Acclimatising new fish.

The reason we acclimatise fish is so that when they are released into the tank, they will not go into a state of shock. NB!!!! PLEASE QUARANTINE ALL NEWLY BOUGHT FISH!To name but a few reasons why we acclimatise :

The temperature of your fish tank will be different to that of the pet shops. The acclimatising process helps get the fish used to it's new tanks temperature.
The Ph of your fish tank is different to that of the pet shop's. This can cause fish to become very stressed often leading to disease and parasites.
The hardness of you tank water.
Certain fish species are hardier than others and can tolerate more than others. NB!!!! PLEASE RESEARCH A FISH BEFORE PURCHASING ONE!

There are many ways in which to acclimatise new fish for a fish tank:
1. Floating bag method; When you arrive home with fish, the easiest way to acclimatise fish is to float the bag in the top of the tank. After the bag has been floating for 20 minutes, add a cupful of water to the bag and then continue to let it float. After a further 20 minutes add another cupful of water. Repeat this process 3 times. It may seem like a long time but for the sake of the fish, just do it. Catch the fish with a net and let it go into the tank. Discard the water in the bag.

2. Dripping (can't remember the proper name) ; Place the bag the fish is in into a bucket below the tank. Place an airline tube from the tank to the bag. Put a stopper onto the end of the tubing and adjust it so that 1 drop of water drops per second. leave this for 30 minutes or more (depending on the fish). After the time has passed, add the fish to the tank and discard the water that was in the bucket.

I hope that helps members a little in why and how to acclimatise fish.
Please feel free to add comments and different ways of acclimatising.

 

Also keep in mind that there are certain instances when the difference in ph is just too high.... I keep my duboisi's at a ph of 9.0, may seem a bit high to some of you but with my current routine it remains stable and I dont want to mess that up. Stability is key.

I recently bought 11 new duboisi's, I asked the helper what ph they kept at and he said 8.2, I then got the fish home and tested the water... PH 7.0................................ So I decided to drip my tank water in slowly for +- 6 hours..... Needles to say, 4 days later I only have 4 left. The all died 1 by 1 from ph/osmotic shock. The 4 that are left seem to be beating some of the symptoms now, but who knows what permanent damage the fish have from the experience, only time will tell.

When there is a large difference in PH your only hope is to put them in quarintine with the same PH as there previous home, You then slowly bring the PH up by doing water changes with water of a higher ph. With fish that are really sensitive to parameter changes like duboisi's I say never do more than 25% water change with higher ph water. To make a long story short, if there is a massive difference in PH acclimatising your fish may take weeks never mind a couple of minutes.

 

Good point. Was just a brief write up. Thanks for the input.

 

No problem!! Just sharing my experiences hoping someone would learn from my mistake. Losing R700.00 worth of fish in 2 days is no joke. DOOOH!!!!

 

@Firefly and @discusguy - nice article

 

Thanks guys. The pH difference never even crossed my mind!

 

Especially important if you LFS is not so local.

 

+ fish can adjust more easily from a higher to a lower ph than from a lower to higher ph

 

Could mods clean up this thread a little and then make it a sticky?