Fish Came in Brackish Water?

[nuxx]

That would be great, if all of the most worrisome fish diseases stayed suspended in the water.

They don't. UV is a great management tool.

Velvet will laugh at your UV while ich holds brooklaynella's legs up for a kegstand on your 120W UV but to each their own.

Besides acclimation, having a nice few weeks to get eating in a tank by themselves and being medicated with Prazi and Cupramine has made all my fish nice and strong / not shy when going into the display.

Sometimes when I was worried about aggression, same speices, I'd even use an eggcrate holder inside my tank for a few days to get everyone used to each other after QT. Think WWIII might have happened if I just put my Gem Tang into the tank from the hands of my massive Black Tang. After a few days of being in the tank separated, they didn't care at all. During those first two days the Black Tang was VERY mad at the Gem.




BTW : The shipping salinity is around that from us. Pretty common salinity TBH. We will add that to the site to give people a heads up. Also probably good to add to order emails as well

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

That is definitely not brackish. A lot of stores run the salinity at that as they come in from the wholesalers around that salinity and they can acclimate the fish over days. I honestly don't think they need to be acclimated for THAT long but if you QT the fish it should be easy. If you cant get them into a QT or don't need to (Idk anything about tank stop), then I'd drip them for a few hours in a container in a bucket maybe with a rock or biomedia from your tank to handle any ammonia issue (and also maybe a tiny heater if you have one). If that salinity was truly a problem, I personally know hundreds of fish that would be dead

Bringing a fish from 1.018 to 1.025 in a few hours is too much and a recipe for death.

 

[Aspect]

I'm really surprised that apparently it's common for fish to be kept at these low levels of salinity. Even fish I got from Petco were at 29 ppt salinity and I thought that was pretty low. I know hypo salinity is a treatment, but not supposed to be kept that low long term.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Besides acclimation, having a nice few weeks to get eating in a tank by themselves and being medicated with Prazi and Cupramine has made all my fish nice and strong / not shy when going into the display.

Sometimes when I was worried about aggression, same speices, I'd even use an eggcrate holder inside my tank for a few days to get everyone used to each other after QT. Think WWIII might have happened if I just put my Gem Tang into the tank from the hands of my massive Black Tang. After a few days of being in the tank separated, they didn't care at all. During those first two days the Black Tang was VERY mad at the Gem.



BTW : The shipping salinity is around that from us. Pretty common salinity TBH. We will add that to the site to give people a heads up. Also probably good to add to order emails as well

That is not pretty common across the board. I check every bag I receive for fish and coral received. Some come in at 1.020. most are north of that sitting at 1.021-1.023 which can he acclimated up, easily and safely to reef spec.

 

[Aspect]

That is not pretty common across the board. I check every bag I receive for fish and coral received. Some come in at 1.020. most are north of that sitting at 1.021-1.023 which can he acclimated up, easily and safely to reef spec.

Yeah same here. Most places are usually above 30ppt ime.

 

[Spare time]

Bringing a fish from 1.018 to 1.025 in a few hours is too much and a recipe for death.

I've seen hundreds to thousands of fish go through this. Not my personal preference but I've seen it done.

 

[Spare time]

That is not pretty common across the board. I check every bag I receive for fish and coral received. Some come in at 1.020. most are north of that sitting at 1.021-1.023 which can he acclimated up, easily and safely to reef spec.

What wholesaler are you referring to? I'm not talking about retail vendors

 

[Spare time]

I'm really surprised that apparently it's common for fish to be kept at these low levels of salinity. Even fish I got from Petco were at 29 ppt salinity and I thought that was pretty low. I know hypo salinity is a treatment, but not supposed to be kept that low long term.

It saves money and that's what matters to the people pre retail environment. The pet trade can be a brutal environment for any animal (and one of the reasons I'm big on captive bred fish). You'd be amazed at how many wild caught animals die before they make it to the customer.

 

[nereefpat]

I know hypo salinity is a treatment, but not supposed to be kept that low long term.

Hypo is much lower salinity than this. 1.009 or 12 ppt salinity. If I got a fish in the mail at 1.018 sg, it really wouldn't shock me. Anyway, the question about what to do now, since you don't have a QT...

What I would do, if you want to be the safest:
Take a 5 gallon bucket and fill with display tank water. Add heater and air stone.
Adjust to 1.018 by adding RO water.
Temp acclimate by floating the bag in the bucket.
Scoop fish and add to bucket, transferring very little of the bag's water.
Take your time bringing the salinity up.

 

[brandon429]

Thread is linked to our soon to be fifty pages long cycling thread for new reefers, excellent recommends here

They see this before we even speak about ammonia cycling. It's a non issue, this is the issue for sure.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

What wholesaler are you referring to? I'm not talking about retail vendors

I am talking about vendors as tank stop is a vender, and the retailer in this conversation. 90+% of reefers can't order direct from wholesale

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I've seen hundreds to thousands of fish go through this. Not my personal preference but I've seen it done.

