Oh. Whew. I did find it. Maybe I was using the wrong link from my email.
To answer your question, no. I didn't do any kind of drip acclimating or the method you mentioned. The pet store guy told me that all of the water in this area is similar enough to just float the bag for temperature and then dump.
I just went out and got a handful of fish. I've floated them for temperature for 30 minutes. I just added a bit of my tank water and set my alarm for 30 minutes. I will continue to do the method you've described. I will let you know how it goes.
Thank you so much for your help. Hopefully these guys live so I don't give up on fish. I had about 11 tanks running for the longest time, but all were cichlids or minnows or turtles - my kids have kept goldfish and guppies for years. It's only this most recent tank that I've had the problem with. However, in between getting my old fish and getting this tank set up about a year and a half ago, the well pump in my park died and they've since put in a new pump and changed some of the system. I'm wondering if it changed my water chemistry enough to make it too harsh on new fish. The old fish would have had slow acclimation to any new changes because of their 25% weekly water changes.
