# TDS and fish/shrimp acclimation questions



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I have been wondering a bit about Total Dissolved Solids and fish/shrimp acclimation lately. Since moving to the Dayton area, I have had horrible luck with both fish and shrimp that were purchased from a LFS. It doesn't matter what I buy, I can't seem to keep it alive! 

Since I bought a pH/TDS meter last year I have began to test the water that the fish arrive in. It seems that the water from LFS is almost always very high in TDS and the pH nearly always tests right at 7. I assume this is due to a buffer being added at the store. 

I recently purchased a couple of bamboo Shrimp from Pet*mart. The water in the bag had a TDS over 1999ppm (that is the limit of my meter). I have no idea how high the TDS was but the meter jumped to 1999 within a second of placing it into the water...I assume it was very high. For reference, my tap runs about 250ppm and my tanks about 300ppm. I have also purchased Guppies for my son from a different Pet*mart and the Guppy tank water had a TDS over 1400ppm. The guppies have been the only fish that have survived the transition. It's not just a Pet*mart thing either as the other LFS I have purchased fish from (both in the Dayton and Cincinnati areas) have a TDS that is at least double that of my tap water. 

I now do lengthy drip acclimation for my fish and shrimp to help with survival rates but they still don't always survive. Fish from other hobbyists have done very well while nothing purchased from a LFS has lived for very long.

Is high TDS water common in most pet Stores or is it just my local stores? How do you acclimate a fish from water with very high TDS to water that is low in TDS? Can it even be done?

I'm not trying to bash my LFS, I'm just wondering how I can acclimate fish safely with such drastic difference in water parameters.


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## frugalfish (Apr 20, 2005)

One of the reason you may be getting such a high TDS reading is that many stores add salt to their tanks. Salt is used as a sort of tonic/stress reducer. Even so, you should not be having that much trouble with acclimating fish you purchase. IMO it's probably due to poor specimens than acclimation. And to add to that reasoning is the fact you state that hobbyist fish do not have the same difficulty or poor results.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

You bring up a very important point about TDS. Many people don't even know what it means, and it can be very damaging to the fish or shrimp inhabitants.
I'm guessing that the readings you're getting from the fish store are accurate because they always have such a heavy load in their tanks compared to the average home tank.

Even though many of the main water parameters look fine in a tank that's heavily planted, most people don't check the TDS, thinking that the plants are going to make the need for frequent water changes and substrate vacuuming not as necessary.

I agree that you shouldn't be having as many problems acclimating as you are, so maybe it's a combo of weak strains of fish and shrimp, or drastic change from their water to yours.

I don't even bother with the drip acclimation anymore, since it seems to be more stressful than getting them in clean water ASAP after acclimating them to the temp.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Well Jan,

I took your advice and recently added a large male Ram to my tank without a lengthy accliimation period. After 3 days he is doing well. The fish was from a local hobbyist (I imagine a much stronger fish than from a LFS) and even though my TDS was 3x lower than the bag water, there seems to be no problems so far. 

I think you are probably onto something about LFS having a weaker strain of fish. I rarely had problems with fish in Maryland though I had well water. Not sure if it is the water or the fish health but I would prefer to think the latter.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Glad it worked out for you Matt.


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