I've killed enough fish, Attempting this that I won't ever again and professionals such as Jay Hemdal, writes the same thing repeatedly.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

At the LFS I worked at for years we maintained 1.016-1.018 I acclimated fish to reef salinity in 30-45 minutes with no issues. From my brief work at public aquariums, their fish systems were 1.018-1.019. This is really no reason for concern.

At the LFS we did this to slow parasite infections. This is not a therapeutic level that will kill parasites but when we received 40 boxes of fish the low level would give us more time to react and find the parasites before doing formalin dips and using copper.

At public aquariums, the low salinity is a complete cost-saving measure. I am convinced this is not good for the fish in the long run. The vast majority of HLLE I have seen has come from low-salinity tanks. Angels and Tangs with HLLE seem to magically recover once they are returned to normal reef-type environments and I am convinced that the lower salinity may lead to a mineral deficiency that causes HLLE. I have no studies that show this but I have noticed a strong correlation.

 

[brandon429]

Hobbyists: don't do it that quickly, do what Jay said to do in the read provided. Reason: I linked a thread showing it killing several fish and its not worth the risk to do it fast. I'm sure hundreds of fish tolerated the notable osmotic shock but we've identified it as a real risk/ so don't


I don't know anything about fish/ I'm a pico reefing nerd but Jay is speaking to the masses in his recommend and the way our fish are sourced/collected/held arriving at a common pet store = doom is coming soon if you don't handhold them and sing to them quietly at night calmly

 

[Eric Cohen]

That doesn't sound Right, How long since you've calibrated your meter?..

@Eric Cohen

If it's Actually 1.018, That fish should take a few days to get it up to where it needs to be.
Ideally allow your qt to evaporate out fresh to raise the SG slowly.

Hey buddy. Yes the 1.018 is correct for tankstop fish. Amongthereef used higher salinity because we had conditioned fish but even at 1.018 it’s well within reason. No big deal, especially for the fish this customer received. Now if we were talking stingrays, it might be a different story.

 

[Eric Cohen]

Everyone…..this is awesome and a great thread/topic.
FIRST OF ALL…..YES to the qt and should be done whenever possible. And in honor of this thread, it’s been decided that as of now, we will start to add a free packet dose of my product “Safety Stop” with every fish shipment to help our customers do the best they can with or without a qt system.

As others have said, 1.018 specific gravity in marine aquariums is no cause for alarm. This is a short term maintenance that is for the benefit of the animals. Long term in your aquarium should be closer to nsw (natural sea water).
As I told the customer via text message and offered to speak on the phone as I was driving at the time receiving texts, there are many ways to acclimate but I suggested he neutralize any ammonia, add an Airstone, and begin to add cups of water to match water parameters. I suggested a one hour acclimation although whatever the fish showed as comfort should be followed.

As many of you know, I have been acclimating fish for over 30 years and I could confidently say that I might have acclimated more fish or as many as anyone in this industry. I’ve tried and seen a lot.
We should also remember these fish are not coming from overseas….these are relatively short flights with good packing and not what you would normally get from an international import with a tiny pack job and 48+ hours in transit and ammonia levels off the chart!

We also now see highly reputable companies voiding guarantees on orders that are drip acclimated. Thats crazy to me but again we are talking about short flight times with well conditioned fish who don’t need long acclimation times like with imported shipments.

I agree 100% that your chances of success are hugely raised when you can qt your fish. Many of us know the risks we take by adding a non quarantined fish into your display and it amazes me how many hobbyists have avoided the inevitable but the facts are it’s still possible, especially if you have a seasoned aquarium with a diverse biological presence. Maybe a topic for another time but a great conversation to have when learning about heterotrophs and how it can benefit us in fighting things we hate….especially uronema etc.

My concern for this customer is really the two maroon clowns he purchased but with captive raised fish, he should be fine. Wild caught and I would say the brook would get them.

let’s keep in mind we are all still learning and there is no question not worthy of a post. Just the fact that this customer reached out shows he cares and wants to learn.

For those of you not familiar with my product “Safety Stop”, it’s a great two-part liquid dose of formulin and Methalyne blue. One dose will provide a safe and effective mixture in 1 gallon of water. Using an air stone, you can soak your fish for 45 minutes in each of the two parts….one at a time totaling 1.5 hours. It’s not a cure all by any means but a great start and definitely better than nothing. I have sold over 100,000 doses and have so much support from users who love it. It took us two years to develop this product in collaboration with our fish vet. It’s as solid a product as it gets and now it will be free to all who purchase fish from Tankstop.com

happy holidays everyone!!!

 

[zoomonster]

Was going to start a new thread but his pretty much covered it. I use the same acclimation method every time and have had good luck. What I'm guilty of is not checking salinity and just doing the acclimation. Temp I have always checked.

Anyway, to make a long story short I have gotten excellent fish from a particular FL vendor (not WWC) who I won't name as it's just a drop ship from CA. So, I got 2 more resplendent anthias and a pintail wrasse in today that were very healthy other than usual stress. I have a fairly new and calibrated Hanna meter and decided to check the water which was 25ppt which by definition is the upper range of brackish which kind of shocked me. Guess my < half day acclimation works because I have never killed any but definitely more cognizant of the salinity they come in and may stretch acclimation a bit longer.