acclimation: vital for survival?

[xnikki118x]

After getting into somewhat of a debate with a friend, I present to you this question: how important is acclimation when it comes to the long-term survival of your livestock? I'm talking about fish, inverts, corals, and everything here. My friend claims some organisms [ie stars, corals] should just be floated in a bag and then tossed into the tank, whereas I acclimated my last brittlestar for three hours using the drip method. She said I was just wasting my time, and another friend believes that livestock can and will die from being acclimated "too long."
What are your experiences with this? Any opinions? None of us have been involved in the hobby for more than two years, so I'm especially looking to the more experienced aquarists in this. Who's correct here?
Thanks in advance for your help and responses!!

 

[gixster]

IMO acclimation is important. You dont want to stress anything out especially fish. There already going to be going threw enough stress as it is. With sea stars, Urchins and some other inverts make sure you dont expose them to air, there could be a chance of developing an air pocket in their system. Which could kill them. As far as how long to acclimate them, I personally dont go more than 2 hours. But if youwant a good idea, checkout Saltwater fish`s acclimation times. I have heard that with some snails, crabs and other inverts you dont really have to acclimate them, but i do. I dont want to take the chance of anything dieing.

 

[dburr]

Corals I float and add. Snails and hermits I float and drip. But if you put them in air and let them walk them selves in, thats OK too. Fish, clams, urchins, stars and shrimp have to be dripped. Urchins wont die if exposed to air, but sponges will. The more delicate stuff like clams and stars should be done upwards of 4 hours.
HTH

 

[xnikki118x]

Yeah, my friend just floated his clam for like 10 minutes and then added it to the tank. He may ot may not have put a few cups of tank water in the bag first, I don't remember, but the whole process took less than half an hour. I say it won't live as long as it would have because he rushed the acclimation, but he disagrees.
Thanks for your responses, guys. Keep them coming!

 

[xnikki118x]

*bump*
I know other people have opinions on this subject. Come on, guys, how do you acclimate your stuff?

 

[dory36]

My husband puts corals and inverts directly into the tank the minute he walks in the door from the lfs. He floats fish for about 10-15 minutes to get them used to the temperature and then in they go. We haven't lost anything yet, but I think he's just been very lucky.

 

[ohiorn67]

well, we usually float everything for about 30 min ...then about every 15 minutes we add a little tank water for about an hour and in everything goes. We have done this with all our fish, all our inverts and corals...have not lost a thing yet. So far so good......

 

[sprang]

Almost everything should be drip-acclimated. Why spend so much money on livestock if you run the risk of killing it due to bad acclimation? Sensitive species especially need drip acclimated. I killed a cleaner shrimp from rushing things (-$25)so now I take my time on everything.

 

[ohiorn67]

Hi Sprang....I can understand that works for you, but I have lost nothing yet. That is what makes this hobby so interesting...some things work for some and other things for others..it is amazing, isn't? I have not drip acclimated anything yet and so far so great! I do appreciate your opinions though for some might like either and try both and see what works for them.

 

[puffer32]

I have lost fish both ways. For fish, I think getting them into your tank tfastest is so much less stressful. I do drip but not for as long as recommended. My drip is faster then recommended time, this is a happy medium for me and seems to work best for me, actually haven't lost any this way at all, just float and slow drip is when i have had casualties.

 

[xnikki118x]

As far as like acroporas, mintiporas, sea stars, and inverts go...do you think dripping is the best way?

 

[murph145]

as far as my experiences go its kinda a toss up lol
most the time i will float my fish/corals/inverts for about 30 mins.,... then i will open the bag dump some of my water in the bag let it sit for about another 15 mins then i put the animal in the water .... i havent really lost any fish from acclimation to my knowledge ... however i think i have lost some inverts mainly the harder to care for stars and one long spine urchin.... its wierd cuz my other brittle star and short spine urchin did fine with the same process.....as far as corals i havent lost on yet due to acclimation.... only thing i lost was a brain coral my LFS said i had enough lighting which i dont think i did he only lasted a couple weeks

hard to say i think some fish and other creatures can handle stress better i would just make sure if it was a delicate one id take my time putting him in..... i also ask my LFS's what they keep there temps and salt levels at to see if they are far off from mine then i know if i need to do the acclimation slower or i can speed the process up faster...

 

[xnikki118x]

Thanks for your response murph. Don't worry about the brain, we've all made newbie mistakes!! I put a yellow tang in a 29-gallon, my LFS said he'd be fine....and he was, for a while at least, but then got so stressed that he stopped eating. Thankfully I had a friend who took him to a bigger and better home.

 

[murph145]

yup lol ive been doin this for a while now and i still make mistakes lol.... i try to go off of what my LFS tells me but sometimes i just gotta do the research first.... they tried sellin me a crocea clam and said it would be fine under PC's but ive heard that the deff need MH so i was like no thanks ill pass.... :happyfish

 

[xnikki118x]

I've also heard some clams will be okay under PC's, but I wouldn't chance it. Good decision on your part IMO.

 

[ophiura]

It depends on many factors. It depends on whether fish or invert. If invert, what kind. Some can adapt readily, some can not. Even what species....green brittlestars are FAR MORE TOLERANT of salinity changes than Linckia stars, or even the bright red brittlestar Ophioderma squamosissimum.
It depends how they've been handled along the way from collecting to wholesaler to LFS...if they weren't acclimated or kept at lower than appropriate specific gravity, the damage may already have been done. It depends how different conditions in your tank are from the LFS tanks.
As an example, I just got my first order from SWF. Normally, I don't buy snails, because the survival rate in my tank when purchased from the local LFS is around 25% at best, though hitchiker snails do fine. Figured it was my tank. Got the SWF order, did 20 snails to try it, and by gosh at least 18-19 are kicking around that tank. My acclimation was the same...but the LFS has a specific gravity at like 1.022 or something, and SWF had a salinity (didn't look at specific gravity) around 38, which is much closer to my own system. So that means I was acclimating down, and not far, whereas from the LFS I was acclimating up a longer distance, and from a range that was stressful, in all likelihood, to the snails and to which they were NOT acclimated.
IMO you that you are better off acclimating inverts, at least things like snails and seastars. Because they are KNOWN to die of acclimation shock...your friend may not experience it...she may be lucky so far or her tanks similar to the LFS, but acclimation shock can kill things. I would most certainly acclimate snails and seastars without exception, personally.