Freshwater Dipping? Was Told Its A Good Practice, Can Anyone Expand On This?

rastaangel

rastaangel

Member
I was talking to a guy I know In calgary who does alot of fish importing and breeds alot of clowns. I told him I was setting up a new tank and he told me to freshwater dip my fish.
He said to fill up my water change tote with RO water and add baking soda until it was the same pH and temp as my DT. Then as soon as I finish the drip acclimation of my fish and there ready to put them into the freshwater dip for 10-15min to kill everything bad off.
Is this a good practice?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by JAXFishGirl
http:///forum/post/3295353
I would not use baking soda. I have never heard that. Someone else can elaborate on their method.

It will raise the PH but it is hard t measure what you need and get it right. I have never freshwater dipped, I have heard of it. Be careful to not over do it and keep the fish in there too long. Watch your fish for any sign of distress the whole time.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
To get it out of the way first, a freshwater dip can't, and won't, kill off everything bad. The very nature of burrowing parasites prevents that. The fish would be dead before all the parasites are. A freshwater dip can provide immediate relief, temporarily, to a fish covered in Ich/flukes/etc, but it doesn't completely cure anything. And if you're planning on properly quarantining your fish, I suggest against it. In QT, you want to know if your fish has a disease. FW dip a fish, and knocking off the outer-most parasites might cause you to miss them.
Baking soda can be used. All pure baking soda is, is sodium bicarbonate. pH buffers sold specifically for aquarium use, are more efficent, and as Flower noted, you'll know about how much to add. For temperature, you the temperature no more then the tank temp. A little cooler is fine, and if you're unsure of the temp, lean colder, instead of warmer.
What no FW dip should be performed without, is Methylene blue. Methylene blue provides extra oxygen in the water for fish, and aids in calming the fish down. Methylene Blue is commonly available.
Activity of the fish, at first the fish will be quite hyper and darty. Make sure you are watching, and if the container is not too deep, having something over it to make sure they don't jump out. After a few minutes, the fish should calm down, and most fish will sink to the bottom and lay on their side. That is normal. Some fish will also change colors, change coloring patterns, or erect all of their fins/spines. All normal. If unsure, the fish can be gently poked (more like bumped) and they should react. What you want to watch is the fish breathing. After they've calmed down, they should be breathing normally, or slightly rapid. If they stop breathing, or are breathing extremely fast, the dip should be stopped. A dip can go up to an hour, but a normal dip is 10-30 minutes.
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
I've experimented with it before and the conclusion I came to is that the dip is not worth the stress to the fish, let alone all the effort it takes to level it all out correctly so as to keep stress to a minimum.
Seachem makes a product called para-guard. It's a dip product that I use as part of the acclimation process. This stuff seems to work well for me as an alternative to dipping, I've never had a fish death I can attribute to it's use so that's a good thing.
 
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