Importing fish, proper acclimation procedures

[Moort82]

Hi, been wondering how the acclimation of imported fish is done properly. The quality of imported fish over here seems to have suffered dramatically lately from the major wholesaler and i know there are other factors like shipping, handling, catching methods and cutting corners but have heard their acclimation procedures have been reduced.

So what is the best way to do this. We don't really have any companies that ship overnight like liveaquaria but you can get seahorses through the post.
My understanding is that the tricky bit is raising the pH again, which starts to convert ammonia back to its more toxic form, which obviously is a problem. I've also read that it is better to actually take the fish out of the water and place it in water with the same sg, pH and temperature and then drip acclimatise. Or just take the risk of a pH or salinity shock and only acclimate for temperature.

I'm basically wanting to understand how it should be done as more and more shops are direct importing their stock and its nice to know they are doing it properly and that the fish are likely to be in the best possible health.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

 

[ackee]

Drip acclimate, continuously discarding a substantial part of the water in the new fishes container, thereby gradually replacing most of shipping water with aquarium water. Immediately upon starting acclimation use an ample amount of an ammoloc type ammonia treatment. Try to avoid taking any fish out of the water if possible. Speed up the process if the new fish shows distress when first received. Acclimation should not take more than about 20 minutes, and can easily be done properly in less than 10 minutes. A quick dump into new water should only be done if the fish is in extreme distress.

 

[Moort82]

Thanks, is the quick acclimation only if the sg match or are only slightly out. The only time i've been at an import the sg was really out in most cases, some as low as 1.015

 

[ackee]

If by quick you mean 10 or so minutes, I'd use a longer period, 20 minutes or thereabout if there is that significant a difference in salinity. Fish only, of course, not inverts. The species and condition of the fish are significant factors, but most fishes can handle very rapid changes in salinity. Temperature is more important. They can go from cool to warmer easily, but not the other way round. Seahorses are much tougher than most people think. I've collected lots of seahorses in 1.015 sg and actually just immediately poured them into a holding tank at 1.020. They hardly notice, and often start looking for food immediately. These are fish that were in an estuary only a few hours earlier. The estuary itself changes salinity significantly between full high and low tide. I should point out that when I mention drip, I mean a rapid drip. If a fish is breathing and swimming easily in its shipping container then you can take your time. Fish that have been packed in very little water appreciate an immediate transfusion of new water, even if it differs significantly from their crappy shipping water. Avoiding temp drop is vital, and ammonia should be immdiately buffered out. pH is less important, especially if the shipping water is unnaturally acidic. Precise salinity matching is not that important at all for most fish. I've been shipping fish on a small scale since the 70s.

 

[Jonviviano]

Agreed. I worked for a small fish business a few years back and acclimated thousands of fish over the time. the fish were much happier being taken out of the filthy water they where in using a fast drip of around 20 min or so. the biggest issue with a long time drip is the drop in temp.

 

[BBraker]

Right,

All the time people say its best to "drip acclimate", but few ever actually "do the math". It turns out that if you set up a dripline at a drop per second, it would take 50 HOURS to equilize one liter of water to within 90% the the parameters of the original water - and as was pointed out, you'll lose water temperature.

There are two major hurdles for proper acclimation

- situations where the salinity is being raised on the fish (this needs to be done slowly, over days sometimes, so it's usually better to lower the salinity of the receiving tank and acclimate normally). Despite the case of the seahorse mentioned, this is rarely the case, many fish dehydrate and die when exposed to a large salinity increase (decreases are handled much better).

- long shipments where the pH of the shipping water is low and the ammonia is high. If you try and acclimate fish in that water, the rising pH will change the state of the ammonia, and often kill the fish right in the bag. The trick I use is to create water the same temperature, pH and salinity - and move the fish stright into that, and then acclimate them to tank conditions.

Bill

 

[ackee]

Dehydration will occur when salt in solution exceeds the normal salinity of a fish's blood. This is more a problem that may occur transporting fresh water fishes, which are frequently shipped in water to which considerable salt has been added. Some fishes are more tolerant regarding rapid salinity changes than others. Inshore fishes, especially those that live in bays and estuaries (like seahorses) are generally extremely tolerant of salinity changes. They have to be when their environment shifts from water testing at a s.g. as low as 1.015 at low tide to 1.020 or more at high tide twice each day. The ability of virtually all marine fishes to osmoregulate makes fairly substantial salinity changes of little or no consequence if salinity remains within what might be regarded as normal ranges. Most fishes I've handled seem to shrug off modest salinity changes, e.g. 28 to 33. I think more harm than good is done during extended acclimation procedures.

Ammonia toxicity increases dramatically as pH rises, which is why I suggested that ample quantities of ammonia neutralizer be used before adding new water, which will raise the pH of shipping water which has become acidic as a result of metabolic byproducts. Really foul shipping water can be replaced by scooping most of it out and replacing it with clean water, simultaneously using a neutralizer to avoid a pH generated ammonia spike. In general, removing fish with a net (barbaric devices) should be avoided if at all possible.

 

[HighlandReefer]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1767857&highlight=ammonia+acclimation