Unbelievable meltdown- HELP!

[Flippers4pups]

I think your missing the point there is no way purchasing fish at the Lfs and driving home produced enough ammonia if any at all unless his Lfs is 10 hrs + away and that wouldn't be considered an Lfs. I can buy fish through the mail have them shipped and there in a bag for 15+ hrs and drip acclimate them and there fine. However I would not reccomed drip acclimation on fish in a bag that long. But there is now way coming from the Lfs they produced that much ammonia. It's not the air that makes ammonia more toxic it's the ph and I'm not sure about his Lfs but mine bag there fish with o2 and more o2 in the wAter = higher ph which cause the ammonia to convert to it's more toxic state. Lower ph there's still the same amount of ammonia in the water it's just in a less toxic state

Taken from "Advanced Aquraist" article on acclimation.

"It is important to work quickly once the bag is opened, because the ammonia inside can damage the fins, skin and delicate gill tissues. As carbon dioxide escapes the bag, the pH of the water will elevate. Ammonia becomes more toxic as the pH rises. Check the temperature and pH immediately to get accurate readings. Then without delay move the fish to a holding tank with a temperature and pH that matches the water in the shipment bag as closely as possible."

The whole article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/aafeature2

 

[Flippers4pups]

Hope this clears things up.

Happy reefing

 

[GoVols]

@Bagelfish
Do have any kind of an update for us?

Thanks, GoVols

 

[Bagelfish]

Before the first meltdown in January I added some Red Sea NO3O4-X the night before. I never used it again after that incident. I am going to take sample to my LFS to have a second opinion on my stats. I wasn't aware of the issues with long drips. One online company I have used demands 2-3 hour drips or their 15 day guarantee is dead. The damsels in the second meltdown came from my LFS and weren't in the bag for an hour. When I got them home I emptied them into a small bucket to drip them. I am very encouraged by the robust conversation. It is definitely expanding my horizons. Will post stats from LFS when I have them.

 

[jeff williams]

Taken from "Advanced Aquraist" article on acclimation.

"It is important to work quickly once the bag is opened, because the ammonia inside can damage the fins, skin and delicate gill tissues. As carbon dioxide escapes the bag, the pH of the water will elevate. Ammonia becomes more toxic as the pH rises. Check the temperature and pH immediately to get accurate readings. Then without delay move the fish to a holding tank with a temperature and pH that matches the water in the shipment bag as closely as possible."

The whole article:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/aafeature2

Do you think it's coincidental that all his fish die and a few months later he acclimates 3 more everything is ok and adds the fish to the same tank walks away for 3 min and all 3 fish are dead WOW! OP you added no3-po4 the night before did you have a Protien skimmer running also? That's what removes the flocking from the water and also adds some Aeration to the water. I would not buy the ammonia theory one HR trip home won't be a problem !! Just for piece of mind before acclimating test ph and total ammonia in the bag. Do yourself a big favor and check everything in the DT if you didn't do a WC do one and run some carbon to remove any possible chemicals this is also piece of mind. I just find it to coincidental that all your fish died a few months earlier and you drip acclimate 3 more and everything looks fine you add them to the tank and 3 min later there all dead. If it were ammonia poisoning there fish would have shown some distress heavy gilling, possibly ammonia burn, possibly gasping at top of bucket. My theory has a hole in it to because if something was in the tank water why wasn't the fish in distress as you slowly dripped in your tank water? The only answer I have for this is the tank water was being diluted with the bag water.

 

[EddieJ]

This is exactly what I do. I lost a batch of fish trying to drip and add Prime. I didn't realize the LFS ran low levels of copper. Now I call ahead to find out what salinity the supplier keeps their tanks and match it to my QT. I take my time to temperature acclimate, open the bag so I can test the water to make sure the salinity is what I expected. If it matches I dump the shipping water through a strainer, catch the fish, and put him in the QT. So much easier and haven't had a problem.

I usually setup my first tank ( I use TTM as the first step in my QT protocol) at 1.017 .. I have not found any LFS or online retailer lower than that. I get the bag, float it to get temp evened out ( 10-15 minutes) then release the fish . Fish have no problem dropping to lower salinity/specific gravity as it is actually easier on the fish.. I then raise it very slowly throughout the QT process until they are ready for the DT tank @ 1.026.