Instructions on acclimating Discus?

[CanuckGame]

Hey everyone, so im getting my first 6 Discus tomorrow,


unfortunately i will be working when the package arrives, so it will be in my girlfriends hands, as i wont be home until an hour or 2 tops after the fish arrive.

I was hoping someone here could write a description on the best way to acclimate, that way she has something to read and go by sort of like instructions to follow.


sorry for making a thread like this, but i spent alot of money on these fish and im already freaking out and they havent even arrived yet haha..

[rickztahone]

The best thing to do is to NOT let your girlfriend open the package, lol. The fish being in for a couple hours will not hurt them in any way, that is of course if it is a good seller/shipper like Kenny or something.

Second, there are 2 methods of acclimation, plop and drop, and drip acclimation. I have done both many times and haven't had a problem yet.

You should send your water parameters to your seller and see what they think about the best acclimation process should be.

[zergling]

I agree with the post above that it's probably best that the fish waits until you're home to do a proper acclimation.

I use an airline hose for drip acclimation, at 2 drops per second. I stop when the pH of the water of the new fish matches the pH of the tank. I've had times where I needed to drip acclimate for over two hours because the fish came from high pH. I've also had times where I drip acclimated less than 30 minutes because the pH difference was very little.

Now, there are some folks that believe in plop 'n drop, and they make good a good argument regarding the amount of ammonia and CO2 in the bag. My limited experience with that method, though, is not as good as drip acclimation.

[Larry Bugg]

How to best acclimate new discus.................Open the bag, pour the nasty water out of the bag into a bucket or sink, let the discus slide out of the bag into the clean tank water. That's it. I've been doing it for years.

[pcsb23]

How to best acclimate new discus.................Open the bag, pour the nasty water out of the bag into a bucket or sink, let the discus slide out of the bag into the clean tank water. That's it. I've been doing it for years.
The only way imo/e. The water in your tank has just got to be better than the nasty stuff in the bag.

[dragon1974]

Plop and drop for me. I've done that for many a discus without problem. I would just try to get the temp to 82 or 84 and tuen the lights off.

[DISCUS STU]

I used to drip and then went to "plop and drop" (laziness, lol). Works either way. You can buy a small drip valve from the lfs or even just knot up some air hose a little if you don't have that.

A few hours is no problem if they're shipped properly with oxygen or something similar, they can even go longer. Best to wait and do it yourself. If something happens then everyone will be unhappy.

If possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish.

[nc0gnet0]

If possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish.

One would hope the new fish are not being "dropped and plopped" into a tank with your existing stock! New arrivals need to go into a QT tank with clean fresh water. I always drop and plop, however, there are times if I feel the temperature differential is more than a few degrees, I will float the bag (unopened) for a bit to temperature acclimate.



.....yikes

[rickztahone]

One would hope the new fish are not being "dropped and plopped" into a tank with your existing stock! New arrivals need to go into a QT tank with clean fresh water. I always drop and plop, however, there are times if I feel the temperature differential is more than a few degrees, I will float the bag (unopened) for a bit to temperature acclimate.



.....yikes

yes, I forgot to mention this in my post. Float the bag for about 20 minutes or so, but if the supplier knows his/her stuff, the bag will be nice and warm already.

[Rudustin]

If the tank has no other fish of any kind in it then I would do plop and drop. A quarantine tank should be empty and ready to receive the new fish. Please do not put new fish in with old fish including snails or cat fish. If this tank is new and has no other fish in that tank then your best bet is plop and drop as Larry instructed in his reply to your post. Good luck and enjoy your new discus. Rufus

[CanuckGame]

I should have mentioned that this is a empty tank, my 75 gallon finished cycling a week ago.


So you guys suggest just floating the bags to match the temperature and then scooping the fish out and putting them straight into the tank? I dont need to acclimate them by adding a little bit of water at a time to the bag?

The vendor and myself decided on shipping the fish tomorrow instead, tomorrow is my day off so it works better this way. I am getting them from a site sponsor so they will be packaged well, and they only have a 4 hour trip from the seller to me.

[rickztahone]

I should have mentioned that this is a empty tank, my 75 gallon finished cycling a week ago.


