Releasing new livestock into the tank

[cornyfish]

Just wondering what's the proper procedure to release newly purchased lifestock into the tank? What i'm doing now is:

1) Float the unopened bags in the water for ~20min

2) Open the bag

3) With bag still at the water surface, add some water from the aquarium into bag

4) After ~10min, tilt the bag and let the water and livestock out into the tank.

So is it inevitable for water from the bag to enter the tank? Yet i'm worried that the water that came along with the LS may carry disease organisms (eg. ich) that may contaminate the tank's water. Or should i just net the critter out of the bag and release it in the tank?

Btw, do you guys practice freshwater dip for all newly purchased marine fishes before letting them out into the tank? If so is it advisable to add methylene blue into the freshwater dip as advised in some websites? Thanks in advance!

[sslow]

I pour the livestock into another container and then drip the tank water into the container slowly (using an airhose with a valve). This allows the liverstock to acclimatise to the water condition. This usually takes about an hour. After that, I transfer the livestock only to my tank. No water from shop/farm.

Have yet to setup a quarantine tank. Better to monitor livestock there for a while.

My 2 cents.

[somebody]

can freshwater dip fishes one meh?

[cjh]

can... remember reading 1 book in the library inside got say can only dip for a few min... and depending on conditions... if the fish seems scared better take it back to its tank.... then wait for it to settle down then try again not more than 5 mins...

[barnacle]

this is wat i did every time i bought

new fish, give them FW dip for bout

15 sec...

[somebody]

i really didn't think that we cld freshwater dip marine fishes...

thought they'd just be even more stressed. and explode coz of osmosis of something.

so i presume that the dip is to kill off parasites and itch?

oh!! sorry for hijacking!! sorry... sorry

[cornyfish]

Yup, according to some websites, that is... In addition to freshwater, they also advise adding some methylene blue into the freshwater dip before dipping the newly purchased fishes in, then leave them in the dip for 3-5min depending on the fish concerned to kill off ich and parasites.

Was concerned about causing more harm than good to the fishes too, therefore i've never tried that.

Also worried that transferring fishes and inverts by net (therefore bringing them out of water into air) will cause harm to the creature so i've resorted to pouring the creature into the tank together with the water in the bag.. not sure if this concern is warranted or not..

[Kelmen]

I use air-stone instead of methylene blue, as the purpose is just to offer oxygen.

freshwater "dip" too short may not yield not expected result, according from my reading. "bath" is more better, usually 3 min +, to 15 or 30 min. Do monitor the fish, by no mean you must strictly follow the timing, and put it back into the salt water as needed. Different fishs, different tolerance to freshwater.

[ah_d3x]

hm... i always do FW dip for 10 mins.. then add LS into the tank.. had have it given me problems

[blueheaven]

I acclimatise my LS by placing the bag in the tank's water for half an hour

Then drip by drip add water into the bag till its 3/4 full

Wait for another half hour and then gently release it into the tank

[moxa]

Hi Bro,

check out the link

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/general...=3319&subref=AI

cheers

Moxa