Specific gravity at LFS?

[Chrissy]

My husband and i spent a bunch of money yesterday at a local reef store. While I was temp acclimating, I took some water out of the bag and poured it in the hydrometer and it was at 1.020 ? My tank is at 1.026, so I acclimated my new tang for a long time...but he still hasn't eaten anything. I'm just wondering if anyone else has done this and is it normal for LFS fish only tanks to be that low? My husband has already lost his firefish

 

[ss7]

Could be a few things. Some stores do run their salinity low on purpose to fight infection. Other times it can lower as water is removed and topped with fresh. Could be your hydrometer is a bit off.

 

[Hypertek99]

Always make sure fish are eating before you buy it. Especially Tangs if they are not eating then they will eventually die. I don't think salanity is to blame for them not eating. Yes LFS's lose a lot of water as their fish are sold so salanity might be different as they top off, that is why you acclimate new stuff to your tanks salanity.

 

[BShells]

Our fish only systems are all kept at 1.020 SG. The lower SG does help to reduce infections, because many parasites simply cannot exist at the lower salinity levels. I think this is fairly common. Since you did the slow drip acclimation, the transition should be fine for the fish.
You should always ask the LFS what they keep thier SG at, so that you can acclimate properly. Sometimes the LFS may forget to tell you that the SG is lower than normal (I have done this recently) and it can lead to loss of life (and the LFS feeling horrible for not giving you all the information).
I don't think the tang not eating has anything to do with SG. In my experience, it is normal for fish to take some time to get comfortable and eating in the new tank.

 

[Sikryd]

Our fish only systems are all kept at 1.020 SG. The lower SG does help to reduce infections, because many parasites simply cannot exist at the lower salinity levels. I think this is fairly common. Since you did the slow drip acclimation, the transition should be fine for the fish.
You should always ask the LFS what they keep thier SG at, so that you can acclimate properly. Sometimes the LFS may forget to tell you that the SG is lower than normal (I have done this recently) and it can lead to loss of life (and the LFS feeling horrible for not giving you all the information).
I don't think the tang not eating has anything to do with SG. In my experience, it is normal for fish to take some time to get comfortable and eating in the new tank.

+1
It is one of the few things I test when I get stuff in. Lowering salinity fast is no problem. In fact I do a 10min freshwater dip on all new fish. Raising it fast is what can sometimes kill them. It has to do with the osmotic transfer through their cells or something....

 

[revaltion131]

I've had the opposite experience with my LFS's SG, it's usually at ~1.031 from one store, which explains why almost every tang and butterfly seems to have lympho.

 

[droblack]

One of my lfs has nsw at 1.28-1.029 or higher. They keep their tanks lower than 1.025 to fight infection, must dilute for their own system. Hydrometers are not to be trusted though, so do not rely on that reading. Get yourself a refractometer. Not worth risking expensive corals to a cheap and often grossly inaccurate piece of equipment.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

Most of time LFS run their salinty lower in order to save money on salt... it does not bother the fish at all, and when I ran FOWLR systems I always run my sp. grv. lower. IMO, it's not "cheaping out," it's just not necessary to run a higher sp. grv. and waste salt/money (so I could see some people saying it's cheaping out, but...).

I'm sorry, but IMHO the notion that "parasites cannot exist at lower saliny levels" is not true... the "notion" has been around a long time (second paragraph): http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2009-04/newbie/index.php If anyone knows of info backing this notion, please provide a link, but I for one can tell you first hand that parasites can exist at salinity levels of ~1.020.

Now the correct line should be "most parasites cannot exist at hyposalinty levels" (~1.009).

Especially Tangs if they are not eating then they will eventually die.

oh: Of course all fish will die if they're not eating, but the way you wrote this seems your posting that if you do not see a tang eat before you buy it it will die? (not true)


Moral of the story: Check the levels of the water your animal is in that your acclimating (before acclimation) and compare to your aqaurium... then acclimate appropriately.

 

[Hypertek99]

HAHA It's meant to say Tangs are usually the pickiest when you buy them. Most don't eat. So make sure the tang is eating before you buy it. Of course you can buy a tang that's not eating but you just have to figure out what it likes before it starves itself.