Just read this extremely awesome article entitled Marine Fish Acclimation Procedures

[Salty150]

I just read this extremely awesome article entitled Marine Fish Acclimation Procedures from Advanced Aquarist.

Steps to better acclimation:

Prepare a mature biological filter for the quarantine system when possible. Benefits: Provides a stable environment without exposure to toxins such as ammonia.

Adjust the pH and temperature in the quarantine tank to match those at the retailer or the shipping water when possible. Benefits: The fish can be immediately removed from the transport bag and allowed to swim in oxygenated water. This reduces stress and helps fish to remove lactate acid and ammonia from their body. This also allows for slow acclimation to changes in pH and temperature over days rather than minutes or hours.

Employ hyposaline conditions. Benefits: Proactive approach to external parasites, and counteracts osmotic dysfunction due to the stress of transport and handling.

Use dim lighting or red light. Benefits: Prevents photo shock and has a calming effect on fish.

Avoid removing fish from their native environment (water) and the use of nets. Benefits: Water to water transfer with the use of clear plastic bags or specimen containers prevents stress, gill collapse, lactate acid build-up, and reduces injuries.

Get the fish out off shipment water and into clean oxygenated water immediately. Benefits: Allowing fish to swim in oxygenated water away from toxins reduces stress, helps reduce stress hormones in the bloodstream, helps fish remove toxins from their body and provides oxygen essential to osmoregulation and other bodily processes.

Add a polymer such as found in Pro Tech Coat Marineâ„¢ or StressGuardâ„¢ (polyvinylpyrrolidone) to the quarantine tank. Benefits: Protects wounds and aids in osmoregulation.

Use Beta glucan, vitamins and Omega-3 fatty acids. Benefits: Beta glucan enhances immune function, while vitamins and Omega-3 fatty acids help alleviate stress and speed recovery.

Withhold feeding for 24 hours. Benefits: Metabolic energy is directed toward functions essential to immediate survival such as regaining normal homeostasis.

Slow acclimation to changes in temperature and pH. Benefits: Less stressful on fish than quicker acclimation and should improve survival.

 

[Salty150]

One, of the many, things that was interesting is that he says to put the fish directly into hypo water - that has several benefits:

Marine teleost fish (bony reef fish) readily adjust to a rapid drop in salinity without any apparent ill effects. Place fish directly into a salinity of 12-14ppt. Monitor the pH daily as this parameter has a tendency to fall in dilute saltwater.

Fish should remain in hyposaline conditions for several weeks. Marine teleost fish need more time to adjust to an increase in salinity than a decrease. Raise the salinity a few points a day until it matches your display aquarium before moving the fish to its final destination.

Contrary to the commonly held belief that a salinity lower than natural seawater is stressful to marine teleost fish (bony reef fish), reducing the gradient (difference in salinity) between the internal fluids of fish and the surrounding ambient water alleviates water and ion disturbance (Wedemeyer, 1996. Carneiro &Urbinati, 2001). Fish held in water that is close to isotonic (the salinity of the surrounding ambient water is close to matching the internal fluids of the fish) have increased stress resistance (Lim et. al, 2000). These fish also display a significantly lower mortality rate at 7 days post shipment.

I suggest placing marine teleost fish directly into a hyposaline environment during the acclimation and quarantine period (Lowry, 2004). A salinity of 12ppt (not Specific Gravity) is close to isotonic for bony reef fish. I prefer keeping the salinity at 12 to 14ppt for thirty days or more. The salinity can then be raised a few points a day until it is close to natural seawater, or matches your display aquarium.

Although studies indicate that at least some species of marine teleost fish grow faster in a salinity of 14ppt than at 35ppt (natural seawater) (Lambert, Dutil, and Munro, 1994), I do not suggest maintaining hyposaline conditions indefinitely. Do not subject marine invertebrates, sharks, rayfish, "live rock," or "live sand" to hyposaline conditions.

