Anyone know whats wrong?

[rdnelson]

scruggs1;806750 wrote: I acclimate using a small plastic container with a lid. I drilled two 1/8" diameter holes in the bottom. Set the container on the water surface in the aquarium. Pour the fish/coral and water from the bag into the container. Put the lid on and wait a couple hours then open the lid and put them in. The water temp adjusts without worrying about temperature imbalances that occur with the drip method. Diffusion through the little holes slowly adjusts the salinity. Never lost anything with this method. I also open the lid and do a salinity check on the water before right before I put them in.

Drawback to that is you are adding store water to your system. In most cases not a big deal but if something happened to get into the stores system it would now be in your system.

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

Plenty of knowledgeable and experienced people on this thread, and what looks like several different ways to acclimate. If it is any consolation, when setting up my QT, I tested it out after the cycle, I lost a damsel after adding him to the tank which confused me because all parameters were in line. I then added a chromis right before my 2 anthias. The chromis died almost instantly, but, the anthias did just fine. sometimes this hobby throws up curve balls.

Hang in there.

Best of luck!!!

 

[greggreenberg]

the guy at the store said my salt was too high. yesterday when i got it tested it was at 1.0260 and today it was at 1.06. i added more ro/di water last night i don't know how my salt could have raised. i took more water out today and added more. i have an American marine pinpoint salinity monitor. anyone know what is a good level according to that. it comes with a conversion chart just want to know what most of yall keep your salt at and if that could have killed the two fish. unfortunately the LFS store will not replace them, but only give me a 25% off my next to fish. i just need to fix the problem (still not sure it it was because of the salt) before i add any new friends.

 

[ralph atl]

35 or 1.026 is what I have always kept my water at.

 

[ecreel1]

ReefRunner;806732 wrote: In speaking with a few people, I have heard that a long drip acclimation period is at times detrimental to a fish..... It creates undue stress to fish.... 15-20 min is a better length of time.....

That's what I was going to say...... Drip acclamation shouldn't be done that long.... 15-20 mins tops!!

 

[ralph atl]

ecreel1;806881 wrote: That's what I was going to say...... Drip acclamation shouldn't be done that long.... 15-20 mins tops!!

Into QT tank, not display.......

 

[jennm]

Never put fish store water in your tank water... fine to mingle while acclimating -outside of the QT (or display if you're a gambler and don't quarantine...)

Something that only takes a minute but people never think to do - test the water the fish came in, at least for specific gravity and pH, so when you're acclimating, you can know if the water the fish is in, is either somewhat close to yours, or miles apart, and adjust your acclimation time accordingly.

You said your specific gravity was 1.06? Is that a typo? 1.026 is fine - probably a bit higher than most stores keep it. 1.060 is way high. Are there other fish in the tank that are surviving in that? You can drop salinity fairly quickly without too much stress, but raising it too fast is not good (as it seems you've found out the hard way)...

Have you had a full panel of tests done? If not, come see me...

If you have a salinity meter, have you calibrated it recently? 35 PPT is 1.0264 specific gravity.

It may not have been the acclimation process as such - other than if your parameters were vastly different than what the fish were in, they couldn't handle the transition.

Check the bag water next time (and a good rule of thumb every time).

Jenn