Acclimatisation Methods

[Gillybaby]

Got a new blenny today (pics to follow once he gets a bit braver ;) ), and acclimatising him using my usual drip method got me thinking.

A couple months back there was a thread over on Reef Central where they were discussing acclimatisation of corals, specifically Euphyllia, bought mail order. A rather shocking (well for me anyway) majority of responses stated that they didn't acclimatise corals at all. Just opened the bags and popped them straight in their tanks. A couple of folk even went as far as to say that they had a 100% loss rate using the drip method and since using no acclimatisation at all had a pretty much 100% success rate.

There was a bit of a crossover half way through the thread where discussions of fish and invert acclimatisation cropped up. Everyone who responded stated that inverts needed a good few hours but many said they handled fish the same way as corals, ie warmed them up and popped them straight into their tanks :eek: They qualified this that it was only for mail order where they deemed it more important to get the fish out of the bag and into their tanks as quickly as possible.

I have always used the same method of acclimatisation for fish, corals and inverts. I warm the bags for a few minutes then start a steady drip feed from my main tank. Every 20 mins I empty some of the water out of the bag and once the PH and salinity readings are the same as for my main tank, then in the fish/coral/invert goes.

What does everyone else do/recommend? Does anyone use similar methods as those that appear to be prevalent in the US? Does anyone think that this would actually work?

[Kev]

For me, I usuallt spend 15 / 20 mins getting temp balanced, at the same time dripping water into the bag from the tank. Most softies I have / and LPS I have spent probably 30-40 mins acclimatising this way.

Fish 20-30 mins.

I have to say, my Euphylia I dropped staight in, same with a leather coral. The Euphylia was open very quickly. Had them both over a year and they look very good.

My cleaner shrimp I was more cautious, and spentthe best part of an hour acclimatising the little thing.

Kev

[Kev]

Oh, my Deresa Clam came via mail order, and looked a very sorry state on arrival. I took the decision to pop it straight in with no acclimatisation, many months on I have a very healthy looking clam.

Kev

[Gillybaby]

So, Kev, do you think there is something in what the yanks are saying?

I've never tried doing this and have always been ultra careful when acclimatising.

[Kev]

Gilly

I think there may be something in this. Certainly I have experienced no loss on the occasion I have tried the quick method, but then again I have not experienced coral / fish loss the slow way either.

I do think that whilst stability is key long term, and hence the logic for a reasonable acclimatisation period, I do remember rock pooling in Kenya, and saw a large nem with clowns in a tiny pool. Had me thinking that twice a day the tide came in and out, this small pool with a really large nem must be subject to massive temp swings in the hot sun, coupled with massive salinity change from evaporation and rain. The nem was in super health with half a doz clowns. Now that goes againts what we strive to achieve.

I think maybe the creatures in our care may, to a degree, are probably hardier than we give them credit for, but I am in general, still tempted to err on the side of caution and go for a reasonable acclimatisation period, and keep paremeters stable. Mind you, my tanks full, its over a year since I purchased any stock, I think things are working out.

Kev

[Gillybaby]

Wow that's amazing. But I agree and think I'll continue to err on the side of caution as well.

[thereefshop]

I import corals and inverts all the time i spend 4 hours drip feeding them,it take this long to get temp/s.g./ph to the same has my tanks and i have very very very little losses:D A customer of mine has a hard coral tank and he just drops them in to the tank and he swears by it!??? but his come from near by shops that ph/s.g.temp are almost the same ! So i think if there are to many differences this would cause problems i.m.o.:rolleyes:

[Kev]

I think you are right there. From the shops where I have purchased stock in the past, sg etc are probably very similar to the conditions within my system.

I must say that I would not want to give out the message here that it is ok to just throw livestock into an aquarium. As I said earlier, I think a cautious approach should be heeded.

Kev

[Macca]

Corals. I know many a shop that if the sg on the box is the same as the sg in their systems they heat the bag 15 mins then put straight into tank and they dont lose many corals. When importing corals a good shipper always notes on the box what sg the water being exported is. Remember buying mail order and buying from your LFS are totally different. Mail order water quality will be dramatically different from a 1 hour trip to your LFS.

I personally use a drip but here is the downside - Doing the method above sorts out the temp and your salinity (if shipper has got it correct) but the PH will definnetely be different. So adding the coral straight away will be stressing the animal to a ph shock. What you will be doing in a plus side is releiving the animal from the ammonia that has built up in the shipping bag.

Dripping the animals will slowly raise the PH in the bag which will be good for removing PH shock but in the other hand raising the PH also raises the ammonia level???? Your choice, but getting the salinity right at the start helps enormously. If we get the salinity right, the temp right, then we must decide if the animal will be more stressed to the ammonia rising sharply or the ph rising sharply.


James

[mark d]

I always try and go for the slow acclimatisation with all stock (fish, corals & inverts).

With a straight dunk in, I would be concerned about risk of osmotic shock due to sg differences between bag water & tank water. As well as fish, I feel LPS could be especially vulnerable to osmotic shock if moved in too quickly due to them holding water.

