Live Aquaria and Divers Den customer service going downhill?

[albano]

Is that right that "[y]ou only have 30 minutes after opening a shipped fish bag to put them in the tank"?

Seems like every acclimation instruction I've received from an internet fish seller has strongly suggested that an hour is the sweet spot for drip acclimating and that has almost always worked for me.

An hour is at least 30 minutes too long...~15 minutes in sealed bag to temperature match, then ~15 minute drip...and you're done!

 

[CStrickland]

The issue with shipped fish is that their waste builds up in the bag while they're en route. It stays buffered until you open the bag, because upon contact with air the ph changes rapidly. For this reason many suppliers include with the order a packet of ammonia buffer, so you can keep the ammonia non-toxic long enough to drip if needed. Any ammonia buffer like Prime works too. Of course if you have a qt set up, you can match your qt to the shippers. Then it's easy to just float them until the temp is the same and plunk it in.

Disparities in things besides temp and salinity are far less traumatic than being suddenly clobbered with all of the ammonia that the fish peed into its bag for the last 24 hours, or the temp swings from trying to drip into a small and uninsulated container. The acclimation is mostly just for sg and temp and as opposed to just driving home from the lfs, with shipped critters you need to be more careful with ammonia.

 

[Cancun]

An hour is at least 30 minutes too long...~15 minutes in sealed bag to temperature match, then ~15 minute drip...and you're done!

So you are saying float 15 min....drip 15 min and then your done??? What if the salinity in the bag is 1.020 and your tank is 1.024? Wouldn't that huge jump in salinity within 15 min of dripping kill the fish for sure?

 

[Cancun]

Is that right that "[y]ou only have 30 minutes after opening a shipped fish bag to put them in the tank"?

Seems like every acclimation instruction I've received from an internet fish seller has strongly suggested that an hour is the sweet spot for drip acclimating and that has almost always worked for me.

Makes sense to me given the almost inevitable disparity in salinity, pH, temp., alk, calc, etc.

But I'd appreciate getting shorter acclimation POV.

Mike

...I also agree....why would LA with their 14 day....give instructions to drip for a hour?

 

[Cancun]

He stated himself that after 60 minutes, he just tossed the fish in the tank. You always check the salinity to make sure it matches your tank before the fish is introduced.

Why shouldn't he have to provide a pic? Is La or any company out there suppose to just take your word that your fish died? If you deal with online retail like I do, there a ton of scammers out there. You always have to provide proof, period.

So if I bought a gem tang from you, called you up and told you my gem tang died. You'll just refund my money on the spot like that right? It's easy to talk when it doesn't affect your pocket.

By the way....I always check the salinity before I "toss" the fish into the tank....

 

[Cancun]

Just for the record...I wasn't blasting LA....I was just curious if their refund policy had changed....or anyone else had issues with the customer service....good or bad....in the past I always bought fish from my LFS....so I am new to having fish shipped to me. It is a whole new ball game acclimating fish that had been sealed up in a bag for 24 hours with salinity 1.020 and yours is 1.025....my LFS keeps all of their tanks at 1.025. That's all I am saying. I wasn't trying to "offend" anyone. I am new to this forum....and thought people were on here to help each other out....guess I was wrong there....but thanks to the few that actually got my meaning of the post!

 

[mhurley]

From: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general.cfm?general_pagesid=28#Title 5

I think that about sums this one up.
Thread closed.