ammonia and acclimation

[tomaquar]

I was told something by a LFS employee today and wanted to get opinions. She said the fish supplier rep told her that when you acclimate a fish that is still in the shipping bag you should not do a slow drip. The reasoning is that the ammonia has built up in the bag but it doesn't burn the fishes gills until the O2 concentration in the bag water increases. The advice was to float the bag until the temp is the same then rapidly add water until you have at least doubled the volume of the bag, then you can add it more slowly but it should be a steady stream, not a drip.

I did this and the fish is fine. Just curious if anyone has data on this. My chemistry is rusty but Im not able to see what is going on. Is there a redox reaction with urea in play ?

Just wondering.

 

[ksicard]

I've worked at an LFS before and what she was refering to was ammonia burn. Ammonia burn can happen when a fish has been in a bag for an extended period of time where the ammonia has built up quickly and actually begins to burn the fish's gills and what not.

What I do is if I order something online or anything that has been in a bag for over 4 hours I just float for 25 minutes and dump the fish in without adding the water from the bag to the tank. If I just picked the fish/coral up from the LFS and it's only been in a bag for a short period of time I'll drip them for 1hr to 1hr and a half, most of time I just float and introduce unless it's something sensitive such as a tang or a sps piece that is acclimated to much different parameters than mine. I rarely ever drip unless it's a special fish/coral that I don't want to take chances with, haven't lost a fish or coral yet with my new tank using these methods. Not saying this is the best way to go about it but its what works for me and what i've learned through the hobby and my job at a LFS. To be safe drip everytime unless fish/coral has been in bag for extended periods of time, in that case just float for temperature acclimation.