Plop & Drop or Drip Acclimate?

[ShannyB]

Which do you do and why?

 

[MyFishAddiction]

I bag/bucket acclimate because I have no idea how to drip lol

 

[awilkinson871]

Depends on what I am adding. Most fish I float the bag for 20-30 minutes and every 7-10 I add a small amount of my tank water so the parameters can level out, then net them out and add. Any super sensitive fish or shrimp get drip acclimated.

 

[ShannyB]

I bag/bucket acclimate because I have no idea how to drip lol

Valid reason!

Depends on what I am adding. Most fish I float the bag for 20-30 minutes and every 7-10 I add a small amount of my tank water so the parameters can level out, then net them out and add. Any super sensitive fish or shrimp get drip acclimated.

Do you change your method if having fish shipped?

I keep reading about how the build-up of CO2 lowers pH which neutralizes ammonia (changing it to ammonium) but as soon as you expose the bag water to atmospheric air, by opening the bag to drip acclimate or add tank water, the pH rises quickly and the ammonium reverts to ammonia = ammonia spike & all that goes along with that.

 

[LowConductivity]

Both.

Time in bag (ammonia), and TDS difference help me determine the correct method.

Osmotic shock is a real thing

 

[Mudminnow]

I use plop and drop. I do this, because it works. Other methods work too, but this one is the easiest.

 

[awilkinson871]

I have never ordered, but if I did I would float the bag for 20-30 minutes, then cut the bag open and immediately dump it into a net over a bucket and plop the fish into the quarantine tank. You don't want any of that yucky water entering into your tank.

 

[ShannyB]

Both.

Time in bag (ammonia), and TDS difference help me determine the correct method.

Osmotic shock is a real thing

Can you elaborate? From what I'm gathering it should be different based on if the fish were purchased locally (short time in bag) versus shipped, but not sure if I'm understanding correctly.

 

[Mudminnow]

Rachel O'Leary has a video on this you might find informative:

.

 

[CrackerboxPalace]

If I ordered the fish online, plop and drop! I don't want them in that bag any longer and the pH swings quickly when you open it which will cause stress if you leave them in there too long. Not to mention ammonia toxicity becomes a problem when the pH goes from low to high.

If I buy them from an LFS I drip acclimate.

Edit: I still float the bag unopened for ~20 minutes when I get fish in the mail.

 

[Ghostly]

both! I let them sit in the tank in a cup for 30 minutes then i start dripping water in for like half a hour.

 

[ShannyB]

Thank you! It's interesting that she doesn't worry too much about temp. Seems everyone has their own take on it!

I think this video is also informative, particularly starting at 3:30

 

[StarGirl]

If the pH is close to the bag I plop and drop for fish. Shrimp I am a little more careful.

 

[Mudminnow]

If the pH is close to the bag I plop and drop for fish. Shrimp I am a little more careful.

Just out of curiosity, how do you know what the pH of the bag is?

 

[Ghostly]

Just out of curiosity, how do you know what the pH of the bag is?

I don't know particularly what stargirl does, but you can just take a small sample of the water and test it!

 

[CrackerboxPalace]

If they've been in the bag for over an hour and there's a relatively large amount of bioload in there, it will pretty much always be acidic.

 

[StarGirl]

Just out of curiosity, how do you know what the pH of the bag is?

Test it? lol

 

[A201]

Plop & drop. The water quality in my tank is sure to be better than what is in the vendor's tank or transport bag.
I make sure the temperature in my tank is slightly warmer than what's in the transport bag. I drain the transport bag water though an XL net into a plastic pitcher. The new arrivals are caught in the net.
I hang & submerge the net just under the lid, in the water, keeping the new fish trapped inside.
This allows the new guys to view & size up what they are up against.
After 10-15 minutes, let them go.

 

[Mudminnow]

I don't know particularly what stargirl does, but you can just take a small sample of the water and test it!

Ah, of coarse.... Thank you.

I'm always in such a hurry to get the fish out of the bag water once the bag has been opened....

Test it? lol

Yeah... .

 

[86 ssinit]

With fish that were shipped to me and have spent 24+hrs in a bag I temp match than I drop into a bucket remove from bucket add to a bucket of tank water for about 5 min than add to qt tank by themselves. This gets them out of the bag water and than rinses off any ammonia before going into qt tank. If bought from lps I temp match and add tank water to bag for about 1/2hr doubling the bag water. Net fish out of bag and into qt tank. Always qt new fish.

 

[StarGirl]

Ah, of coarse.... Thank you.

I'm always in such a hurry to get the fish out of the bag water once the bag has been opened....

Yeah...

To be honest thou I have never had shipped fish. Just lfs so no hurry to proceed....lol

 

[Mudminnow]

To be honest thou I have never had shipped fish. Just lfs so no hurry to proceed....lol

I tend to ship in most of my fishes. So, in my mind, once the bag is opened, it's go time. I guess that's why it didn't occur to me to open the bag and test the water. I was thinking you had some secret way of testing the pH without opening the bag somehow. But, I couldn't think of how on Earth you could do this....