to 2.25-2.5 as soon as possible- Not ramping up. Assuming you are using Coppersafe or Copper Power at therapeutic level 2.25-2.5 For a FULL 30 days (do not interrupt this 30 day period) monitored by a reliable Copper Test kit such as Hanna Brand- No API brand. Also monitor Ammonia levels while in quarantine with a reliable test kit and add aeration during treatment using an air stone.

Thought humble fish said start at 1ppm, and ramp up to 2.5 over a week period?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thought humble fish said start at 1ppm, and ramp up to 2.5 over a week period?

Ouch- that is a huge no no. I believe that was from 2015 and sure has changed since. It allows the parasite to build up a resistance

 

[PaulieReef]

Ouch- that is a huge no no. I believe that was from 2015 and sure has changed since. It allows the parasite to build up a resistant

How To - Quarantine

How to Setup a Quarantine Tank (updated 4-6-2023) The following are the essentials: Aquarium (10-30 gallons seems to work for most people. A larger QT lets you house more fish and gives you more wiggle room when it comes to ammonia. A smaller QT is cheaper, easier to maintain and can be...

humble.fish

 

[vetteguy53081]

How To - Quarantine

How to Setup a Quarantine Tank (updated 4-6-2023) The following are the essentials: Aquarium (10-30 gallons seems to work for most people. A larger QT lets you house more fish and gives you more wiggle room when it comes to ammonia. A smaller QT is cheaper, easier to maintain and can be...

humble.fish

This is I believe the pre-dose method where the tank is at 1.5 initially and remaining raised over 48 hour period. I generally recommend to get it up to level in 24-36 hours which is close. You have to weigh and balance which method you want to go. I respect Humblefish greatly but To go on here and on another site and conclude which is best is often confusing.
I will invite @Jay Hemdal into conversation and see what his take is and you can go from there

 

[PaulieReef]

This is I believe the pre-dose method where the tank is at 1.5 initially and remaining raised over 48 hour period. I generally recommend to get it up to level in 24-36 hours which is close. You have to weigh and balance which method you want to go. I respect Humblefish greatly but To go on here and on another site and conclude which is best is often confusing.
I will invite @Jay Hemdal into conversation and see what his take is and you can go from there

I checked Copper Powers website and they suggest a starting dose from 1.5-2.0. Please don't think I am questioning you, I just have had success with the other method is all, but I will try this method, if the fish look like they are not tolorating the copper well, I will do a water change and lower the concentration.

Thank you

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Kind of weird, been reading a lot of about fish coming with high SG.

Literally makes no sense...

 

[PaulieReef]

Kind of weird, been reading a lot of about fish coming with high SG.

Literally makes no sense...

I put the fish in my frag tank which was previously fallow, wanted them out of the shipping water and the SG was 1.026, now I have some time to fix up the QT and get the correct copper levels and salinity. And QT starts all over for my fallow frag tank , but alive fish = happy camper.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I checked Copper Powers website and they suggest a starting dose from 1.5-2.0. Please don't think I am questioning you, I just have had success with the other method is all, but I will try this method, if the fish look like they are not tolorating the copper well, I will do a water change and lower the concentration.

Thank you

Never had that perception and you have the right to visit many sites- just want you to get a true confirmation of correct method as copper can be lethal when overdosed

 

[vetteguy53081]

I put the fish in my frag tank which was previously fallow, wanted them out of the shipping water and the SG was 1.026, now I have some time to fix up the QT and get the correct copper levels and salinity. And QT starts all over for my fallow frag tank , but alive fish = happy camper.

As for salinity, many shippers have their own method for conditioning fish and running salinity. Often it is low as low salinity while not hyposalinity reduces chance of disease.
High salinity is often an oversight with their systems due to high evaporation in many holding houses. When I ran my LFS, I visited a few wholesalers and their environments were all humid.

