drip acclimate or not?

[mech-a-nic]

I have done floating and dripping, I cant get a Sea hare to live more then a day in my tank. My LPS told me to drip him for 45 min to a hour. he died in 6 hours after I put him in

I took a sample of water back to my LPS. As always it tested great. he asked me how I acclimate him , then what Temp i keep my house at

I told him 70 to 72 Deg he said not to drip anything if my house is that cool. no dripping if it is under 78 Deg

he gave me a 2ed one to try I floated him for 2 hours adding a little water ever 15 mins. He made it that night and into the 2ed day but boom. DOA when i got home from work. Is this real about the house temp or is just one of those things no slugs for me

 

[cjqsmom]

I would really like the answer to this one too. I keep my house at 70-72 but I had 2 sea hares in my tank. Right now my LFS is borrowing one due to a hair algae issue in one tank. I was shocked when he didnt even float him just swished him around in the tank then dropped him. I will be checking on him tomorrrow hope hes doing ok.
I think I only floated mine when I first got them.
Celeste

 

[privatejoker]

I drip acclimate only for about 15-20 minutes for everything that way you don't have to worry about the temp of your house. The dripped water should help some with the temp anyway. You may not be able to have a slug or you may want to buy one from a reefers tank instead of the fish store.

 

[nate0729]

With such a small volume of water in a drip acclimation, the temp of the house will have an effect. I open my doors and let the house warm up a bit. Or turn the air off before i go to get any new coral or fish.
Nate

 

[florida joe]

If you are worried about thermal shock when you place a fish that is going from a drip container to your tank deep an instant read thermometer in the container, take some of the shipping water I heat it a few degrees above my tank temp. As you monitor the temp as you drip acclimate and you notice it is getting cool due to the ambient temp of your home and a little of the warm shipping water back into the bucket to control the temp until your acclamation is over

 

[ci11337]

just float acclimate and add some some tank water to the bag every once in a while when the bag is full dump out like half of the water and repeat, when its full again the critter is ready. People make acclimating way harder than it needs to be. sitting in a bag or container for hours on end can be more stressful than the change in water chemistry.(for fish) Have you ever watched a LFS unpack a shipment? They never acclimate anything, just dump it right in. After 12 hours in a nasty bag getting dumped into a clean tank is a welcomed shock.

 

[florida joe]

Originally Posted by ci11337
http:///forum/post/2667473
just float acclimate and add some some tank water to the bag every once in a while when the bag is full dump out like half of the water and repeat, when its full again the critter is ready. People make acclimating way harder than it needs to be. sitting in a bag or container for hours on end can be more stressful than the change in water chemistry.(for fish) Have you ever watched a LFS unpack a shipment? They never acclimate anything, just dump it right in. After 12 hours in a nasty bag getting dumped into a clean tank is a welcomed shock.
Just a thought on LFS not acclamating
The time it takes to acclimate is not cost efficient fore many local fish stores Their survival is predicated on selling fish. The faster the turn over the more money they make there concern basically is not the long-term health of your fish. When you buy a fish and it dies it is a great loose to you. The LFS factors in the death of livestock and that factor is added into their profit margin

 

[privatejoker]

A LFS in my area drip acclimates every fish in the store. I takes 15-20 minutes to do, not a long time in my book. While your waiting just jump on the computer and check out SWF message boards.

 

[sepulatian]

Many stores do drip acclimate their stock. I drip acclimate all fish and inverts for several hours. I have never had issues with my house temperature negatively effecting my stock.

 

[flricordia]

