denis_anthony June 26, 2022 Share June 26, 2022 Hi guys. I moved yesterday and dreadfully took my tank with me. I was terrified and I think for the right reasons. Everything seemed ok as of yesterday but as of this morning, it seems as if I’m scooping up a new dead fish every other hour or two. The tank also had a huge algae bloom so I can’t even see if there are more casualties beyond my limited visibility. I’ve added prime to help with the slight ammonia spike (0.5), nitrates are at about 10, no nitrite, and pH was around 7 this morning which I’ve added 8.4 from aquavitro. If anyone has any suggestions of dealing with this, let me know. I’m heartbroken that I’ve lost some of my first fish and inverts and I’m scared the coral is next. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Rambler June 26, 2022 Share June 26, 2022 Sorry to hear your tank move didn't go smoothly. If you haven't done so yet, increasing the aeration (maybe toss in a few airstones) should help balance out the oxygen being depleted by the bloom. If you kept the old substrate, vacuuming it may also help remove any extra organic waste that the heterotrophic bacteria are consuming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denis_anthony June 26, 2022 Author Share June 26, 2022 Sorry to hear your tank move didn't go smoothly. If you haven't done so yet, increasing the aeration (maybe toss in a few airstones) should help balance out the oxygen being depleted by the bloom. If you kept the old substrate, vacuuming it may also help remove any extra organic waste that the heterotrophic bacteria are consuming.Thanks for the response! I vacuumed out about 70% of the old substrate and added a new Arag alive sand. I’m sure the old sand let out a bunch of crap back into the waterSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowsingle June 27, 2022 Share June 27, 2022 Sorry things are not going well. The fish are probably dying due to the ammonia spike so deal with that first. Buy some ammonia block at the local pet store. A pH of 7 doesn’t make sense for a saltwater aquarium so that has me puzzled. I would do a 20% water change daily until things settle down. It will be a lot of work, but it’s your best bet to get things back to normal. Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta June 27, 2022 Share June 27, 2022 The ammonia is likely the initial problem, if you have the capacity to do a big water change, that's probably gonna be the best bet to stabilize things, but I agree ammonia block or prime or similar is probably a good bet too. To be sure, make sure you also have some kind of aeration (skimmer, bubbler) just to make sure it's not a decay causing low oxygen kind of situation. If you have a big bucket or something and some saltwater, you could even move some fish or inverts into there that you are worried about temporarily. Also if getting a bunch of salt water is an issue, local club members may be able to help and local fish stores may be able to supply a quantity on short notice. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denis_anthony June 27, 2022 Author Share June 27, 2022 The ammonia is likely the initial problem, if you have the capacity to do a big water change, that's probably gonna be the best bet to stabilize things, but I agree ammonia block or prime or similar is probably a good bet too. To be sure, make sure you also have some kind of aeration (skimmer, bubbler) just to make sure it's not a decay causing low oxygen kind of situation. If you have a big bucket or something and some saltwater, you could even move some fish or inverts into there that you are worried about temporarily. Also if getting a bunch of salt water is an issue, local club members may be able to help and local fish stores may be able to supply a quantity on short notice. Good luck!Sadly, I’m not sure there are any survivors. I can’t see in the tank except what is directly in front of the glass but I’ve not seen a fish (minus the five I managed to see that had passed) swimming at all so I think I have my answer. I realistically think I’ll need to start overSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denis_anthony June 27, 2022 Author Share June 27, 2022 Sorry things are not going well. The fish are probably dying due to the ammonia spike so deal with that first. Buy some ammonia block at the local pet store. A pH of 7 doesn’t make sense for a saltwater aquarium so that has me puzzled. I would do a 20% water change daily until things settle down. It will be a lot of work, but it’s your best bet to get things back to normal. Darren I assumed it was the ammonia spike as well though it wasn’t super high but I know all fish react differently to it. Poor guys :/ I’ve been using prime and doing a 20% change each day. I’ll throw in my skimmer as well as I’m not using it at the moment. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denis_anthony June 29, 2022 Author Share June 29, 2022 Quick update - All livestock, minus one single Halloween hermit crab, has passed away. This includes all snails, starfish, fish, and shrimp. Most coral seems to have melted as well. Fingers crossed that maybe a few mushrooms and zoas make it but my torches, hammers, pectinia, Duncans, trumpets, gonis, you name it, have melted down to the skeleton. The pulsing Xenia doesn’t seem like it’s ever been happier though….Of course when I went to throw in my protein skimmer, the pump decided not to work and so I had to order one priority to help pull whatever crap is in the tank out. The return chamber also decided to clog which filled my emergency drain and overflowed onto the new living room floor. This then got my heater controller wet and broke it. A perfect storm, so to speak. I’m trying as hard as I can to save ANYTHING that may still be alive but it seems it may be a waste of time. I feel that my main mistake may have just been not removing all my old sand. I left about 20-30% of it and I’m thinking that any gases and toxins may have been released into the tank and causing a nuke. Just spitballing trying to understand where I went wrong. Thanks for joining my Ted talk. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaJMasta June 29, 2022 Share June 29, 2022 Sorry to hear it, that sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowsingle June 30, 2022 Share June 30, 2022 Sad to hear, moving a tank is tough Darren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BtmDweller July 1, 2022 Share July 1, 2022 When you moved did you keep some of the cycled water? Years ago working at a LFS we always moved tanks with at least 50% of the water to keep paras stable. I mix my sand bed up every now and again, even to the point of cloud out. However, I keep super low nutrients. Sorry to hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite July 5, 2022 Share July 5, 2022 (edited) Denis, I'm so sorry this happened. I'm betting it was the old sand. I've got about 80 lbs of sand I have to dispose of, because I'm not risking re-using it. On 6/30/2022 at 11:27 PM, BtmDweller said: When you moved did you keep some of the cycled water? Years ago working at a LFS we always moved tanks with at least 50% of the water to keep paras stable. I mix my sand bed up every now and again, even to the point of cloud out. However, I keep super low nutrients. Sorry to hear! I always use 100% new water, but it only works because I use a lot of liverock to provide bacteria. Edited July 5, 2022 by treesprite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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