Is there any actual research/scientific basis for fish acclimation techniques?

[Lasse]

A pH meter is needed because its powerful. But with a pH meter you can also use carbonated water (without taste) I got a very late transport home (more than 24 hours) and did not have any CO2 cannister but I had a sparkling water maker - I carbonate some RO water and blend very little to a bucket of tank water - was able to bring down it to around 7. But be sure to use a pH meter and take it very carefully - you do not need very much sparkling water. I´m sure that you can use any commercial natural carbonated drinking water too. But don´t do it without a pH meter.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Spent time at a transhipper early mid 90s with my side reptile business and they would setup foam shipping containers with new water pH acclimated to expected shipment which was usually under 7. Goal was get them out of that ammonia with rising pH once bag opened then drip acclimate to centralized system parameters. Obviously back then these fish didn't come in with lower salinity from overseas therefore that was not an issue. Rising pH causing increased ammonia toxicity was.

Since speaking with you on LFS salinity I'm now more focused on grabbing fish only from reef displays although previously went that route to avoid copper treated which might be hiding issues I don't want coming home.

Approach I'll be taking is setting up temporary observation tank to LFS parameters and bring salinity up slowly over several days were only option coming from copper treated display. Observation tank first step regardless and I don't buy from several sources at the same time therefore easy enough process.

Yes - I used to use "acclimation tables" when I worked wholesale, we did the exact same thing.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

How fast does pH rise when the bag is opened?

Depends on if you aerate it or not. Aeration will degas the CO2 faster.

As side note - I had the person involved with developing those Kordon "breather bags" tell me that most fish bags are at least partly permeable to CO2, he maintained that floating the bags in water limited the diffusion of the CO2 out of the bag, as did newspaper liners, double bags, etc.

https://www.kordon.com/kordon/products/aquarium-pond-accessories-2/breathing-bags

 

[Largeangels]

Great info Jay.

Like Jay and Lasse pointed out total acclimation process into DT is months. Even if they have no disease they need to recover from shipping stress, not eating and getting them eating prepared food. Once they are eating prepared food well and put on weight I then almost always now put them in an acclimation box for a few days or up to a week depending on the fish and what is in the aquarium already. I've been placing the acclimation box close to where I feed and feed them all and the box at the same time so they get used to the new inhabitant. I think this process is what helped create a pair of Harelquin tusks and has kept the tang aggression low.

 

[Jay Hemdal]

Great info Jay.

Like Jay and Lasse pointed out total acclimation process into DT is months. Even if they have no disease they need to recover from shipping stress, not eating and getting them eating prepared food. Once they are eating prepared food well and put on weight I then almost always now put them in an acclimation box for a few days or up to a week depending on the fish and what is in the aquarium already. I've been placing the acclimation box close to where I feed and feed them all and the box at the same time so they get used to the new inhabitant. I think this process is what helped create a pair of Harelquin tusks and has kept the tang aggression low.

I think that "acclimation boxes" have some important uses, but I also feel that many of the ones used by home aquarists are too small, and can cause extra stress on the fish to be introduced (snout rubbing, not feeling comfortable enough to feed, etc.) In cases of simple aggression (like with clownfish that start to fight) I sometimes put the aggressor in a box as a "time out" and let the new fish free to roam the tank and get settled in. For our big reef tank, we have a huge mesh floating basket that allows new fish to calm down and they can get a "view of the land" through the mesh before we release them. Scared fish can release fear hormones that can cause other fish to cue in on them. Holding them in the large basket allows that to dissipate before release.

 

[danreef55]

In wholesale we would drop the entire acclimation system using CO2 and a controller. Years ago salinity was not an issue on foreign sourced fish. Once bag temperature reached the desired level we sliced and dropped. The CO2 remained active for hours being brought up slowly.

 

[Largeangels]

Jay,

I agree. I've had to build some of my own for larger and fish and always have something they can hide in and always observe for stress.