Thanks for re-surfacing, Gary! :-)
> Final Question: Amquel/ammonia binder/collecting native Oz fishes
Actually, I think more than just the Oz-fish collectors could help with
this. I have done a fair bit of travelling with fish and have used Amquel
and other methods to help deal w/ the ammo problem. I have found that, yes,
Amquel works a charm to help manage the ammonia that can build up in a
shipping container, but I have also found that it can cause a mighty big pH
drop in water that has little/no buffering capacity.
When I lived in Phoenix and had hard water to deal with, Amquel was my
method of preference. Now that I live in Portland, and have "Baby Soft"
water, I find that Amquel is dangerous to use in this way, esp the dry
powder form. Therefore, I began using a small square (1/2" by 1/2") of
Polyfilter in each shipping bag of fish. Got this idea from Rooster. Losses
due to H2OQ dropped to zero! I now use this method exclusively, tho I still
keep Amquel around. The only problem with this is that the Polyfilter will
absorb much more than just ammonia, so I cannot use Meth Blue or tranks or
anything like that, as it will be absorbed by the Polyfilter. Salt would not
be absorbed. I used the Polyfilter to keep and ship my fish that I collected
in Peru and I had great luck in getting them back alive and healthy. The
Cichlid Exchange also uses Polyfilter to ship fish, esp sensitive
Tanganyikans, and they have had similar results.
Hope this helps. :-)
Julie <><