Acclimating fish from high SG

[TimberTDI]

Hey Guys,

I just "saved" some fish from a Friend who's neglected his tank for awhile.

The tank water was at 1.045SG.

I've got the fish in a bucket and am acclimating them to my tank water (1.027sg)

How long should these fish be acclimated?

I've got a drip going at about a drip per second. Is this too fast?

The tank had a serious hair algae, worse than in my 36:lol2:. How can I ensure that I won't transfer any HA to my tank? They are going in my AP 24 (no algae)


Thanks,
Steven

 

[bad coffee]

you gotta come down to your tank level over a week or so.

Then quarantine for a while. Let the algea spores die if they're going to. keep the nutrients/phosphates down in the QT an you'll have a better bet.

 

[TimberTDI]

So set up my QT @ 1.o45?

 

[bad coffee]

Yes, or whatever the sg was in the bag with the fish.

Then bring it down a bit a day for a week or so. I don't remember exactly how much you can get away with. I'm thinking its .003 a day, but I could be wrong.

B

 

[TimberTDI]

Ok,

So my QT tank is a 20 gallon. What I'm worried about

• I only have a 1/2 gallon of old tank water.
• I only have 5 gallons of saltwater made up(1.027), planned on using it for a water change today.
• Should I just make up 20 gallons of 1.045 saltwater?

Steven

 

[Bob 1000]

basically...

 

[marrone]

You don't need to wait a week to bring down fish from 1.045 to 1.027. Just follow the way you bring the SG down when you're doing Hyposalinity. Also unless the fish are very delicate they'll be fine if you actually bring them down a little faster than you would doing Hyposalinity. You should QT the fish for at least a couple of weeks, unless you know for a fact that the person tank was free of diseases.

 

[TimberTDI]

I think these are very hardy fish:tank:

Only because I know he's had them for almost two years. I also know from snippets of conversations his tank been neglected for at least six months. Things like topping off when the return pump is sucking air. It's a coral beauty, a maroon clownfish, cb shrimp, and a flamehawk.

 

[marrone]

I wouldn't worry to much about bring the fish down, say over a day, but for the CB shrimp I would take it very slow as a lot inverts can't take swing in SG.

 

[masterswimmer]

I'm confused why you'd want to mix 20 gallons of 1.045 sg water anyway. Your intent is to bring that level DOWN, not maintain it.

I agree with Mike on this one. Give it a few days and you'll be fine.

R

 

[TimberTDI]

I'm confused why you'd want to mix 20 gallons of 1.045 sg water anyway. Your intent is to bring that level DOWN, not maintain it.

The point was that if I was going to set them up in QT. I can't leave them in a 20 gallon tank with only a 1/2 gallon of water.

 

[marrone]

I would setup the 20gal QT at the level of your tank, if possible use the water from your tank. I would drip the fish for about 2 - 3 hours and then move them into the tank. They're all tough fish and they should be able to handle to change without a problem, plus I'm sure they're more stressed out from the move and sitting in a small bucket. I would drip the CB Shrimp slower as it need a long change or it could died.