how to acclimate fish from one tnak to another?

[Abercrombie6202]

my ph is 7.4, the last time i checked (last night) now if i get my discus from the lFS the ph is at 6.2. Now if i brought them home how would i slowly acclimate them to my PH?

[discuskrib]

what i do is put the fish and the store water into a container/pail and every 5-10 minutes pour a little of my tank water into the pail. this is what i do for discus and a few other fish. cheaper fish don't always get that much attention.

[Carol_Roberts]

That will work fine with discus that have been bagged for a short ride home. The bag water has not had time to foul with ammonia.

After acclimation do not add any of the LFS water to your tank. Put only the discus in your tank none of the mixed water.

[Luca]

A concern you raised there is important, the fluctuation of PH. Make sure you read the ph on your tank and from the LFS (the water in the bag) and see what they are. It is generally not a good idea to change the ph by more than 0.2 per 24hours. However, it is not so bad if the fish are going from acidic water (e.g 6) to alkaline water (e.g 7.4). The other way can burn the gills and fins of the fish due to the acid content.

[BlueTurquoise]

Generally I have found a PH *rise* of .5 or more is ok for the fish, younger fish are easier to acclimitise in my opinion. I agree about going from higher to lower PH's though...

I would do the "add small amounts of tank water to LFS water" trick over a few mins.

If they are healthy fish they will be more than fine.