Another important thing IMO is not to subsequently transfer the bag water into your system unless you know it is from a trusted and stable system.

cheers

Mark

[Kev]

I always try and go for the slow acclimatisation with all stock (fish, corals & inverts)................Another important thing IMO is not to subsequently transfer the bag water into your system unless you know it is from a trusted and stable system.


Hi Mark

Are there occasions when you have not gone for slow acclimatisation, which I think is the right way, and what impact did this have? This is my normal approach, but there are times when it has not happened, rightly or wrongly.

Thats a real good point about tranferring water too, probably often over looked.

Kev

[mark d]

Yup - I have dunked too! Bought some rics mail order which only came with a small amount of water - seemed pointless acclimatising - so just dropped 'em in.

No problems either!

Mark

[Reefer]

Leather Corals, warm them up (30 mins) and straight in, no problems. Same with most of the corals in my tank.
Fish warm them up quick mix of water and straight in. Fit Filtration used to warm the fish up and pop them straight in. I guess its more stressful for the fish keeping them in the plastic bag.
I personally have never worried as I figure the water in my tank is better quality than the water thats been in the bag, especially if the fish has vomited food or deficated. Just dont shock them with temperature.
When I moved and set up my smaller tank, I used nearly 60% new water, put the live rock and corals straight in caught the fish from the buckets and nets and put them straight in too and the shrimps also, not 1 loss.
As I have said before these creatures have been starved near to death and transported halfway round the world to us, they are the toughest of thier kind as all the weak would have died in transit.
Go your own way though!

[Reefer]

Water transfer is a good point though as most fish shop systems are laced with copper for obvious reasons, which would be devastating in a small tank like mine, but probably not an issue for some of your bigger systems out there.

[Kev]

Hi Reefer

I think you fall into line with our American friends then, dropping straight as Gilly highlighted at the beginning of the thread.

I still remain, on the whole cautious, but as I said earlier, I have neglegted a "proper" acclimatisation period a couple of times with no bad result. But this rush has been made because of the condition of the stock when it arrived at my house.

The Euphylia I dropped in had 2 dead heads, and one remaining. It came as a small freebie from an LFS, because it was withering in his system. Straight in, 24 hours later, expanded, and is now 2 heads.

Just my experiences.

Kev

[Macca]

Here is one for you to ponder!

Our Astrea snails, SOME SP - Hermit crabs, zoos, and sometime more delicate corals are shipped in no water?

What would you do then?

James

ps putting snails, lobsters, shrimps and many more straight into a tank without acclimation would result in a very very high loss through time IMHO.

[Kev]

James

I would PANIC!:D Thats what what I would do.

Shipped in no water? What would you do then?

Kev

[Reefer]

Yes i think i was lucky with the shrimps on the above occasion, certainly not to be recommended under usual circumstances!
But what is clear is that there are no set of rules on this that work better than others. Just as long as it is working stick with what you are comfortable with.

[Gillybaby]

Here here. Although its very interesting to find out what everyone else does.

[Reefer]

True Gilly, its great to glean info from others experience.

[Tangman]

Hi As you know i help at Aquarius a bit and when they get imports in we just float the softies and then put them straight in the tank, and they are up an about in a matter of hours. The fish we float to get the temp up, then we let them go into a Koi bowl with equal water conditions to bag water and slowly add water from system into bowl then after about an hour we add them to the quarantine tanks for about 4 weeks. We always get a few DOA and a few die afterwards but on the whole we have had some good results. Eric

[Harrison]

For fish I float the bag in the sump to balance the temperature and then use a hospital drip wired up to a 3 litre bottle and let that drip slowly about 1 drip per second, empty a little water out of the bag every few minutes. I do this twice so I use 6 litres of tank water this usually takes about two hours.

Same idea for inverts I just slow the drip rate down and use 12 litres of tank water over a period of 12 hours. Went even further for my starfish and acclimatised for 24 hours but I wanted to make sure there was close to none of the fish shop water in the bag so it could be submerged in my tank.

I don’t acclimatise corals just float them in the bag to balance the temperature. For SPS corals I then remove them from the bag and leave them on floor for 5 minutes before adding them to the tank this causes them to produce a slime coating which helps protect them when exposed at low tide seems to work just as well in introducing them to a different environment. I always dip my new Zooanthids in fresh water for 5 minutes to kill any predators so it seems a little pointless worrying about any small changes when they can cope fine with that.

Cheers

Matthew

[Kev]

Wow, so many different approaches. Matthew, I found your approach interesting and food for thought. Thanks.

Kev

[Dons1903]

Wow, this is amazing :eek: I've always been so careful when aclimatising everything (fish, corals, critters) but it seems it was not required.

I float the bag for 20 mins to match temp, then I introduce 2 egg cups of tank water into the bag every 10 mins until the bag is full. I then empty half the bag water out and repeat the egg cup fills every 10 mins until it is full again. I then introduce the contents to the tank being carefully not to spill any bag water into the tank in case there is any copper in the water.

[Kev]

I personally would still take a cautious approach more often than not.