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Thread: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

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    Default How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Han's shipping water has a pH of 6.6. My tank water is 8.4. What is the best method to receive new fish with this kind of pH swing - just dump them or some other gradual method?

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    Registered Member 14Discus's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Put new fish in large container/bucket and do an airline tubing drip. Between the tank and container, install a valve in the air tubing. Start a siphon from the tank into the container. Close the valve to the point that the siphon water only drips into the container. A slow drip over several hours will change the water gradually which is important. Be sure the air tubing is secured to the tank rim and have the tubing above the water line in the container so you can see it drip. 6.6 to 8.4 is a large PH difference, so a slow gradual change is imperative. Of course.....keep an eye on it so as to prevent over filling the container.

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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Ask Hans for his oppinion on this Cammie.
    I'm frankly hesitant what method to choose because with long shipping's Amonia in bag water slowly builds up as the pH gradually drops and Amonia is much more tolerable in low pH .
    When you slow drip your water, PH raises and makes that Amonia much more toxic to the fish .
    On the other hand I'm also hesitant about tossing the fish in a water water with 2 points PH difference .

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    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Could Cammie dose the shipping water with the appropriate amount of Seachem Prime? This would detoxify the ammonia that is present rendering it harmless to her discus as she uses the drip fill Bill suggested to correlate the pH's? Once acclimated she could then scoop them out of that water and drop them safely into her tank...

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    Registered Member 14Discus's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Filip and Daniel......thank you......you are right. I errored and forgot to mention the NH3 thing and to dose it w Prime. Shame on me, but thanks for the pickup/observation. Yes, the ammonia factor has to be considered as well as a way to remedy the situation. So glad you two popped in as I’d hate to give someone incomplete suggestions that could hurt the fish.

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    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Go team go!! Lol

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    Homesteader Filip's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    Go team go!! Lol
    Together we are stronger

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    Platinum Member SidJones's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Float bags for temp matching, drop and plop. No bag water in the tank.

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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    +1 on what Sidjones said. I orded Hans discus last year. My ph is 8.2 to 8.3 and i did plop and drop like Hans says. All discus handled it with no problems.
    Sean

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    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Seems counter intuitive to all the hype about aging water to prevent sudden pH changes which supposedly harm our discus...I understand the micro bubble issue is part of the aging process, but most peeps seem to mention the pH swing thing as the most important reason...can anyone give understanding on why the plop & drop is ok when a large pH gap is already known then?

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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    Seems counter intuitive to all the hype about aging water to prevent sudden pH changes which supposedly harm our discus...I understand the micro bubble issue is part of the aging process, but most peeps seem to mention the pH swing thing as the most important reason...can anyone give understanding on why the plop & drop is ok when a large pH gap is already known then?
    Two reasons that come into mind for me
    1. Ammonia
    2. The pH swing is a one time occurrence not a daily large swing. The daily swings keep the fish in a state of stress. It just settles down then boom another. One thing I've learned in my yrs. of fish keeping is stability is the key. Heck back in the early 80's is was all about 100% R.O. and low pH. I kept my Schmidt Focke's in a pH of 4.9-5.5 and they did great. Most today would really frown on that but it worked and the swings were in the .2 at any one time.

    My .02

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    Registered Member + MVP danotaylor's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Sounds reasonable for sure. I guess I was thinking if the ammonia issue was mitigated by using the appropriate dose of prime to detox it, it would still be gentler on the fish to drip acclimate. I guess it wouldn't be wrong to do so, just another way to achieve the same goal of getting the newly arrived discus into their new clean water.
    Thanks for replying mate, I appreciate your thoughts & response!

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    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    It's the quick ph rise in the bag that's harmful; when the bag opens to the air, causing ammonium to turn quickly to ammonia then becomes toxic and burn the fish. Best to get them out of the bag as soon as possible after bag is opened. Every one dose not use Prime. So plop and drop after warming bag to tank temp. Going from low to high ph, fish can tolerate better than a high to low ph which can have that burning affect.

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    Administrator and MVP Dec.2015 Second Hand Pat's Avatar
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    I do the temp match, drop and plop the fish into the QT and never had an issue. As mentioned, no bag water in the tank. My ph is 8.2 in the QT.
    Pat
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    Default Re: How to Acclimate new fish to pH of 8.4?

    Quote Originally Posted by danotaylor View Post
    Sounds reasonable for sure. I guess I was thinking if the ammonia issue was mitigated by using the appropriate dose of prime to detox it, it would still be gentler on the fish to drip acclimate. I guess it wouldn't be wrong to do so, just another way to achieve the same goal of getting the newly arrived discus into their new clean water.
    Thanks for replying mate, I appreciate your thoughts & response!
    Danny,
    You are correct here. If someone wants to do drip, at the very least , they need to immediately dose the bag with something like Prime. But its hard to know much to use, and too little you burn the fish, too much you burn the fish. Best course is to do as they others here mentioned... float and acclimate for temp... cut bag, drain bag, plop fish... Less chance of burn and we really want those discus in clean water asap. They will settle in ok to any pH differences pretty quickly.

    Aging waters, thats another issue all together. Its not so much for the pH differences.. its for the dissolved gases. We abbreviate it as saying we do it for the microbubbles.. but we are doing for what they indicate, excessive dissolved gasses, often times, CO2 being the Gas. In effect hobbyists aging their water are doing so to prevent gas bubble disease. Micro bubbles are an irritant to the gills, but it goes deeper than that.

    hth,
    al
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