So am getting some cherry red shrimp this week, shipped from North Carolina. They'll be in transit for two days, and are going in an established planted 10 gallon aquarium. My question is, drip-line acclimation will be good enough for a good survival rate?
Acclimation
- Thread starter TaratronVaeVictus
- Start date
I am not a big fan of drip line acclimation as a matter of course. I'd first check the pH and ammonia/nitrite levels in the bag water, and make my decision from there. If the pH level in the bag water is close to that of the tank water (no more than 0.2 difference), just net the shrimp out and place them in the tank. If the difference is greater, then check the ammonia. If the ammonia is high and the pH low, I would not suggest you acclimate in this water. Rather, bring the pH of some tankwater down to the pH level of the bag water, transfer the shrimp into that, then acclimate. I acclimate by adding a little bit of tankwater to the acclimation bucket at 15 minute intervals until I have doubled the volume. This seems to work well for me. A 0.5 difference in pH should take about an hour for acclimation.TaratronVaeVictus said:
Wholesalers don't use the drip meathod. There are a few reasons why. If you get a chance read the Nov. & Dec 2005 issue of Tropical Fish Hobbiest the article "The Amazing Amazon" by Wayne Leibel. It has facts about how fish have dramatic changes in the wild and most sp are capable of doing changes.
Most use the squirt dump method... we just take it a little farther.
(If you just want to do it without knowing why it works the here's how it's done. To prepare lower your tank temp to lower 70's. When you get the box in, cut the bag open and squirt some Amquel and Prime into the bags. Remove the fish and put it directly into the tank without acclimating.
Ammonia can be measured in two ways amount and toxicity.
Those test strips measure the amount of ALL ammonia.
Toxicity refers to the amount of un-ionized ammonia (un-ionized is a less stable molecule and is more likely to bond to something or change into something else to fill becaume neutril)
When is ammonia un-ionized? It's a direct correlation between the temperature and pH. If you would like to read more into it then you can google ammonia toxicity, and read up on website's.
Table 1. Un-ionized NH3 as a percent of total ammonia (by temperature and pH).
Percent NH3 of total ammonia
Temp (F) pH 6.5 pH 7.0 pH 7.5 pH 8.0 pH 8.5
68 .13 .40 1.24 8.82 11.2
77 .18 .57 1.77 5.38 15.3
82 .22 .70 2.17 6.56 18.2
86 .26 .80 2.48 7.46 20.3
Lets go through the stages of the fish shipment. First the fish are already in a 7.2 pH (our water) as the fish breaths and poops, it releases CO^2. If you've ever dealt with a planted tank and CO^2 you will know that it will lower the pH. You can assume that the fish are now in a pH of < 7.0. Also during shipment the temp drops to around 68 F which is cold but will not harm any of the fish this brings the toxicity to lower levels with the same amount of ammonia.
When the fish arrive and you open the bags the first thing to happen is gas exchange and temperature raising. CO^2 is exchanged for N^2 and O^2 gasses. This in turns raises the pH back to it's normal state around 7.2. If you add water to dilute the ammonia you are raising the temperature making the ammonia more lethal.
pH and temperature change can be more tolerated. Most fish are tolerable of a jump 10F warmer and 5F cooler. pH change will effect your fish for the next week regardless if it's drip or squirt dump..... quite pointless unless it's more then 2 points, in which case I would squirt poor a cup into the bag and then put the fish into the tank.
The chemicals in Prime and Amquel (As well as all other ammonia chemicals) are not ammonia removers. They are ammonia detoxifies. they were not intended to for household tanks but are often sold that way. they were originally made for the purpose of importing wild fish that were vulnerable to ammo burn like apisto's and tetra.
Most use the squirt dump method... we just take it a little farther.
(If you just want to do it without knowing why it works the here's how it's done. To prepare lower your tank temp to lower 70's. When you get the box in, cut the bag open and squirt some Amquel and Prime into the bags. Remove the fish and put it directly into the tank without acclimating.
Ammonia can be measured in two ways amount and toxicity.
Those test strips measure the amount of ALL ammonia.
Toxicity refers to the amount of un-ionized ammonia (un-ionized is a less stable molecule and is more likely to bond to something or change into something else to fill becaume neutril)
When is ammonia un-ionized? It's a direct correlation between the temperature and pH. If you would like to read more into it then you can google ammonia toxicity, and read up on website's.
Table 1. Un-ionized NH3 as a percent of total ammonia (by temperature and pH).
Percent NH3 of total ammonia
Temp (F) pH 6.5 pH 7.0 pH 7.5 pH 8.0 pH 8.5
68 .13 .40 1.24 8.82 11.2
77 .18 .57 1.77 5.38 15.3
82 .22 .70 2.17 6.56 18.2
86 .26 .80 2.48 7.46 20.3
Lets go through the stages of the fish shipment. First the fish are already in a 7.2 pH (our water) as the fish breaths and poops, it releases CO^2. If you've ever dealt with a planted tank and CO^2 you will know that it will lower the pH. You can assume that the fish are now in a pH of < 7.0. Also during shipment the temp drops to around 68 F which is cold but will not harm any of the fish this brings the toxicity to lower levels with the same amount of ammonia.
When the fish arrive and you open the bags the first thing to happen is gas exchange and temperature raising. CO^2 is exchanged for N^2 and O^2 gasses. This in turns raises the pH back to it's normal state around 7.2. If you add water to dilute the ammonia you are raising the temperature making the ammonia more lethal.
pH and temperature change can be more tolerated. Most fish are tolerable of a jump 10F warmer and 5F cooler. pH change will effect your fish for the next week regardless if it's drip or squirt dump..... quite pointless unless it's more then 2 points, in which case I would squirt poor a cup into the bag and then put the fish into the tank.
The chemicals in Prime and Amquel (As well as all other ammonia chemicals) are not ammonia removers. They are ammonia detoxifies. they were not intended to for household tanks but are often sold that way. they were originally made for the purpose of importing wild fish that were vulnerable to ammo burn like apisto's and tetra.
Hi Waldo. I used to do that with my shrimp (add amquel to the bag wter), but found that liquid AmQuel can drastically drop the pH of the bag water if it's overdosed (assuming a small volume of water, of course). While fish can take this, IME shrimp don't tolerate it very well at all, and may go into shock from the sudden drop in pH. Of ocurse, I am talking about Long Island water, which has little or no buffering capacity. This problem may not occur in areas where the water is a bit harder.
Thats a good point. I would be concerned about it as well. I have also noticed shrimp have little ammonia output unless they die in the bag. My shrimp people request no chemicals just an indian almond leaf or peice of frill to grab onto. 
