i've yet to see a fish react poorly to a properly done dip, regardless of how badly it *appears* to be acting while dipping-thousands and thousands of fish dipped so far, and not ONE loss from dipping. the losses i've had were later attributed to the damage already incurred by the fish to have been too great for the fish or the dip to overcome. (things like gill clubbing from ammonia burn during shipping, etc etc)
and i've taught plenty of 'noobs' how to do it, w/no hassles - they usually come back amazed after seeing a sw fish they own post fw dipping-i've had fish eat, and fight w/each other during dips-most don't even seem to care after the initial 'shock' reaction
it's not that difficult, and really not that stressful for fish-it's more an issue of the preconceived notions of the hobbyist of it being 'wrong', 'un-natural' and 'stressful'. i think the dipper usually is far more stressed than the fish is, heh.
a dip is far less stressful than whatever a fish is going through as the result of a pathogen's attacks on 'it's person' - that logic alone is often enough to have convinced most of my past 'doubting thomas' clientele
even fairy wrasses, notorious for appearing to 'wig out' both during a dip and after returning to sw are absolutely fine a few hrs later, no worse for the wear.
so yeah, i can well imagine telling everyone how wonderful and easy fw dipping is-as i mentioned in an earlier post-i used to just pluck fish out of tanks at random at the last lfs i worked at, and placed them into a spec cup of pH/temp matched fw-just to make the very point of what a big deal it *isn't*. then i'd feed them while in the spec cup, and show the customer the skin flukes that would fall off-made a convert every.single.time.
maybe it's partly that i've some years experience in commercial fish farming, and tend to anthropomorphize fish less than hobbyists who relate to them only as pets-for the most part, they're no different than any other farmed livestock, as far as treatments go.
i think your statement is partly prejudicial, and a tad defeatist-how do you know how noobs would react if you don't try because you *assume* they won't take, or react well, to your advice?
if a fish 'loses it's equilibrium' from a dip-you *prob'ly* did it wrong (note that i said 'prob'ly', not 'definitely') -and you can just leave it lying on the substrate-it will recover fine all by itself. no reason to hold it, other than *your* self imposed opinion that you need to, afaict/ime. but i'll wager that something was off re: the parameter match that IS necessary-could be a pH diff too great due to an inaccurate test kit, etc etc.
i've dipped fish shortly after being kept in a styro box for 2-3 days after landing in water w/a pH of below 6, and at temp below 68º, then getting tanked into a system pumped w/CO2 to allow proper pH acclimation and internal ammonia release"¦.
surely a fish who just went through all of that is in far worse shape for dipping than one who's already arrived at an lfs through the typical chain of custody? certainly in worse shape than after being in a hobbyists's tank? yet 99% or better have never died as a result of the dip itself. given that fairly large difference in the 'pre dip condition' of most hobbyists's fishes, i'd say that's even more reason to recommend it as an absolutely safe and recommended 'best practice'.
just my 0.02