So you guys suggest just floating the bags to match the temperature and then scooping the fish out and putting them straight into the tank? I dont need to acclimate them by adding a little bit of water at a time to the bag?

The vendor and myself decided on shipping the fish tomorrow instead, tomorrow is my day off so it works better this way. I am getting them from a site sponsor so they will be packaged well, and they only have a 4 hour trip from the seller to me.

If it were my fish I would plop and drop, but that is just me. YMMV

[yim11]

So you guys suggest just floating the bags to match the temperature and then scooping the fish out and putting them straight into the tank? I dont need to acclimate them by adding a little bit of water at a time to the bag?

The vendor and myself decided on shipping the fish tomorrow instead, tomorrow is my day off so it works better this way. I am getting them from a site sponsor so they will be packaged well, and they only have a 4 hour trip from the seller to me.

I don't even worry that much on temp, if it's w/in 10 degrees F I'm good. Surprised your seller didn't recommend plop n drop.

[adapted]

Is there an exception for those (rare) occasions when the destination is colder and more acidic?

[DISCUS STU]

Your quote of my post...


If possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish.

Of course everything is quarantined...


One would hope the new fish are not being "dropped and plopped" into a tank with your existing stock! New arrivals need to go into a QT tank with clean fresh water.

[Skip]

Drop and PLOP here..

[Second Hand Pat]

I used to drip and then went to "plop and drop" (laziness, lol). Works either way. You can buy a small drip valve from the lfs or even just knot up some air hose a little if you don't have that.

A few hours is no problem if they're shipped properly with oxygen or something similar, they can even go longer. Best to wait and do it yourself. If something happens then everyone will be unhappy.

If possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish.

Hi Stu, a new tank with established fish does not sound like a QT.

[DISCUS STU]

Hi Stu, a new tank with established fish does not sound like a QT. Right. I have two 10 gals. and one 15 that I use for quarantine and hospital, all are bb and use Hagen power filters.

[seanyuki]

At night and light off ......imo cannot monitor the condition/behavior of the discus .......during the day,plop & drop or Larry's method.




I used to drip and then went to "plop and drop" (laziness, lol). Works either way. You can buy a small drip valve from the lfs or even just knot up some air hose a little if you don't have that.

A few hours is no problem if they're shipped properly with oxygen or something similar, they can even go longer. Best to wait and do it yourself. If something happens then everyone will be unhappy.

If possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish.

[DISCUS STU]

;)
if possible I like to add them at night after lights out or turn off the light. It's a little less stressful for the newcomer in a new tank with established fish. Actually this last part should have been qualified in regard to adding fish after quarantine to an established tank that already contains other Discus that may be aggressive or territorial to a newcomer.

While the tanks lights may be off, the room lights aren't and the fish can still be monitored for problems in its new environment. It can be at any time, but I try to do it later in the day/evening. My experience is that without the tank lights on, the established fish are a bit calmer and less potentially aggressive to an already possibly stressed out newcomer. Less stressful for the new fish and everyone all around. I've done it the other way also, but turning off the light seems to make the addition of a new fish to an established tank an easier transition for all. The light will stay off until the next morning when it cycles back on by timer at 8 am, assuming I remembered to turn it back on.

Hopefully by that time, everyone will be in better shape in regard to the transition and their new neighbors and the newcomer will be less stressed. ;)

[nc0gnet0]

I thought the original discussion was about acclimating newly purchased discus (aka plop and drop) that had been shipped, into a tank, not about how to go about transferring fish from one tank to another......two completely different topics.

In light of your recent clarifications, I don't have any real issues with what your saying STU, just that it was off topic and confused a lot of us........

With that being said, let us not forget about the role of the "hero" fish.


-Rick

[DISCUS STU]

Correct, it got off topic. As there were questions, I thought it was good to clarify. Post can get off topic, though I try not to.

The "Hero" fish? Sounds interesting. Can you elaborate?

[seanyuki]

After quarantine period of the new discus( no sign of sickness) add one discus (hero discus) from the existing tank and monitor for another two weeks nothing wrong and no health issues and may add both discus to the community tank.