The increase in temp after adding the conditioner SHOULDN'T be, but the idea still stands to get them out of the water that they are in and into cleaner water as soon as possible. Ammonia isn't the only thing fouling the water.
Shipped Fish
- Thread starter Convict Cichlids
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The increase in temp after adding the conditioner SHOULDN'T be, but the idea still stands to get them out of the water that they are in and into cleaner water as soon as possible. Ammonia isn't the only thing fouling the water.
Well there are a few things that worry me about this method and after reading info from John Kuhns (the inventor of this technique), he recommends this method for shipped fish only in cases where pH and hardness of the bag water and tank water are close in measurement (he doesn't state what close is though). So if you are acclimating fish who have been in pH 6.5 water to a pH of 7.3, this method could cause the fish to enter a sate of shock. Same scenario with differences in hardness. Hardness will be the bigger of the two to worry about as it varies so greatly between locations while pH tends to land between 6.5 and 7.5 in most locations, so it's more common to be closer in pH than hardness. I know the link mentioned using Chem-pure to reduce the chances of shock, but after reviewing this product more, it seems to only slightly reduce the chance of a fish entering a state of shock (10-20% depending on size of the fish in question with larger species seeing a larger reduction in shock chances). This is better if you are receiving a bulk order of fish and/or large fish, but has only a slight improvement if ordering just a few small fish (either small species or juveniles of larger species).
Now what other things are fouling up the water after using a water conditioner to remove ammonia as well as any chlorine, chloramines and heavy metals? It also bonds up nitrites and nitrates for biofiltration use, which doesn't remove them, but likely makes them much harder for them to act in the fish (hasn't been proven, but is currently the most educated theory). After adding a conditioner, you should be fine to move onto a drip acclimation process to slowly adjust a fish to your hardness and pH. I still have found nothing on fish entering a state of shock only when introduced to significantly lower temp waters, so I am still going to carry on assuming they can enter shock from too large a difference in temp whether higher or lower. Of course that tune will change if I ever find that source of information. The drip or cup acclimation methods also add cleaner water to the bag water, which would reduce the effects of anything else fouling up the water. And as the article on John Kuhns' dose and dump method states, ammonia is the biggest thing to be worried about.
And there is also a change in John's method. He no longer doses the bag water, but instead doses the tank water. So he will dose the tank they are being added to, cut the bag open and immediately net the fish into the tank.
I did find the addition of conditioner to the bag water very informative. I was unaware of the relationship between shipping and ammonia poisoning. I will start adding a water conditioner to my bag water immediately after opening from now on, but unfortunately, my water parameters are often different from those I get fish shipped from, so the drip acclimation works best for me personally. However, if I can contact my sellers and find out the fish I purchased are from similar water pH and hardness, I will give this method a try.
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