hmello@bermexin
New member
It's worth a try moving the rocks a little.
Acclimation accident.
- Thread starter dannable
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smcnally
New member
There's really noting to expand on...That's all there is to it. I've done the same with my corals and fish for the last 2 years and haven't had one problem. Corals and fish go through salinity and pH changes a lot in nature and for some reason people in this hobby seem very paranoid about swings. A large swing in a quick time can be bad, but IMO, the more you protect your animals from these small swings, the easier they will die when a bigger swing happens. I let my tank swing in temp every day. It goes from ~78 degrees in the morning to about 83 at its highest. Thursday night I came home to a fan that failed to turn on and a tank that was 91 degrees (that's not a typo). I got the fan running, turned off the lights, and let it drop on it's own. It took until Friday morning for it to drop and I didn't loose one thing in the tank.
smcnally
New member
Don't move your rocks. Instead, if you can, pull the yellow tang out of the tank and put it in a 5 gallon bucket of tank water (or another tank) for 2 hours. When you put it back in it should leave the flame alone. My powder blue tang acts like that whenever I add a new fish and this method always works for it.
Young Frankenstein
New member
smcnally, that's a question that has puzzled me for a while, thanks for the reply. I was always wondering, here in Miami, actually Key Biscayne, where I go swimming most of the time, has many corals, and the water temperature in the morning is very cool and in the afternoon HOT, why those fish and corals don't die or suffer ? So I will go with your reply and stop thinking like so many here that temperature swings are bead.
MSU Fan
Active member
I was told by a local LFS owner that fish are not affected by small Sg swings at all, and unless the water is drastically different (such as if you ordered a fish online from a source in another part of the country), all you really need to do is temp acclimate. And since that means less time "in the bag", there is less stress to the move.
As for inverts, you need to temp and Sg acclimate. Again, if the water is not too different, then you can float the bag to temp acclimate, and mix the water in a couple of times until you no longer see the "mixing" distortion (that means that the Sg is the same).
I did this with my pink fromia star fish and he is fine from it. I also did the same with an orchid dottyback, and he was fine too. HTH
As for inverts, you need to temp and Sg acclimate. Again, if the water is not too different, then you can float the bag to temp acclimate, and mix the water in a couple of times until you no longer see the "mixing" distortion (that means that the Sg is the same).
I did this with my pink fromia star fish and he is fine from it. I also did the same with an orchid dottyback, and he was fine too. HTH
A fish in the wild can endure a little flux in salt or temp if a current sweeps through, or an upwelling, etc, not usually a big deal. The salinity threat is to the kidneys, which have to get the fish to excrete and thus intake water to get the body balanced for the ambient salinity. The kidneys can work only so fast, and if the fish's cells are at one salinity and the ocean at another, it could cause cell rupture---but a fish has a lot of exposed surface to 'sweat' out or absorb salt. So it has some trouble adjusting, but given minimal change, minimal trouble. A point of salinity is not a big problem. 3 points, that's approaching a problem...maybe fatality.
A little fish actually adjusts to a heat situation faster than a big fish---just a body mass issue; but when dealing with cold rather than heat getting to the body core, this can be a bit stressful.
Worst case is salinity for inverts: snails and such can't 'sweat' and have very, very limited ability to intake and expel salt---they're not as fast to adjust as fish are, because they have only one avenue for getting the inner flesh adjusted to the new salinity. As for temperature I'm sure their shells serve as a temperature buffer, slower to heat up and cool down, but salinity difference causes what is called 'osmotic shock,' as in osmosis, the process of absorbing fluid through a membrane, meaning they have one salinity inside them and the ocean is something else: result, kidney damage and death within a few days as body toxins build up and can't be cleared by damaged kidneys.
This is what I understand to be the case. Hope it clarifies.
If your son is under age 6, do discourage him from the tank area: children absolutely love to 'feed' things, and they tend to imitate/play at what they see when the notion and the opportunity hit. They can overfeed your tank by dumping in half a can of food, decide to clean your tank with dishwashing detergent, decide their toy truck would look interesting in it---some are fascinated with tv remotes as floatation devices; and the addition of half a jar of dry calcium isn't even to be contemplated. The future does not occur to the under-six,
except as re the wrath of mommy/daddy and the concept of 'mine' vs. 'daddy's'. Above 6, they're perfectly capable of caring for a small freshwater tank of their own.
And page 2 is mine.
A little fish actually adjusts to a heat situation faster than a big fish---just a body mass issue; but when dealing with cold rather than heat getting to the body core, this can be a bit stressful.
Worst case is salinity for inverts: snails and such can't 'sweat' and have very, very limited ability to intake and expel salt---they're not as fast to adjust as fish are, because they have only one avenue for getting the inner flesh adjusted to the new salinity. As for temperature I'm sure their shells serve as a temperature buffer, slower to heat up and cool down, but salinity difference causes what is called 'osmotic shock,' as in osmosis, the process of absorbing fluid through a membrane, meaning they have one salinity inside them and the ocean is something else: result, kidney damage and death within a few days as body toxins build up and can't be cleared by damaged kidneys.
This is what I understand to be the case. Hope it clarifies.
If your son is under age 6, do discourage him from the tank area: children absolutely love to 'feed' things, and they tend to imitate/play at what they see when the notion and the opportunity hit. They can overfeed your tank by dumping in half a can of food, decide to clean your tank with dishwashing detergent, decide their toy truck would look interesting in it---some are fascinated with tv remotes as floatation devices; and the addition of half a jar of dry calcium isn't even to be contemplated. The future does not occur to the under-six,
except as re the wrath of mommy/daddy and the concept of 'mine' vs. 'daddy's'. Above 6, they're perfectly capable of caring for a small freshwater tank of their own.And page 2 is mine.
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GreyhoundTrish
New member
First, it was an accident, so don't beat yourself up over it. Second, as other's said, the fish will do fine likely. 3. I agree get your son involved, the biology and chemistry he'll pick up without even cracking a book will give him a good foundation, plus a better appreciation of the ecosystem and animals (not just the soft furry cuddly kind).
I work with greyhound adoption, and a big issue with greys is them getting off lead. We even have an amber alert system set up for when they do escape. Sighthounds are unique in that they don't typically have good recall, and are tough to catch, even by a beloved owner. But we don't beat people up when one gets through a door, or out a gate. They're accidents. We do what we can to pull together to get their greyhounds home.
I raise Bettas also. One jumped ship somehow, despite lids on everything. I don't know how. I felt bad, but I knew I'd done everything I could to keep it from happening.
dannable
New member
Well, the flame angel is happy and eating today with no visible ill effects. I guess it will be a few days before I know for sure but based on your experiences it should not be a tragedy after all.
I guess my son taught me something new about acclimation
The tang has settled down alot and I haven't seen him chase him once in the last 5-6 hours.
I guess my son taught me something new about acclimation
The tang has settled down alot and I haven't seen him chase him once in the last 5-6 hours.
Young Frankenstein
New member
skr8 you sure have a way of explaining thinks. Thanks for the answer to a question that has puzzled me for years.
