Fish Acclimation Procedures
During shipping, the quality of the water will obviously decline. Metabolic waste produces acids, which lowers the pH of the water. Therefore, care must be taken in acclimating marine life that has been transported.
Please adhere to the following steps for acclimating your new friend into its new habitat. Though the process is lengthy (about an hour), these steps will reduce the amount of stress and ensure a long life for your new arrival. We recommend that all new specimens be quarantined in a separate aquarium for 10 to 14 days. If possible live rock should be cured again in a separate container.
- Switch off aquarium lighting. Dim lights in the room. This reduces shock, stress and trauma.
- Allow the sealed bag to float in the aquarium for 20-25 minutes. (Do not open the bag at this time.) This allows the water in the shipping bag to adjust slowly to the temperature and climate of your tank. If the shipping bag is opened now the fish may die from suffocation.
- Cut open the shipping bag just under the metal clip, and roll the top edge of the bag down one inch to create an air pocket within the lip of the bag. This will enable the bag to float on the surface of the water.
- Add a quarter-cup of aquarium water to the shipping bag, and float in the aquarium.
- Repeat Step 4 every 7-10 minutes until the bag is full of water. This is important, as adjustments to pH, alkalinity, and specific gravity take time. (Skins/membranes need time to exchange salt/water to equalize with the new aquarium water. Speeding up the process will suffocate the new specimen.)
- Lift the shipping bag from the aquarium and discard half the water from the bag.
- Float the shipping bag in the aquarium again and proceed to add ? cup of aquarium water to the shipping bag every 5 minutes until the bag is full.
- "Net" the fish from the bag and let loose into the aquarium (Fig. F).
- Remove the filled shipping bag from the aquarium and discard the water. (Never release shipping water directly into the aquarium. This will pollute your aquarium.)
Guidelines:
- Do not rush. Be patient. This will only take an hour, but will ensure a longer life for your new friend.
- As silly as this may sound, always go through the acclimation procedures. Many fish, though they appear dead, will be revived by following the procedures.
- Do not place an airstone into into the shipping bag. This will create chemical reactions that will increase the acidity (increase pH) and result in toxicity.
- We recommend that you keep your aquarium lights off for a few hours. This reduces the trauma and stress of your fish.
- Watch salinity. Keep specific gravity at 1.023-1.025. Inverts & plants are more sensitive than fish to salinity changes.
- Do not expose sponges, clams, scallops, and gorgonias directly to air. Follow the acclimation procedure. Instead of netting the specimen out of the bag, submerge the bag underwater in the aquarium and remove the marine life from the bag. Seal off the shipping bag underwater and remove it from the aquarium. Discard both the shipping bag and the enclosed water. A tiny amount of the diluted shipping water will escape into the aquarium. Don't worry about that.
- In some instances, your new tank mate will be hassled and harassed by one or all of your existing tank mates. This is common and will go away with time, but here are two possible fixes:
(1) Place the "bully" in a perforated basket, while you allow the new neighbor to roam freely and adjust to its new environment. . A colander may be used. Just float the perforated plastic basket in the aquarium. Don't place the new specimen in this perforated basket because it must get acclimated to your aquarium (not the basket). (2) Section off a portion of your aquarium using a perforated plastic lighting grid. When the new guy gets used to his environment, remove the partition.
- You may shake off excess slime off a coral. Remember not to touch the sensitive flesh of it, though.
- Live rock (cured or uncured) must always be quarantined until water conditions in the quarantine tank resume their normal condition.
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