Our recommendation:

Turn off the aquarium lights(to reduce fish stress) float the bag unopened in the aquarium for only 10 minutes. Then open the bag and role it down like a sleeve allowing the bag to float(don’t fold it over). Add ½ cup(small bag), 1 cup (medium), 1 pint (large bag), of your aquarium water every ten minutes for half an hour to an hour. Or until the water volume has doubled. Test the Salinity (salt level) if it is the same as your aquarium the fish is ready for its new home. Leave the lights off for awhile. Preferably until the next day in order to allow it to settle in peacefully. Watch for any aggressive behavior from tank mates. Call us immediately with any concerns.

Alternate method:

1. Put the fish with all its bag water in a bucket or container of sufficient size for the fish to be reasonably covered with the water.
2. Set the bucket on the floor next to the aquarium you will be placing the fish into and cover.
3. Using some plastic air line tubing and an air valve, set up and run a siphon drip line from the aquarium to the bucket.
4. Start a siphon and allow the tank water to flow slowly into the bucket, using the valve to adjust the flow rate. Keep the water flowing just a little faster than a drip.

Saltwater Fish Acclimation Tips

A “drip” acclimation may deprive your fish of oxygen(depending on size of fish and volume of water)!
If you prefer a “drip” it’s best to use an air stone and pump to oxygenate the water while acclimating.
It may help to add an ammonia reducer such as Ultimate, Prime, or AmQuel to the water in the bucket prior to starting the procedure, as ammonia build up may still occur while the fish is acclimating.
Turn aquarium lights off prior to introducing the fish to their new home and leave them off for the rest of the day to reduce stress.

If your fish has been in the bag for an extended period of time i.e. many hours, then ask us about proper handling.

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HYDROPLEX when used as directed is safe for all fish and is extremely effective against almost all external protozoan and bacterial infections. It has also been shown to be effective against certain internal infections such as bacterial infections of the gut. External parasites are eliminated by a single 10 – 15 minute dip treatment prior to aquarium introduction.

At Exotic Aquatic we use Hydroplex before adding any new fish to our show tank or home aquariums and highly recommend you do the same.