Plan on introducing my first fish to my tank today...run me through acclimation quick

[joem1cha3l]

How does this work guys? 2 clown fish to be added

[baldomero]

the way i acclimate my fish is i take 3feet of airline tubing tie a knot at the end of one put the fish in a 5gallon bucket with the lfs water and maybe add a cup of my aquarium water syphon one end get a good slow flow drip going and let them acclimate for an hour or so

[Sk8r]

Use your hand to transfer fish to a bare glass quarantine tank that is adjusted to their salinity. A refractometer is practically indispensible in this operation. Keep them there for 4 weeks, testing their salinity daily and topping off with fresh water. If they do not develop disease, begin to adjust the salinity of that tank to match your display t ank, at the rate of no greater than .001 per 15 minutes, and slower is better. This will assure that you do not, in a few days, have to make the sad post: "My clown has ich. Now what do I do?" The answer to that is long, complicated, and involves leaving your main tank with no fish for 8 weeks.
HTH. You need a 10 gallon qt tank with small filter. You can borrow water from your display.

[Gary Majchrzak]

a QT/inspection period cannot be stressed enough.
If you introduce cryptocaryon (saltwater ick) into your aquarium you'll have a serious problem on your hands for a long time.

[joem1cha3l]

So i should put them in a bare 10 gallon tank with a filter for a few weeks? Without sand or liverock correct?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by joem1cha3l
So i should put them in a bare 10 gallon tank with a filter for a few weeks? Without sand or liverock correct?

if you are unsure that your fishes are healthy I would QT them.
You can have sand and/or rock in QT.

[Gary Majchrzak]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-1...ture/index.php

[joem1cha3l]

in my main display the only thing there is would be live rock and sand at this point. Why cant I put my fish in there if the qt could have the same thing?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Originally posted by joem1cha3l
in my main display the only thing there is would be live rock and sand at this point. Why cant I put my fish in there if the qt could have the same thing?

you don't want crypto or some other pathogen in your main display, do you?

(that's the reason for QT)

[Sk8r]

But you do not need sand or rock there: some PvC pipe will give them places to hide. Don't feel too sorry for them: unless wild-caught, they were likely brought up in a 32 gallon Brute trashcan without much of a view and no sand or rock, just 500 other baby clowns. So having a bare little tank to themselves will be an improvement.
QT is serious business: if you do this with every fish you buy, you will have a disease-free tank. Ich introduced into a tank spreads like wildfire, is a parasite like fleas that lives in the carpet (sand) and leaps up to infest every fish in the tank, often fatally. It looks like salt grains attached to skin and fins.

Clowns are also susceptible to brooklynella---which appears as a film on the skin if I recall. Never personally seen it, but I don't have clowns.

Those are your 2 big threats with those fish. Get them eating well, watch their skin closely, and meanwhile populate your main tank with interesting inverts like micro-hermits, cerith and nassarius snails, and maybe a black-and-white brittle star, (only that sort!) for interest there. Do not get an anemone yet---you're a new tank, and they prefer more stability. You could get a few corals if you like, of the softie sort unless you want to get into more advanced calcium chemistry (not hard, but it is a committment: ask about that if you're interested). Be sure to dip corals in a recommended dip to take care of coral-eating parasites---and you can have something to watch in your tank while your clowns are in qt. You don't have to qt inverts, but do triple dip them in clean salt water as some defense against stuff in their water: the equivalent of giving a dog a bath before letting him in your house.

DO two things more: 1. be sure your tank temperature is staying pretty stable day to night, around 80 degrees.
2. be sure your tank is staying stable in salinity at around 1.025 give or take .001 and use a refractometer, NOT a hydrometer. Use an ATO (autotopoff) with reservoir to make this happen. Ask if you need to.

[joem1cha3l]

I do i have a refractometer and I absolutely love it

[tmz]

I strongly agree with the advice above. Quarantine for 4 weeks is the very best thing you can do if you wan't a disease free tank. The clowns will do fine in a 10 g . A few pieces of pvc pipe would be a good addition for structure for them.

The key to managing the qt is managing biofiltration and monitoring ammonia closely. I use an hob filter with a bit of carbon and put a piece of seeded sponge (used) from my display tank) and it takes care of it. Don't worry about nitrite or nitrate( not toxic to marine fish). I also use an airstone and a heater . Very simple set up. Water changes can be done if ammonia rises. An ammonia alert badge is useful but I would also test ammonia daily for the first week or so .having Ammo Lock, Amquell or another ammonia detoxifier on hand is a good a idea.

I acclimate in two ways depending on how long the fish has been confined to the bag:

A

If this is a local purchase with bag confinement of an hour to a few hours.,I would check the salinity in the bag and insure that my tank water was equal or lower than the bag water.

(Marine fish are stressed by increased sg. Lower sg to a point (1.009) requires them to do less work and does not require adjustment. I'm not suggesting you drop your salinity to 1.009 , just that you don't have to worry about fish adjusting when the slainity is going down up to that point.)

Next, use a piece of airline tubing with a valve or a simple knot adjustment to drip water into a bucket with the bag water and the fish for about 20 to 30 minutes. This will adjust ph and temperature.

B

If the fish has been shipped overnight or confined to the bag for a prolonged period of time, there is a danger of rapid ammonia toxification when the bag is opened. CO2 and ammonia accumulate in the bag over a period on confinement. This CO2 lowers the ph. Much of the ammonia takes the non toxic form (ammonium) . When the bag is opened The CO2 blows off into the air rapidly and the ammonium rapidly becomes toxic free ammonia.Getting the fish out of the bag after it is opened quickly is very important.

Ask the shipper for the sg of the shipping water. Match the qt tank water. Float the unopened bag for 20 to 30 minutes to acclimate for temperature. Open the bag and quickly put the fish in the qt tank

(You can't really adjust for ph in this case since th ph of the bag will spike no matter what you do. If the sg in the tank and the bag are approximately the same the ph should be close. )

No bag water in the tank please.

Good Luck. I hope your clowns give you the years of enjoyment mine have provided.

[Sk8r]

The problem is===ich is an animal, and drops off to live in sand for a certain part of its life. If you let it get into your nicely cycled tank sandbed, you've just contaminated your sandbed and rock with a lethal parasite that will take 8 weeks of no-fish to starve out.
That's also why I don't recommend sand in a qt tank.

Some fish are more susceptible than others. But this pest is one of the most prevalent plagues in fish stores and in the sales distribution system. It is just about omnipresent, much as various places try to kill it off. It occurs in the wild, and while fish that live on and in the sand have some natural defenses, every time a wild-caught fish arrives at the distributors, guess what may come with it?
Keep it out of your tank so far as you can.