From 1.019 to 1.025 – how fast?

[mandarin417]

Of all the fish I have added to my tank in the past 6 months, 4 have died within the first 3 days. They were all from the same store, looked healthy when I purchased them, and good eaters in their new tank at my house. I have had no mortalities from any other store.

I acclimate for temp and water. Never tested the specific gravity of that store's water. I had to bring in a water sample on the last fish to get a replacement credit. They said all my parameters looked good but they said my specific gravity was too high at 1.025 "“ 1.026. They said it should be around 1.021 or lower. I went to a new store and they keep theirs at 1.019.

I understand why they keep low salinity but didn't realize that is probably a norm for most stores and going from 1.019 at the store to my 1.026 in an hours or so is probably stressing out the fish's system.

What is a good protocol to bring a fish from these low values to NSW values? How much change and over what timeframe?

 

[jbvdhp]

I've dripped for an hour to 1.5 hours without issue.

I keep my SG at 1.026. Them saying 1.025-26 is too high is THEIR opinion. Probably saving salt.

 

[coolxborg]

What i normally do is fill my QT about 2/3rds full at 1.025. I have some RODI water ready at similar temps and extra water at 1.025.

When i get home from the store, I check the salinty and try to match that in my QT.

If its really low like 1.019, I still match.

Then I just let evaporation do its work to get the salinity to what I need it to be.

 

[ThRoewer]

IMO a healthy fish should handle that salinity change even without drip acclimatization.

And as noted above, the average salinity of the oceans is 35"° (1.025 kg/L @ 25°C), though the Red Sea has an average salinity of 40"° (1.028 kg/L @ 25°C) due to being mostly closed off, having little to no freshwater inflow and high evaporation rates.

 

[Deinonych]

And as noted above, the average salinity of the oceans is 35"° (1.025 kg/L @ 25°C), though the Red Sea has an average salinity of 40"° (1.028 kg/L @ 25°C) due to being mostly closed off, having little to no freshwater inflow and high evaporation rates.

+1

To the OP: I would take any "advice" provided by your LFS with a huge grain of salt (pun intended).

 

[albano]

I would temp acclimate, then drip for 15-20 minutes...never for an hour or more

 

[ThRoewer]

rather a freight ship load of salt...

Can actually anybody open a fish store without any training or certified knowledge of the matter? That would really explain a lot of the shortcomings of US fish stores.

 

[ThisGuy12]

rather a freight ship load of salt...

Can actually anybody open a fish store without any training or certified knowledge of the matter? That would really explain a lot of the shortcomings of US fish stores.

Yes. Anyone can open up a fish store, all it takes is to obtain the necessary licenses to import and export livestock.

As for sg (specific gravity - salt to water content) I keep mine between 1.024-1.025sg at all times.

I temp acclimate for 25 minutes then I drip acclimate all new fish, corals (including anemones) for 30-45 minutes depending on the critter.

Also depending on the critter I either QT for a few weeks or straight into the DT.

 

[JakeK]

Yes. Anyone can open up a fish store, all it takes is to obtain the necessary licenses to import and export livestock.

As for sg (specific gravity - salt to water content) I keep mine between 1.024-1.025sg at all times.

I temp acclimate for 25 minutes then I drip acclimate all new fish, corals (including anemones) for 30-45 minutes depending on the critter.

Also depending on the critter I either QT for a few weeks or straight into the DT.

+1 on it not taking much knowledge to open and run a fish store. Some of the stuff I've heard from local stores just blows my mind. Many still advocate cycling tanks with damsels or clowns.

I just received a fish from an online vendor that came in at 1.010. My QT is 1.025. The fish was already super stressed, so I brought it up over 2.5 days.

 

[humaguy]

1.021 here...

 

[ThRoewer]

+1 on it not taking much knowledge to open and run a fish store. Some of the stuff I've heard from local stores just blows my mind. Many still advocate cycling tanks with damsels or clowns.

I think some form of qualification should be required. The current situation is just giving the whole hobby a bad reputation.

I just received a fish from an online vendor that came in at 1.010. My QT is 1.025. The fish was already super stressed, so I brought it up over 2.5 days.

1.010 is therapeutic hyposalinity range - at least that fish might be clear of ich.

 

[mandarin417]

The store with the 1.019 SG confirmed they hold the fish there to suppress diseases. I have read on this forum that taking a fish from a higher SG to a lower one is much less stressful than from low to high. It probably has to do with the stress of keeping the internal organs of the fish at a static salinity. Since I am going to start TTM on new fish moving forward, I will just make proportional changes in SG with each successive tank change.

 

[ThRoewer]

A good article on this topic: Why can some fish live in freshwater, some in salt water, and some in both?