 

[PaulieReef]

Yeah, think I am going to let them chill in the frag tank for a few days while I get the QT tank perfect, and get them to recover from shipping.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I checked Copper Powers website and they suggest a starting dose from 1.5-2.0. Please don't think I am questioning you, I just have had success with the other method is all, but I will try this method, if the fish look like they are not tolorating the copper well, I will do a water change and lower the concentration.

Thank you

The "slow ramp up" of copper is firmly entrenched on some web sites, but it is wrong and potentially dangerous. What happens is that control of protozoan diseases is not seen with coppersafe or copper power until the dose is over 2 ppm (2.5 is better). If you take days (I've seen people go 7 to 10 days!) the protozoan disease can get started, and it is MUCH more difficult to control an active disease than to keep it quelled in the first place.

There is NO reason for a slow ramp up of amine-based copper products. That only applies to ionic copper products, and then, 48 hours with four partial doses is fine. The only caveat is we don't want people over-shooting the dose by making a mistake in their calculations. Adding the copper in two doses eliminates that issue. The instructions you listed also takes that into account.

Think about all of the dealers and public aquariums that put new fish directly into copper....

Jay

 

[MnFish1]

So I couldnt find a distinct answer, so hoping someone can help. I have a QT setup with around 1.019 salinity. I checked the bag to see what the salinity of the fish shipped where and it was 1.029.

I was told lower salinity is better for QTing, and I already have copper at 1ppm. Should I quickly raise the salinity in my QT while the fish sit in a bucket with a bubbler? And if so, how much? I would prefer to QT at lower salinity as I had more success.

If you assume that your salinity measures are 'correct' - Its best to match them. The copper issue - may be a non-issue as compared to the rest. BtW - I would question the 1.029 result

 

[PaulieReef]

The "slow ramp up" of copper is firmly entrenched on some web sites, but it is wrong and potentially dangerous. What happens is that control of protozoan diseases is not seen with coppersafe or copper power until the dose is over 2 ppm (2.5 is better). If you take days (I've seen people go 7 to 10 days!) the protozoan disease can get started, and it is MUCH more difficult to control an active disease than to keep it quelled in the first place.

There is NO reason for a slow ramp up of amine-based copper products. That only applies to ionic copper products, and then, 48 hours with four partial doses is fine. The only caveat is we don't want people over-shooting the dose by making a mistake in their calculations. Adding the copper in two doses eliminates that issue. The instructions you listed also takes that into account.

Think about all of the dealers and public aquariums that put new fish directly into copper....

Jay

Got the tank to 1.96 ppm of copper power, and spoke to the vendor, they said their tanks salinity was 1.021, I double checked the bag and it was still 1.029. I validated with a second reader (Milwaukee and Hannah) and both came back 1.029, vendor said it could be because of PH from shipping. I got my tank to 1.22 for QT

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Got the tank to 1.96 ppm of copper power, and spoke to the vendor, they said their tanks salinity was 1.021, I double checked the bag and it was still 1.029. I validated with a second reader (Milwaukee and Hannah) and both came back 1.029, vendor said it could be because of PH from shipping. I got my tank to 1.22 for QT

Weird - there really isn't any way for the pH to change the specific gravity of water. Temperature can affect specific gravity, but not by that much and most specific gravity testers are temperature compensated.

Jay

 

[PaulieReef]

Recalibrated my salinity meters and retested the QT water and the water the fish came in.

QT still reading the same at 1.021 (before the calibration) and the fish water 1.029

Moved 3 tangs into QT tank last night, this morning, two are doing fine, the bigger one is heavy breathing and not eating, other two are eating fine.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Recalibrated my salinity meters and retested the QT water and the water the fish came in.

QT still reading the same at 1.021 (before the calibration) and the fish water 1.029

Moved 3 tangs into QT tank last night, this morning, two are doing fine, the bigger one is heavy breathing and not eating, other two are eating fine.

If you post a video of the larger one, I can get some sense of how fast it is breathing and then, how serious the issue might be.

Jay

 

[PaulieReef]