New fish shipped in blue water….did I just kill all my plants?

[Ladybugqueen]

I have a 2 month cycled tank with deep gravel. Was adding beneficial bacteria. Just doing water top ups, not water changes. Planted it for first time last week with some from my local place and some from aquarium co-op. Bought come fish locally. Additionally bought two female Bettas online via livestream so my kids could pick them out. Arrived today.
 

Bettas water was blue. I’m new, so followed the directions that came with the fish adding water gradually to adjust fish etc.  no mention of what the blue is, or isn’t. I poured half of the now diluted bag water out then poured rest of it into my planted tank (paperwork told me to add entire contents of bag, which I didn’t).  Then I thought I better do some research as to what the blue was and now I suspect these Bettas were being treated with Methylene Blue which in diluted form I’ve just added to my bio happy planted tank. I estimate less than 2 cups of the original water from bag made it into my 20g. I do not know the strength it was in the shipping bag.
 

 Looking for advice on next steps?  Should I be worried about my plants or fish or my bacteria that I worked hard to establish for 6 weeks? Should I water change (which in drought CA was not my original plan)?  Any other reason the water would be blue?  Searching the forum for these words didn’t yield any hits so I’m posting here  

thank you for the help. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Ladybugqueen

[Keeg]

If it was methylene blue, then prolonged exposure can damage/kill live plants, kill beneficial bacteria, disturb fish, affect inverts and possibly turn the silicone sealant of the corners a slight blue.

If I were you, I would do a good water change of 30-50% to dilute it. As a future tip, I would never add the water from the bag to the aquarium after acclamation, only add water from the tank to the bag in a separate bucket or bowl. 

[nabokovfan87]

It's definitely some kind of med. I wouldn't be concerned.  I would run carbon for 1-2 weeks. I would do a water change as mentioned above.

 

On 5/19/2022 at 11:19 PM, Keeg said:

I would never add the water from the bag to the aquarium after acclamation, only add water from the tank to the bag in a separate bucket or bowl. 

 

[Odd Duck]

Water change 50% for the best chance to save your plants.  It’s not terribly likely that amount of meds will cause big problems, but some plants are more sensitive than others.

I usually temp acclimate by floating the bag, then pour the fish and water through a net clipped to a bucket, then plop fish only into the tank.  The new thinking is that the bag has such toxic water that the faster you get them out of it, the better.  I believe this is especially true after a longer shipping time.  Fish can adapt to pretty significant temp changes, pH changes, hardness changes, etc, as long as you don’t ask them to adapt to ALL of those at the same time.

Shrimp are different, FYI, but they don’t cause nearly as much waste build up in the bag during shipping.  I always do slow drip acclimation on shrimp unless there’s a catastrophic bag failure and you’re in salvage mode.

[Guppysnail]

Welcome to the forum and the hobby. That looks like Seachem Stress guard used by some for fish shipping and transport.  Not harmful to plants or cycle. Go to the seachem website for ingredients and other info. Also you can contact the seller to verify if it is Seachem Stress Guard. 

Edited May 20, 2022 by Guppysnail

[Wrencher_Scott]

The pros simply float about 10 minutes in case there is a hug temp difference, then open the bag, dump the fish in a net then put in the tank. No need for any acclimation. Shipped fish have lots of ammonia in the bag and as soon as it's opened the Ph goes high and the ammonia is very toxic at the high PH. I think that's how it goes...;) So if you open that bag and play around adding your water...bla bla bla...you are poisoning the fish in their own ammonia.

I have heard that some shippers use a mild sedative but I don't know for sure. Seems like that would be very hard on the fish but I'm not a vet. 

PH and other parameters that might be different simply are not that important.  

I actually rinse the fish off a little in the net with my tank water before I put them in. 

I would do a big water change, just in case. I doubt whatever is in that blue water is harmful though.

Edited May 20, 2022 by Wrencher_Scott

[Biotope Biologist]

I second @Keeg and @Guppysnail the blue is methylene blue which is found in stress guard. This is a additive that is diluted quite a bit (usually 4-8%) it is used to prevent bacterial (I want to say gram negative) and fungal breakouts in shipment due to fish stress.

 

Since it is already incredibly dilute this mistake isn't critical and should only mildly upset your beneficial bacteria. I would follow others advice and do a water change, and next  time do as the pros do and drain the water into a bucket over a net to catch the fish and put the fish directly in the tank. The water they are shipped in is often more stressful than not following acclimation procedures.

[Hannah Parker]

Welcome to the forum! You got some great advice on how to dilute the methylene blue, I would definitely follow it, and hopefully it helps!!

I know this wasn't your original question, but may I ask if you bought the 2 female bettas to go in the same tank together? Or do you have dividers, or an existing sorority you're adding them to? If not, you could have a bigger problem in store. I hope you don't take offense to this question, but I would love to be able to save you and your kids possible heartbreak if something were to go wrong with this pair of bettas ❤️ 

[Flumpweesel]

I have used methyl blue without crashing everything to treat my tank for fungal issues in the past I really doubt that little bag will do much to the tank.  It starts to breakdown in UV if I remember correctly.  Can stain airline and silicone though.