no, if fish have been in the bag for more than 1/2 and hour the water now has ammonia
but the CO2 blown off by the fish pushes the pH down making the ammonia less toxic.
open the bag and the CO2 is blown off, pH rises and ammonia is more toxic. adding
pond water to the bucket for some reason releases other toxins as well. the minute
the bag is opened the fish gotta be moved.
changes in pH up to 7.0 or down to 7.0 wont hurt fish, up past 7.0, it takes 24 hours
to acclimate to 0.2 pH units. so if the fish is coming from acidic waters (ask when
you buy them) and going into alkaline water, "acclimating" over an hour isnt going to
do anything. better is to pH that quarantine tank down to 7.0 and over the next weeks
bring it up to the alkaline pH. high jump in alkalinity can bring on dropsy.
temp is not a problem if it goes up, but no more than a 4oF drop over 24 hours. so
dropping temp in an hour isnt going to do anything for the fish. drops in temp bring
on ich and dropsy. better to gradually lower the temp in a quarantine tank over
several days. Ingrid

When fish are transported in bags,
it is best to pour the contents into an open container, add an
airstone to replenish lost dissolved oxygen, and over a five or ten
minute period add destination water (pond, tank, etc) at least equal
in volume to the transport water. This gives fish time to adjust to
water chemistry. Follow up with temperature acclimation (add more
destination water until temperatures are similar) and release the
fish.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.