Acclimation of Discus how should I do this with shipped fish

[Larry Bugg]

I didn't take it as coky. It was clear that you were looking for a reason. Too often we tell people what they should do without explaining why. They should just take our word as "experts" right?

[MarkGSmith]

I think a once only minor change is OK. Constantly fluctuating levels of PH is a train crash. Stable conditions and more water changes than you think are needed is key. I'm no Discus expert so somebody more knowledgable will give a better answer. I used to breed angels and it was a constant fight to get water parameters right for the incomers but Xwife used to just plop....needless to say hers were the happier fish. (*****)

[tonytheboss1]

I'm no chemist so I'm not gonna try to explain the "WHY" but every shipment I have received from "The Great Hans" has survived & flourished using 'Plop & Drop'. I open the bag & get them out of that shipping water as soon as possible. -0- problems!! I watched Hans at his place & I followed suit. "T"

[Bizarro252]

Just to update my experience for OP, I got my discus and after much lost sleep over the matter I did the following:

Bags were already at proper temp because the Discus pimp knows how to pack his discus :P
Had a pitcher with about 2 cups of tank water and a few drops of prime ready to go, cut the bag open and poured this water in.
Monitored the discus for any signs of stress for 10-15 min
Plopped them into main tank

Hans suggested I add some tank water, likely because my PH is pretty far above his (8.3) however through reading and reading, and getting the same reply from most everyone I think plopping would have been fine as well.

IF YOU ADD ANY WATER FROM YOUR TANK TO THE BAG - Use Prime or some other ammonia detox conditioner, there IS ammonia in those bags and its locked up as ammonium thanks to the PH of the bag dropping as the fish resparates in the water. I measured my bag water that has been diluted by half and it read 0.5ppm, so it was closer to 1ppm without dilution. Adding only higher PH water with no protection would be a terrible idea.

Plop and drop, or if you are like me and at least for the first time had trouble believing that to be the OK way to go, add prime if you are going to add tank water to your bags.