When will a fish (coral, anemone) die if not properly acclimatized ?

[Sk8r]

More fish have likely died from mishandled acclimation than have died from being put into tank. ALL acclimation does that matters, really, is adjust the temperature---floating the bag can do that---and matching the salinity within .002 of tank. Quarantine or prophylactic treatment is another choice, but here's the straight deal: a fish can tolerate a sudden salinity drop of more than .002 without a problem, but an abrupt rise of more than that can damage kidneys. Death usually results in about 3 days from kidney damage. Not usually longer. You know from your own body that flushing your kidneys is an operation that takes TIME, so as you're making salinity changes, remember you're waiting for this fish essentially to pee away the change and adjust. Give him a little time as you're raising his salinity to match.

But the easiest fish-reception of all is to ask your fish-source what salinity they ship at, set a quarantine tank to match that, and when your fish arrives, just float the bag 15 minutes to equalize the temperature, take him out of the bag, discarding his shipping water, and put him straight on into your qt, no muss, no fuss, no other mystical process.

 

[lagatbezan]

Whenever you get a fish from a LFS have them put some of the tank water in a separate small bag or container for you. This way when you get home, you can float acclimate the fish bag and open up the water bag and check the salinity and adjust your qt accordingly to match the same sg of the fish. I always keep my qt at 1.025 and then adjust accordingly while the fish is temp adjusting if I have to by adding fresh water to the qt. long term dip acclimation can do more harm then good.
I religiously QT everything wet. learned my lesson the hard way. Never again.

 

[Louis Z]

So to those that are just starting out . I do recommend a QT/HT . Most experienced aquarists can spot a disease and pass on a fish. Those that don't qt are taking a chance. Some hard to keep fish won't do well in a Qt Setup but in that situation I set up a tank for them only. I unfortunately have many LFS stores and all of them have illness/parasites in their systems. Most of these systems are plumbed together and if fish is sick in one tank then the others have it or it's in the water and going to have it . I just wish these parasites weren't so overwhelming lethal. And thank you for warning others to not follow in your footsteps if you walk on the wild side . :eek2:

 

[Floowid]

This has all been excellent information about acclimation. I used to bag acclimate everything, always worked because I only buy locally and have never had anything shipped. I can see how dangerous long bag acclimation is on shipped fish.

But in answer to the original question, if something dies a month after being introduced then it isn't acclimation (as has already been stated). Instead it could be something like poor collection (cyanide) or parasites in the case of angels or other fish prone to parasitic infection, or it could possibly be the environment in the tank is not suitable.

 

[Sk8r]

principal likelihoods: disease or injury; ---or cyanide-caught fish. Or it starved (as when you put a dragonet into a brand new tank with no copepods.) A third possibility is a hidden predator like a mantis, eunicid, or pistol shrimp; stray current (if everything died); or the tank was too small for the fish and they went after each other.