Bag Water From Lfs

[PRW1988]

Generally people won't, but because I work at my LPS (petsmart) I know that the water quality is fine and disease free (I hope) so I add the water to my tank. I've never had any problems thus far, but I still reccommend to people that they don't add the water to their tank regardless.

 

[the biffster]

i used to have a two foot tank set up and running and put the fish in there for a week to ten days be for
putting them in my main tanks or my breeding tanks just to be on the safe side


biff

 

[cane76]

i also work for a lfs and i would never add the water from the bag from my shop
its a uneccesary risk

 

[Shrimper]

I don't add the water for the reasons mentioned above, mostly you don't know what is in the water, plus if the fish have been in the bag for a while there will probably be a lot of Ammonia in there with them and i think its best not to add it to the tank.

I float the bag in the tank to equalize the temperature then pour the whole lot into a small bucket. Once the fish and water are in the bucket i slowly drip water from the tank into it until there is twice as much tank water compared to shop water in the bucket to slowly acclimatise them to any PH change. Then i net the fish out and put them into the tank. It probably takes an hour from start to finish, but i've never lost any shrimp or fish doing it this way so i'm happy.

That said i only have small fish... I don't think i've got a bucket big enough for some of the monster i see on here!

 

[CFC]

There's no real point, if there's something in the water, it's going to be in the fish too (even if it doesn't appear to be affecting them). Netting the fish just causes a kerfuffle and more stress for the fish (and possible injury with some species).

I have to agree with you there.

Exactly my point.

If you can't issolate new fish I wouldn't add the water to the tank.
Never know what you are fetching in, even good lfs have deseased tanks.

But this really isn't about the diseases. If the tanks are diseased, then it won't matter whether you add the water or not. The fish will still infect your tank as they will be the carriers. I guess my question is what problems can be introduced to the tank via the water only. In other words, if you went to the LFS and just got a quart of their water, just water, nothing else, and put it in your tank, what problems could it cause?

Depends on the size of your tank and filter really.

If you swapped half of your tank water for your lfs' water, it could cuse a huge pH swing.

Or if the water had high ammonia, nitrates and nitrites, your filer might not be able to cope with it and it could kill your fish.

I understand those obvious problems but to make my question a little clearer, if you went to the LFS, got a regular fish bag, put 1 quart of water in the bag and then take it home and put it in your 29 gallon tank. That's not enough to cause a pH swing or change any of the other water parameters. What diseases or other baddies could be brought in that are free floating in the water column?

All manner of parasitic nasties have free swimming zoo spore stages, ICH, velvet, anchor worms, gill flukes and NTD are all commonly encountered in the aquarium hobby and can infect your fish just from dipping a net in one tank and then another, i once lost 99% of the fish from 11 tanks from a velvet outbreak when i had introduced new fish to just one tank. Viruses and bacteria can also be introduced via water.

 

[WILDER]

I've heard of members using methylene blue while climatising new fish.

 

[rdd1952]

It would appear to be a pretty even split. In the 3 years I've been in the hobby, I've bought fish & shrimp from 8 different fish stores (both true fish stores and pet stores) and have always added the water without any problems. Most of those were before I bought a tank to quarantine them first so maybe I've just been lucky not to have had problems. I'd be interested to hear from someone that has experienced a problem that they can directly relate back to the LFS water and not simply to the new fish.

 

[Terriann]

It depends on if I can get the net in the bag, I prefer not too, just in case.

 

[Gooner]

No, Unnesessary risk. Imo.

 

[shang hi]

i woted never because ive had bad luck when ever doing this, i simply remove the fish from its water (after accumulising it ofcause) with a net then add it to my tank water, letting the fish swim out of the container as they feel safef to do so.

 

[andywg]

I do, but I am lazy. I know my lfs more than well enough to trust him, and as CFC has pointed out, even the net can bring the disease in, so I don't worry massively.

 

[OohFeeshy]

All manner of parasitic nasties have free swimming zoo spore stages, ICH, velvet, anchor worms, gill flukes and NTD are all commonly encountered in the aquarium hobby and can infect your fish just from dipping a net in one tank and then another, i once lost 99% of the fish from 11 tanks from a velvet outbreak when i had introduced new fish to just one tank. Viruses and bacteria can also be introduced via water.

Adding the water might introduce a larger number, but since everything is wet- the fish, the net, the outside of the bag even, you're still going to introduce plenty to infect fish even without adding the water.

 

[Inchworm]

To be on the safe side, I've even stopped floating bags in my tanks. I pour the fish into a small container to adjust the water temperature, then net them out into a quarantine tank.

When you consider all the time and money that you spend on setting up a tank of fish, why take ANY chance of having an outbreak of highly contagious columnaris sweep through and wipe them out?

 

[WILDER]

When you consider all the time and money that you spend on setting up a tank of fish, why take ANY chance of having an outbreak of highly contagious columnaris sweep through and wipe them out

Well said inchworm.

 

[luque]

used to but got loads of problems, so not now!