Moved Tank. Lost Fish. Why?

Fishtails · Aug 4, 2011

Moved this past weekend. Tank is only a 24G. Rocks, corals, and fish were all placed in separate containers. The move took less than 2 hours. Fish were not in the 5G bucket, which was 1/2 full, more than 2.5 hours, if that MAX. Anyhow as I released back into the tank I noticed right off the bat the Cherub was very lethargic and really non-responsive. Gasping, swimming at surface, etc. I didn't think he would pull through. My thoughts proved me correct as he died less than 30 minutes after the tank being reset. My female clownfish was also showing heavy signs of stress. I initially thought she might pull through. Lots of slim coming off her, heavy breathing but she still swam around with the male. Less than 4 hours later she became less and less active, jumped into chamber 1 and after putting her back into the display she began to show non-responsive signs. I removed her shortly after. Tested water and noticed an ammonia spike of around 0.25ppm. I was assuming maybe the heat as that particular day temps were upwards of 100F. They were in a A/C blasted car the whole time though. I tried to make the move as quick as possible. The male clown, watchman/pistol and sixline all made the move fine. However the following day I found my sixline went carpet surfing. He was another causality. In my 9+ years of fish keeping I've never lost this many fish in such a short time. I'm regretting the fact that I lost them. In future situations is there sometime I can do to ensure a 100% survival rate? Tank is also now going through a GHA bloom. :squigglemouth: I've done a couple 5G water changes and hopefully this helps.

I can report that my male finally began hosting the RBTA and is inseparable from it. The goby and shrimp are busy building caves. I'm going to head to AC tomorrow and if water tests fine I plan on picking out a replacement clownfish and trading in a couple rocks covered in Xenia. Would it harm to add a couple of pieces of LR to replace what I will be taking out?

Thanks MTRC

ToXIc · Aug 4, 2011

Was the sandbed sturred up much

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MVlk · Aug 4, 2011

+1 ... My guess is the sand bed.

bct15 · Aug 4, 2011

When I move tanks when I transfer sand, I run all if my filtration for about a week to two weeks continuously monitoring nitrates, trites, and ammonia. Usually I will see a bloom in diatoms about a week later, once I know everything is stable I'll add my fish and slowly start adding frags...but I lost most of my frags last move due to a completely different issue. How deep is your sand, this is most likely the problem...that is why sand dwellers are important.

ToXIc · Aug 4, 2011

Yeah a move using the same sand would in most cases cause a mini-cycle

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Fishtails · Aug 4, 2011

Same sand was used. It stirred around. Only around 3" at most. But I could definitely understand that causing the ammonia spike, etc. Do most folks usually just replace the sand after a move? Also would this be the cause of a algae bloom? What can I do to help control the issue. Running Purigen and Seagel, doing the WC's, only running lights 7 hours a day. It's very much an eyesore to have long strings of algae pop up over the tank.

revhtree · Aug 4, 2011

Sorry to hear.

bct15 · Aug 4, 2011

Fishtails said:
Same sand was used. It stirred around. Only around 3" at most. But I could definitely understand that causing the ammonia spike, etc. Do most folks usually just replace the sand after a move? Also would this be the cause of a algae bloom? What can I do to help control the issue. Running Purigen and Seagel, doing the WC's, only running lights 7 hours a day. It's very much an eyesore to have long strings of algae pop up over the tank.

I don't know what the chemicals are, but reduce your lighting to five or six hours. How fresh are your RO filters, the mini cycle could have started the algae and the new water at the new house may be feeding it. Test your water before adding it to the tank. If it is good and clean keep doing water changes every three days, if the water is the problem, stop doing water changes until you can correct the issue with the tap water.

MVlk · Aug 5, 2011

I'd go with new sand on any move / change. I moved sand once and it was nasty. At minimum you would want to rinse the heck out of it. Given how much work that is usually, having to rinse with saltwater... I prefer buying new. Even with good sand stirrers and regular siphoning of the sand, the gunk that accumulates is just nasty.

mrcoffee · Aug 5, 2011

I have a bare bottom tank right now because of the issues with sand moving a tank. I was really happy I did not try and put down a sand bed at 3 am when I was setting up the tank. +1 on the sand bed also put each fish in a separate bag with as much water as possible or bucket. I ended up loosing my Mandarin that I have had for 3 years after my move plus a bi-colored fox face. I HATE loosing fish...which is strange because I eat fish from time to time. It unfortunately happens in this hobby even when you do every thing right. We lear lessons in this hobby some times the easy way some times the hard way. Also don't feed fish right before a move. You should starve them for a day or two before due to nitrates in a small area of water.