Hyposalinity assists marine teleost fish in recovery five ways:

Helps control external parasites
Helps fish to recover osmotic balance more quickly
Helps fish that are injured or have lost mucus protection to maintain osmoregulatory balance.
Conserves energy that can be used to recover normal homeostasis and for disease resistance
Helps fish to recover feeding behaviors more quickly
The most obvious benefit of hyposalinity therapy to marine fish, while acclimating to captivity, is that it is a proactive approach to dealing with external parasites. However, there are other significant benefits for marine teleost fish.

Osmoregulatory dysfunction is an inherent part of stress in fish. Reducing the salinity gradient between the internal fluids of the fish and the surrounding ambient water helps them to recover osmotic balance more quickly.

Injuries are a common occurrence during transport and handling. Wounds or compromises to the mucus/scale/skin barrier make osmoregulation more difficult and costly energy-wise. In marine fish, osmotic pressure can cause fluids to leak from wounds into the water. Reducing the salinity of the water decreases the osmotic pressure and loss of fluids from wounds or compromises the mucus layer.

Marine teleost fish typically consume 25 to 50% of their metabolic energy in the process of osmoregulation. Conserving metabolic energy makes more available for other processes such as regaining normal homeostasis, diseases resistance, etc.

Since osmoregulatory balance is a factor influencing feeding behaviors, it is reasonable to assume that fish that quickly recover osmotic balance will resume feeding sooner. Fish should regain osmotic balance more quickly in hyposaline conditions.

 

[thegrun]

Seems pretty old school advice IMHO. I agree initially you should keep the fish in a salinity very close to what they were shipped in or match the salinity from the store you purchased them, but I immediately begin to raise the salinity by not replacing the evaporated water which will slowly raise your salinity until it reaches natural sea water salinity (35ppt). Less stressful is to start the tank transfer method rather than an extended period at hypo salinity.

 

[snorvich]

Seems pretty old school advice IMHO. I agree initially you should keep the fish in a salinity very close to what they were shipped in or match the salinity from the store you purchased them, but I immediately begin to raise the salinity by not replacing the evaporated water which will slowly raise your salinity until it reaches natural sea water salinity (35ppt). Less stressful is to start the tank transfer method rather than an extended period at hypo salinity.

I agree.

 

[Bent]

Aside from putting the fish in QT, I agree with pretty much nothing else.

 

[Salty150]

So ALL of the studies he cites, are...?

 

[thegrun]

...old

 

[Salty150]

LOL

Can you point me toward the "new" studies that refute them?

 

[Ron Reefman]

I think those are all pretty good points and IF you are having troubles acclimating your fish, go for it. I do about 20% of all that and in 12 years I haven't lost a fish during or shortly after acclimation. And the few I've lost in the short term (like first month) were due to being harassed by more aggressive fish for days after introduction.

 

[307charles]

Good read!thank you!

Sent from my LGL16C using Tapatalk

 

[MondoBongo]

LOL

Can you point me toward the "new" studies that refute them?

can you point me to the old studies that were cited for this article? all i see is some copy pasted text. no citations.

as noted above, this is all old info. there are better, less invasive techniques for acclimation and quarantine available to us.

we have the technology! we can quarantine them, better, stronger, faster.

 

[ca1ore]

Some of the things noted are good:

1. I do prepare a 'mature' biofilter ahead of time for my QT tanks
2. I do adjust for temp by floating the bag for 20 mins; I also adjust the QT to incoming salinity, which IME is more important, then use normal salinity water in the ATO to slowly bring it up.
3. Never use nets, I just pour out the fish
4. I use notrofuracin green powder for all new fish in QT
5. I do keep the lights dim for a day or two, and generally don't feed until the lights are up fully.

Other than fish that were essentially done for upon arrival, I've not lost a fish to initial acclimation in almost a decade using this approach. Lost them for other reasons ......