acclimating from quarantine

[dcombs44]

When a new fish comes in, you should of course acclimate the fish to a quarantine tank with tank water, and/or some type of bacteria source from the tank. My question is, should you also acclimate again when moving the specimen from the quarantine to the tank?

 

[Andrew]

Always drip acclimate your fish when moving from tank to another. Puts less stress on the fish durning the move and they get use to the new tank water slowly.

 

[dcombs44]

that's obviously what i assumed, but just wasn't sure what the norm is

 

[2fishy]

It would almost seem that this would really stress the fish out to try to acclimate again to the main tank. Am I wrong about that?

 

[dcombs44]

Well you have to figure that if it's in quarantine for a good month, and then you drip acclimate, the process really isn't too stressful. Much less than being snatched from one tank and thrown into another if the params are drastically different.

 

[mflamb]

What is your quarantine protoco???

 

[mflamb]

Well...I just found the article by Steven Pro about quarantine tanks in RK Magazine. That search function is great.

 

[Fountainhead]

What I do to avoid a stressful acclimation process from the Q to the main is, about a week before the move I start doing water changes in the Q tank and replacing with water from the main tank. Small at first, then increasingly larger, up to 50% at a time by the end. After a week or so the Q tank water should match the display pretty closely. (Use the same thermometer to check the temp of each.) Then just make the move.

It's like a week long acclimation.

 

[dcombs44]

That's a great idea.