The road to salt... and back?

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Hybridfish7

Hybridfish7

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Dec 4, 2017
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So at last, in my search for wild colored poecilia latipinna, I found them, being sold as feeders for $1 ea. So obviously I want them, but there's one thing. They're brackish acclimated. Which I guess is good because that means their salt diseases (if there are any) shouldn't transmit to my other fish. But the thing is, how do I acclimate them back to fresh? can I just drop them in the tank or will that shock them? Do I just drip? If so how long?
 
Slowly reduce the salt with water changes. 10% per a day with dechlorinated regular water. No salt. Due this till salt is diluted out.
 
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You have to increase the salinity of your quarantine tank to the same level as they are in the store. Then reduce the salinity through water changes. Maybe you can purchase the fish and ask the store to slowly acclimate them to fresh water, with you picking them up a week or 2 later? If they end up killing the fish during acclimitization, then they should replace it for you.
 
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I should have also noted I found them on an online store. I'll start salting up my qt tank. Lucky for me I just cleared the fish in there so I can safely salt it up for the mollies.
 
Back when I had marine tanks, I found both mollies and guppies very easy to acclimate to full-strength salt water. Going from straight fresh to straight salt was accomplished without fuss in about a month, and they lived indefinitely in the marine tanks, behaving and breeding normally. Ir probably could have been done faster if I wanted to rush it. Going from brackish to fresh should be a piece of cake.
 
Hybridfish7 said:
I should have also noted I found them on an online store. I'll start salting up my qt tank. Lucky for me I just cleared the fish in there so I can safely salt it up for the mollies.
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When you say salt are you using a salinity meter?
 
the salinity they're currently (apparently) in right now is about 15ppt, and I don't have a salinity meter so I'll just put in whatever amount of salt is needed for the quarantine tank I have, and then just do the water change thing like kno4te said. Since they're mollies I'm sure if I'm off by a little they'll be fine.
 
Hybridfish7 said:
the salinity they're currently (apparently) in right now is about 15ppt, and I don't have a salinity meter so I'll just put in whatever amount of salt is needed for the quarantine tank I have, and then just do the water change thing like kno4te said. Since they're mollies I'm sure if I'm off by a little they'll be fine.
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I would put a few drops of Prime into a bucket and put the fish into that bucket with the bagged water. This would neutralize the ammonia while you drip acclimate the fish to your QT for the next hour or 2. That's what I would do without knowing the TDS of the bagged water.
 
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I tried, they died! Mine were from Yucatan. The ones that remained in salt are breeding and getting huge. Who wouldn’t want a 7” live bearer? I’m interested to see how yours do. Good luck
 
suckerfish said:
I tried, they died! Mine were from Yucatan. The ones that remained in salt are breeding and getting huge. Who wouldn’t want a 7” live bearer? I’m interested to see how yours do. Good luck
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how long did you acclimate them and what was your method?
 
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