Originally Posted by florida joe
http:///forum/post/2667531
Just a thought on LFS not acclamating
The time it takes to acclimate is not cost efficient fore many local fish stores Their survival is predicated on selling fish. The faster the turn over the more money they make there concern basically is not the long-term health of your fish. When you buy a fish and it dies it is a great loose to you. The LFS factors in the death of livestock and that factor is added into their profit margin
That is not neccessarily true in all cases. My LRS's business is based on repeat sales and they do very well. THey try thier best to help their customers and I have seen many of them, the ones with money to burn, come in and drop down a grand easy on high dollar fish adding to their present stock that they have had long term and bought from the same LRS.
This LRS does not acclimate any fish and corals except by temp, mainly becasue ofthe fact that the water is fouled upon arrival from the shipper, or on its way to becoming fouled.
As long as your system parameters are within the correct range, there really is not need to acclimate. Now if your ph is 7.8 and your nitrates are high, salintiy low, then yes, you probably do need to acclimate.
I do not ever acclimate corals, and I do not have any losses. Fish, I do acclimate sometimes, inverts also, but temp acclimate is all that is needed.
By introducing new water into a bag of water that the fish has been in for 24hrs or longer and has dropped in ph and risen in ammonia, you are increasing the ph and making the ammonia more leathal and by the time you drop the fish into the new system you have inadverantly burned its gills more so than they were already.
The only livestock that is acclimated at this LRS are shrimp. And I can vouch that thier losses are way below what one would think. I cannot think of anything except some zoa frags a time ago that were closed when I bought them that has not done well that I bought from this place.
I know there are exceptions, but to imply that all fish stores are out to make a quick sale with no concern to the livestock after it leaves the store is not accurate at all but only that your area does not have a good store where you can shop and I am sorry for that. Maybe talk to the place you buy your livestock and point out that their reputation and business would probably be much better if they were to keep their water quality a little better, which is usually what brings about a fishes demise while in the care of the LRS. In all reality, you are the boss of that place. You don't pay them, they don't stay in business.

 

[shiby1510]

I think a big deal of drip acclimating has to do with the purchase of the fish. There's definately a difference between buying it at a LFS 10mins down the road and having it shipped to you and it being in a small bag for 24hrs. I understand that the drip acclimation is mainly to adjust the fish to ph, salinity, etc. but I bet a longer drip acclimation would be necessary for a fish that has been in transit for quite some time and you don't want to instantly shock them. Esp. because a lot of shipping places keep the salinity lower to help the fish travel better.
On another note, as far as the talk on LFS and their policies; this can be argued and disputed til no end. It's just a fact that some LFS take more care for their livestock than others. Additionally, I'm sure the LFS' have policies with the shippers that they can send dead fish back for a rebate or whatnot and therefore do not care as much about drip acclimating them because they won't lose money if they die within a few days before someone buys it.

 

[notsonoob]

Also,
Most local fish stores get livestock cross country and some international. How do you think that fishy hitched a ride.
I'm very selective now where I buy my livestock, because I've seen a few places like Florida Joe has described.
What keeps my pocket book in check is that the other places, I wait to see the fish in there at least two times (two weeks) before I buy.
Now, as you see most people can't wait, so I'm saving alot of dough!

 

[sly]

Just drip acclimate the fish and then before you put him in, float the bag for a while to warm it up.

 

[joncat24]

I put a heater in a 5 gal bucket, dump the fish in the bag in the bucket, drip slowly until the bucket is full from my tank, approx 3 or 4 hours. Then place the fish in the tank and replace dripped out water with fresh(already mixed saltwater)
I get to acclimate the fish slowly and do a small water change at the same time.

 

[koesterkep]

I always float then drip fish, inverts and corals...nobody has a tank has the same params as another. Best to do it safe then end up with a loss in a few days time

 

[nano reefer]

drip acclimating is best used for harder to keep animals. i drip acclimated my clowns because the last to pairs i had died randomly, and i only floated them. my favorite method is floating them, but every 20 mins add 1 cup of tank water into the bag. works fine in my 55.

 

[pnkflydlvr]

floating is much easier and fine for less sensitive species. personally, i only use the drip method for corals and inverts. for me, all of my fish have been fine with the floating method

 

[spiderwoman]

I don't acclimate corals other than float the bag to get the temp level. I use the float and pour scoop in water method with my fish and haven't lost any inverts or fish. I have tried trip method and our house in in 73-74 range year round and I've noticed that the water does get colder in long drip period.

 

[dmyers557]

Originally Posted by privatejoker
http:///forum/post/2667555
A LFS in my area drip acclimates every fish in the store. I takes 15-20 minutes to do, not a long time in my book. While your waiting just jump on the computer and check out SWF message boards.
Exactly what I do. Hahahahaha....Doing it right now.