I killed all my fish

[Tarasco]

I've been moving down to San Diego from Long Beach over the past week, and saved the tank for last, cuz I knew it was going to take most of the day. I actually got rid of a lot of my corals, and was planning on starting over. Unfortunately, a friend who offered to help was late, and we didn't get started till after 1. Additionally, it was much colder than expected. By the time we got down to San Diego, the fish were in rough shape. It took a while to get everything set up due to various problems, but we finally got them in the tank by around 8. Things seemed all right, the fish were obviously stressed, but many of them had made it through my previous tank move just fine. I went off to take care of other things, and when I checked on the tank after lights out, the fish were all hiding in the rocks. I figured they were just going to sleep it off.

Woke up in the morning, and they were all dead. The rocks had too much die off, and the tank recycled. They couldn't handle the ammonia, I assume. My wife cried. The only survivors are a couple of hermits. I'm very, very bummed. Casualties include the first two fish I ever bought, my clownfish pair:

My hippo tang, cardinal and chromis

Longnose butterfly

Multibar Angel, which I bought exactly one year ago

As well as a Flame Hawk that I could never get a picture of.

I take full responsibility, as I should have monitored the tank more carefully and not been distracted. Who would have thought that you could get so attached to some fish?

[AJinNY]

Am I missing something? Did you keep the rocks in water? How much die off coul dit have had to result in the loss of al lthose fish?

Im sorry - it must be frustrating to say the least.

[Travis]

Sorry, that's terrible. Don't know what else to say, except I hope you get a fresh start soon.

T

[livingreef2004]

very sorry to hear about your loss its always hard to lose a pet even harder to lose pet's

[DaveK]

I'm very sorry to hear about your fish losses.

I know it's a bit late for you, but maybe this will help someone else. Personally I would never try to move a SW aquarium all at once.

I feel that this must be done in stages, with a target aquarium set up at the destination. This can also be a reason to get that larger tank you always wanted. (smile)

This is how I did my move.

Obtain a tank and stand the same size or larger than the existing tank. Place this in the new location. If you want a deep sand bed, and not using live sand, wash the sand and put it in the tank. Then fill the tank with RO water, mix the salt into it and add a couple of powerheads to keep things stirred up.

After a few days, Move the lighting, some of the existing sandbed, if any, (just enough to seed the new tank and about half the live rock to the new tank. It may be desirable to put some sort of lighting over the existing tank. It need not be as good as the normal light.

Wait for the new tank to cycle, usually about 10 to 14 days. You may need to do some water changes if nitrate goes way up, but I didn't find this necessary.

Move filtration system, the rest of the liverock, fish, corals and other livestock, and everything else.

Yes, you do have a tank and stand left over from this process. However that's the cheepest part of a reef. You can always use the tank for something else, maybe even a second reef.

This method allows the new system to become established before the fish and delicate inverts are moved.

[BoomerD]

Ah dude, I'm sure sorry to hear that. You had a gorgeous tank, an are one of the few to be able to keep that angel. (I remember all the fuss when you first got it)
My sincere condolences.

[Gina]

I am very sorry to hear of your loss. I would be devastated! We go through life always learning from our mistakes. Sometimes, I wonder if we ever reach that point where we make no more errors? Probably not! Don't beat yourself up too much, as I said it was a mistake. I hope you plan to restock when your tank recycles.

[mps9506]

Dude, that sucks...
That multibar is going to be har to replace with another one that acclimated so well to captive reef life...

[angnak]

Man, I am so sorry to here that. I lost all my fish last year in a move IN THE SAME HOUSE!!! Upgraded my tank, problems came up (plumbing mainly), the fish stayed in the bins for a day and a half and this caused way to much stress and they broke out in Ich and I could not beat it. It was very very devistating. My clowns never left each others side. The girl went first and the little man just stayed right there next to her. I cried like a little girl. I feel your pain. Like Travis said, I hope this doesn't dicourage you into setting it up and doing another tank.

[LisaB]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Good luck to you when you're ready to start again.

[RanRoc]

So sorry for your lost, my friend.
-RY

[Woodstock]

Very sorry to hear that

[jimeluiz]

Man - that s**ks. I'm sure you did your best and stressed your way through. No willing neglect here. As others have said, go easy on yourself. It IS amazing how attached we can get to the critters we care for.

Good luck moving forward.

[Woodstock]

Originally Posted by jimeluiz

Man - that s**ks. I'm sure you did your best and stressed your way through. No willing neglect here. As others have said, go easy on yourself. It IS amazing how attached we can get to the critters we care for.

Good luck moving forward.

Ditto~~

[Tarasco]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I really appreciate it. I'm not sure what I'm going to do at the moment, I have a lot of other stuff going on, and I'm not sure that I want to start over right now. Motivation wasn't really a problem before. I'll make sure to let you all know what I do.