Sad Sad News

[Happy_Puffer]

So I moved my tank to my cousins house and everything was going good until one of my filters and my heater went out. I was freaking out so I went to my work and got everything I needed. My fish were in a tote with a small heater and they were doing fine. I took as much water as I could and I was letting the sand settle and everything was going fine, but I knew my fish were stressed so I checked my levels and they were fine so I put them in. Everything was going just amazing and I was so happy that everyone was fine and the porc had no ich!! They were so happy ans swimming around and just perfect and I my boyfriend and I were so happy that we made the move with no deaths. That was Saturday then Sunday we had more stuff to move but the fish were fine. We got back to the house after a long day of moving and everyone was breatheing heavy and at the top breathing air. So I turned the heat down to about 80 (it was at 81 or 82) then I checked the levels again and everything was high so I started freaking out, and then I did a water change but only 10 gallons, since I had to add about 30 gallons since most of the water was dirty so I had to replace it. I had a feeling that my tank was recycleing but I had no idea what to do since it was Sunday at 10:30. So we went back to my house and left the tank because I was so upset about the fish. When we went to the house, all my fish were dead. I cried all night, I even cried at work. This is the first time I have ever killed this many fish and of course it was the porc, that wasn't even mine. She was the best fish ever, I am so upset, I have never been this down. I thought I was doing everything right and then it turns out that I just did everything wrong. . I lost 6 fish, so now I am just going leave the tank empty till me and my boyfriend can move into our own place, I don't want to lose my whole tank ever again.

[pufferfreak]

ohhh im so sorry for you.

[Nick]

I'm sorry It's terrible when a tank crashes.

[Pufferpunk]

Moving is a real nightmare of mine... I'll die in this house! So sorry for your loss.

[crazedpuffer]

Sorry about your loss. Tank crashes aren't fun at all.

[StormySkiez]

I'm very sorry Happy about your tragic event and loss of your fish .

[suvat]

I'm very sorry.

[yunachin]

I am so sorry dear.
Don't get too bummed out though because it has happened to the best of us. I know that doesn't help now, but don't give up the hobby because if it. Hang in there.

[Happy_Puffer]

Thank you guys for all your support!! I will never give up this hobby I love it too much but I have never lost that many fish at one time before. I also didn't know how badly this would affect me and my boyfriend. I have been depressed all day yesterday and today. I really miss the puffer and my trigger. I have talked to some people and someone told me that by moving my sand, when I did move the tank I tried to move all the sand but I only got to move half of it. I kept everything under water, so I thought everything would be ok. I talked to so many people and they all told me the same thing, take everything out and it should be fine. I just don't understand why the tank crashed. Does anyone have any ideas?

[yunachin]

It is possible you set off an anaerobic pocket by moving the sand. How deep of a sand bed did you have?

[Happy_Puffer]

Its about 2-3 inches. I took the fish out before I moved the sand and I let the sand settle before adding the fish. I did have to do 20-30 gallon water change, even though I tried to take as much water as I could. I had a 5 gallon bucket with the sand in it then I had a 32 gallon tote full of live rock and an 18 gallon tote that I had my fish in but some of the water in the totes was dirty so I just added clean water but I thought changing the water would be ok. Since I had all the live rock and sand under water. I guess the combo of water change and moving was just bad for everything in my tank. I am just really upset, but I don't think I'm going to put any fish in there for a while because I just have to move the tank again in like 6 months or so. I just want to know what went wrong so that it doesn't happen again. I am going to be moving into an apartment so I know that I will have to move the tank again so I want to get it right the next time so that I don't have to start all over again everytime I move.

[yunachin]

It's a possibility that the sand was the issue but it could be something else as well. I would go less on the sand though in the future just to be safe.

[Happy_Puffer]

Do you think I shoudl just take some of the sand out? I think its about 2 inches, its not very deep. Next time when I move the tank should I just leave the sand in there with just a little water and move the tank on a board? I am gonna get a canister filter to put on there since I don't have a sump and I don't really want to do a sump since my tank has been just fine without one. I am planing on geting a bigger tank so I don't want to put a lot of money into this one. Plus this tank isn't drilled and I would have to buy an overflow box to have a sump. So my boss said to get a canister filter and next time I move to bring the fish into the store so that I can have time to set up the tank. I would really like to learn how to move the tank without going through all this stuff(taking the fish somewhere else) I know you guys have moved tanks before. Also something else I had 2 filters running on the tank and one crapped out so I had to go buy a new one and the other one wasn't filtering right. So I took it off after a few hours, do you think that had something to do with it? I thought that it would instant cycle since I had it running for a few hours. I just want some advice.

[Nick]

Hmm.... cannister filters and sumps have nothing to do with each other. On a salt water tank, a cannister filter will only serve to trap and convert to nitrates proteins which could, if left in the main tank, dissolve and be removed by the protein skimmer. My guess is what happened was that putting the sand in a bucket stirred up a lot of anaerobic areas with toxins, which then put poisons into the tank when water was poured onto the mixed-up sand. The toxins killed some nitryfying bacteria, and possibly made the fish feel a bit off, and then the ammonia killed the fish. I don't think the volume of water change had anything at all to do with it, I did a 100% water change when changing my 29 gallon saltwater over to a a 45 gallon salt water, a few decorations, the live rock, and two empty HOB filters with either live rock or purigen in them were the only things from the original tank I carried over, and not a trace of ammonia appeared, so seriously doubt the water had anything to do with it.

[Happy_Puffer]

OK so the water change had nothing to do with it. That makes me feel better, so next time how should I go about moving the tank? If I leave the sand alone will that help? I just don't want to mess it up next time. I really don't want to get a protein skimmer, I have talked to a lot of people and they say that protein skimmers really don't matter if you filter the water well enough. I have talked to my boss that has been doing salt water tanks for like 30 years and he told me not to waste my money on a skimmer. We don't have any skimmers on our tanks at the store. So I think I'm going to buy the canister filter and a power head and see if I can get the tank back up and running.