Transfering from BW to FW

[TorPeteO]

Hey all,

As you may have read in my previous thread, I have come across an LFS which believes that DPs do better in brackish water than in fresh water.

A question which this has brought up is how I, after I purchase the dwarf or dwarves, can properly put it in a freshwater setup after it's lived in brackish water. Does anyone have any recommendations on how I can introduce him/her to freshwater with minimal shock?

Thanks for the help,
Peter

 

[SirMinion]

Slowly, so slowly.

Although dwarfs are freshwater, being in (mildly)brackish water will do them no harm as puffers as a family moved to freshwater quite recently and are still very salt tolerant.

 

[TorPeteO]

Thanks SirMinion, what method would you recommend to do this? If I hadn't found this site and tried to do it on my own, I probably would have followed this process;

1) Place bag w/ DP inside inside tank for 10 min.s to equate temp.
2) Every 10 min.s or so, add a little FW from the tank to the BW of the bag; while removing a little of the LFS water from the bag (to reduce salinity).
3) Repeat step 2 about 6 times, taking approx. 1 hour.
4) Allow DP to swim out of bag w/out removing completely him/her from water, while attempting to restrict the amount of water from the LFS' bag from flowing into the tank.

This may seem like a rather hasty transition, but I'm afraid that leaving a DP in the bag for too long would be more harmful than the quick change.

If there are any changes anyone would make to the above regiment, please, by all means, let me know. Any further advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[Opcn]

the Bag is only harmful if the water isnt changed so how about this place the bag in the water and every 5 mins add 1/4th cup of fresh water afer the bag is about half full dump half the water down the drain and repete twice more then empty nearly all the water from the bag into the toilet and relese your puffer attempting to prevent any water from makeing it into the tank.also if your really fast you can move your puffer out and back intot he water before it gets a chance to puff. thats what I did with mine.

 

[TorPeteO]

Good ideas, opcn, I would rather not drag the puffer (even in his bag) out of the tank, to the toilet, take the risk of pouring him IN the toilet with the waste water, and then back to the tank when emptying out the LFS water. I think I'll scoop little bits of water at a time from the bag, empty them out, and fill with a similar amount from the tank, and repeat a few times. I'll probably find a middle-ground between your process and mine.

I would rather not take the chance at lifting the DP out of the water, though, I'll just let him swim out.

Thanks again, and I'm still all ears for more tips.

Cheers again,
Peter

 

[LadyMinion]

Could you possibly put them in a brackish tank and then gradually, through water changes, convert to fresh?

 

[TorPeteO]

What I could do is set up the tank as brackish (SG equal to that at LFS) at first, and then slowly introduce FW into it with my weekly water chages. This would slowly reduce the SG in the tank so it would be a slow transition from brackish water to fresh, extending it to weeks instead of hours. Do you think that would be better?

I didn't want to do that at first because I'm a little intimidated by the upkeep of a brackish tank, but I guess if I'm slowly turning it from brackish into fresh, it would be significantly easier.

Would you recommend that over the steps I outlined above?

Thanks again,
Peter

 

[Opcn]

You would need to cycle the tank. IMO it would be best to just do the change over a period of a few hours.

 

[Pufferpack]

I would recomend the extended acclimatization over the other. You could also use a drip method.

Place the fish in a rubbermaid container (about 10 or 20 gal I would think) half filled with water that is the same Sg as the lfs keeps them in, then set up a 5 gal container (a colapsable camping water jug would be good) with a hose (airline tubing would suffice) running from the FW container to the BW tub. Tie a knot in the tubing so that there is only a drip comming out of the end. Once the rubbermaid tub is full do a 50% water change and start the process over again. After a couple days the tub will be almost completely FW and you can relocate your puffers into their new cycled and ready tank.

 

[GP]

Could you possibly put them in a brackish tank and then gradually, through water changes, convert to fresh?

Obviously

I'd do daily water changes, about 10%, and just don't add salt to it. It will be a slow process but it will put minimul stress on the fish..

 

[TorPeteO]

Alright, thanks all. It goes against what I think would be best along with what most others think, but I'm going to do the original process I outlined, I think, but allow it to take longer.

The problem with starting the tank as a brackish on is that right now I've got the filter running on an established FW tank to build up beneficial bacteria, so if I were to start if on a BW tank it would just kill the FW bacteria (thus defeating the whole pre-cycle).

Thanks everyone, I will let you know how it goes!

 

[LadyMinion]

Could you possibly put them in a brackish tank and then gradually, through water changes, convert to fresh?

Obviously

What's that supposed to mean godric?

 

[Opcn]

Geez Godrick it turns out he CAN'T do that so you were very wrong and her question was a good one so you owe her an apology.

 

[TorPeteO]

Hahahaha, well, I guess I COULD, but it wouldn't be the most economical approach for either me nor the puffer(s).

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[LadyMinion]

No problem, good luck and keep us informed of your progress!