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Ponderings From The Web By Rod Lawton The following information is actually a discussion that occurred on a web board that I post to. I do not take credit for having said any of the following or it’s accuracy (although I don’t think you will find any fault in it). This format of information is being provided because it is interesting, thought provoking and usually has quite a bit of merit to back it. I hope that by sharing with you, what my friends share with me, I will help further the Koi/Pond keeping knowledge of all who read this and follow on articles I intend write. Not all articles will have a clear answer and may be presented for discussion and thought only. The ultimate decisions or paths you take based on the articles are up ultimately up to you. If nothing else, I will have stimulated you a step deeper into the hobby. Before I present the article, I would like to leave you with a quote from a friend. "In any endeavor, as in all things, there is no one true way." Remember this as you read the articles. Ammonia Build Up and Acclimation of Bagged fish Post: I read xxx's post on acclimating (or lack there of). I've always believed in acclimating, but never really took into account what could be happening with the ammonia if you're introducing water of a pH higher than 7. When I acclimate, over the course of 20-30min, for every two scoops of new water, I remove one of the old. I then take the fish out of the bag and put him in the pond. I was wondering if everybody here shared xxx's views of acclimating. Or other procedures? Thanks-x Reply: Several folks have published at national koi meetings the detail of what happens in transport bags. The ammonia shoots up to 10 to 40 PPM, the pH drops to the 5.5 to 6.4 range. The fish live through this nightmare only because the ammonia becomes its non-toxic ammonium chloride form at low pH. When pH rises above 7 by adding pond water to the bag, the ammonia becomes its toxic free ammonia form. This table of how much of the ammonia is in its toxic form has been published many times by a variety of authors, it is straight forward everyday chemical knowledge taught in college chemistry courses. The general effect is that putting pond water in the bag will increase the level of the toxic form of ammonia a factor of 100 or so. If the fish has been in the bag of water long enough to build up high concentrations of ammonia, which does not take long, adding pond water to the bag, then leaving the fish in the bag a while longer, is very likely to kill the fish. A local dealer was killing about half each new koi shipment until I stopped this practice, and she has had no problems since learning to "simply dump the fish into the water", no bag floating, no water exchange. Several folks have also published at national koi meetings that even the practice of floating the bag without water exchange is poor practice. Keeping the fish in that terrible water in the bag for 30 to 60 minutes longer is much worse on the fish than the relatively easy practice of 'just dump them in the water'. Some folks like to lift them out of the water with a net so the water does not go into their pond. I am neutral about this practice, and certainly do not practice it myself. Doing so gives you the possibility of dropping the fish or getting them caught in the net. I simply take the top off the bag and dump the entire contents in the pond. The ammonia and low pH in the water will be diluted sufficiently it is no significant problem. Any nasties such as parasites or bad bacteria will be on the fish anyway, so you are not keeping the nasties out of the pond by not adding the water. Signed XXX the 'fish, bag, and all dumper' Reply: This is a second post from the man above who signed as the fish, bag, and all dumper. My wife the shrink read the post above and said to me, if you are the chemist, post the chemistry to the board. Some of them will understand it, and you will be asked sooner or later to post it anyway. As posted above, the ammonia gets very high in a transport bag, but does not kill the fish because the pH in the bag drops to 5.5 to 6.5. A table below of the relative amount of ammonia which is in the toxic form versus pH, at a typical temperature of 70F, is' pH % ammonia in toxic non-ionized form 6.5 0.1% , 7.0 0.4% , 7.5 1.2% , 8.0 4.0% , 8.5 11% , 9.0 28% So at pH 9, the same level of ammonia will be a factor of 280 times (28% divided by 0.1%) more toxic than at pH 6.5. Reply from a retailer: As a retailer of fish for the past 6 years, I have always told my customers to acclimate their fish. I really became convinced of the need for acclimation several years ago after I moved fish from a large holding pond to a sale tank. I had not checked the ph to see if it was the same in both ponds. I shortly had fish going belly up from pH shock. I have had nothing but good results from telling my customers to acclimate their fish. I can see your point about large quantities of fish being transported for long periods of time, but I am interested (as x is) in what you think about acclimating fish that have only been bagged for a short period of time. Also, would your advice be the same if the fish were being transported in hauling tanks instead of bags? Well, now you’ve read it. What do you think? Have questions? Why not bring them up at the next meeting. Interesting stuff huh! |
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