Help!

[Reefing Newbie]

I picked up a pair of pylei fairy wrasses(gorgeous females). The LFS told me before going in there that the SG was at 1.022 so my QT was lowered to 1.023. Long story short, after floating I tested the SG of the bags and it was at 1.017. I am at the end of 30 minutes(from my understanding is the max time for drip acclimation), and the SG of the acclimation water is only at 1.020. Should I risk it and put them in QT or wait a bit longer?

[MandM]

Just speed up the acclimation a bit now. Add small amounts from your QT tank into the fish water and then remove and flush about the same amount from the fish water. Wait a minute or so then repeat. Watch to make sure they are keeping warm enough.

[Reefing Newbie]

Thanks! I did lower the QT to 1.022 by topping all the drip acclimation water with just RO/DI water to help. We shall get these little girls out of the bucket ASAP!

[f3honda4me]

Isn't the 30 minute thing only for stuff shipped to you? Not bought from an LFS locally?

[Reefing Newbie]

Well I had a one hour drive back and they had quite a bit of fish poo going on in the bags.

Anyways they both were added to the tank after several rounds of the method above. They both immediately went for the bottom to hide, but I can't blame them. Not sure if I should leave the lights out today too or if the lights on would be okay...

[tkeracer619]

lights off

[MandM]

Isn't the 30 minute thing only for stuff shipped to you? Not bought from an LFS locally?

30 minutes is when the temp in a small amount of water is going to shift to the temp of the room. In most homes, that's going to be much lower than the 78-80 temp of our tank. I don't treat LFS purchases any different from shipped.

[Alex_P]

Isn't the 30 minute thing only for stuff shipped to you? Not bought from an LFS locally?

Here is a good thread about the 30min acclimation rule.

http://reefcentral.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=1974101

[MandM]

That thread brings up a good reason to not take a long time. I'm a scooper, not a dripper. I transfer the animal into a bowl, used only for acclimation. I test my QT temp, pH, and salinity before I start.
Like Sk8tr, I adjust the QT tank to match the animal's current conditions. That makes it easier and prevents more shock to the poor critter.
Scooping and dumping prevents ammonia build-up during the process as well.

[MrTuskfish]

Lots of good ways to acclimate, use common sense and most work. Just remember that any water source is much different than yours. Nice to see more folks using a QT!

[Reefing Newbie]

Lots of good ways to acclimate, use common sense and most work. Just remember that any water source is much different than yours. Nice to see more folks using a QT!

I am becoming a hardcore QTing freak lol. At least that what it feels like sometimes. I would hate getting ick in my QT knowing that it can be prevented very very easily. The $10 it costs to get cupramine to treat 250 gallons of water is definanlty worth not losing more than $600 worth of fish. I am already at $260 in fish now with these two pylei's being $200 and a pair of clowns at $60. This is just the beginning of my stock too. QT is worth it from the very beginning! These saltwater fish aren't going to be cheap and if they are, they probably shouldn't be in your DT without being QT'd(I am talking unusually cheap, not competitivly priced specimens).