tank crash 40 gallon

Well moved the 40 gallon lastnight and got it set back up, woke up this morning and everything was dead except for 2 damsels and a cardinal....im assuming there was a lack of oxygen in the tank....it runs on a cobalt ext canister and an aquaclear hob....i didnt turn on the hob and i think there wasnt enough oxygen in the water...anythoughts?
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Did the substrate get stirred up at all? If so, the sand/gravel probably released trapped toxins which affected your water quality. Were the rocks exposed to the air for any length of time? Die off can do that too. Did you test the water when this happened? I would do at least a 50% water change now after taking a sample to be tested.
Any time I move a tank, even if its across the room, I put all the critters in a qt and monitor the display for a few days just in case it goes through a mini cycle from everything being stirred up.
 
Yea i moved it across the room....rocks stayed in a bucket submerged and the sand bed might have sloshed around but i didnt remove it....also i did a 50% waterchange this morning after i removed everything that died
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
I'm assuming the rocks were submerged in saltwater.
Yes, even sloshing around can release toxins into the water column. Test for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and even Phosphates. If you get any readings on Ammonia or Phosphates, I would do another 50% water change. That'll be a 75% total change and it should help. And keep an eye on the rest of your fish. Especially the cardinal. If it was between him and the damsels, he would be affected first.

Oh. And welcome to swf.com
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I agree with your first thought...not enough oxygen. Do you not use power heads? A canister and HOB still would not be good enough gas exchange, and if you eliminate the HOB, that would do it.
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
Flower, you yourself have told me and others on several occasions that disturbing the sand that can release toxins that kill fish and now your saying that's not the case here? What happened to covering all the bases?
If anybody will concure with you then I'll admit I'm wrong but I don't think that's the case here. He does have a canister filter which would produce some oxygen. Not much but some. I don't think it would kill most of his live stock over night. They may be gasping for air at the surface and in major distress but kill? And disturbing the sand then putting them back in right away or not taking them out at all had nothing to do with it?
 
I need to bite the bullet flower and go get some better powerheads ive got 2 in the tank but theyre cheap and dont have a high flow rate but im sure that the lack of oxygen had alot to do with it...not ruleing out the release of toxins....i just know my tank doesnt produce alot of surface agitation without the hob running
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Flower, you yourself have told me and others on several occasions that disturbing the sand that can release toxins that kill fish and now your saying that's not the case here? What happened to covering all the bases?
If anybody will concure with you then I'll admit I'm wrong but I don't think that's the case here. He does have a canister filter which would produce some oxygen. Not much but some. I don't think it would kill most of his live stock over night. They may be gasping for air at the surface and in major distress but kill? And disturbing the sand then putting them back in right away or not taking them out at all had nothing to do with it?
Hi,

Your advice isn't off, and you are correct, since you already said it, I didn't think needed to. Sorry if I came off as correcting you, I didn't mean it that way at all. I have a bad, bad cold, and I made my message a bit short. I even said, a canister and HOB alone would already be a lack of oxygen, and not enough gas exchange.

Without power heads, there isn't enough oxygen, but now the original poster says he had power heads, not good ones, but any is lots better then none. I agreed with aaronconnell97 on not enough oxygen based on what was said, only a canister and HOB filter that was not plugged in... A spray-bar on the canister would help a great deal.

The toxins caused when moving rock take some time to accumulate, as in years of the rock sitting there completely undisturbed. Most new members don't have a tank even set up that long. That isn't the only reason for crashes after a move. Many folks decide that since everything is all broke down, it's time for clean up... well that clean up means they just washed away 90% of the good bacteria that was built on the hard surfaces and filter media.

So there could be many possible reasons for a crash after a move... You mentioned the disturbed sand, and I mentioned the lack of power heads...we don't know yet if our new member went on a cleaning spree.
 

silverado61

Well-Known Member
That's why I suggested major water changes and testing. No harm, no foul. :cool:
He said he removed the rock which told me the underlying sand was exposed. He also said the sand may have sloshed but he didn't remove it so he didn't clean it and it was disturbed. That also told me that bacteria was released. Filling the tank back up with water with the sand in would have released more, depending on how he refilled it. To me, all that pointed to toxins in the water. And I really didn't think that in the course of just one night the oxygen would have depleted to the point of killing his critters. It may have been a contributing factor, but not the single cause.

You really should try some different meds Flower. You've been trying to kick this cold since when? Thanksgiving? Your worse than me when I get a cold. o_O


That being said, what size power heads do you have? If they produce 400gph each that should be enough. Cheap or not, depending on how you've got them aimed in the tank.
 
Thanks for allt he help guys,no i didnt go on a clean spree lol i new not to do that, and im honestly not sire what gph the powerheads are, theyre just some ive had laying around for years, also this tank has been setup for about a year and a half....needed something smaller for my room...i also have a 135 but it was too large for a bedroom
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Thanks for allt he help guys,no i didnt go on a clean spree lol i new not to do that, and im honestly not sire what gph the powerheads are, theyre just some ive had laying around for years, also this tank has been setup for about a year and a half....needed something smaller for my room...i also have a 135 but it was too large for a bedroom
Then Silverado is probably right, a tank set up for that amount of time would most likely have stuff trapped under and around the rock, when you disturbed the rock, toxins could have been released. Carbon is the answer for that problem, along with your water change.
 
Thanks ive done 2 50%waterchanges and carbon runs in the canister already...havent had any problems since i plugged in the hob yesterday...time to start recovering and ill make sure to take pictures along the way
 

flower

Well-Known Member
You really should try some different meds Flower. You've been trying to kick this cold since when? Thanksgiving? Your worse than me when I get a cold. o_O
I got this cold right after getting a flu shot. On top of it all, there was something on the news saying the flu shot they gave to people is no good for the strain that is out this year. It was all for nothing, Next year I will pass on it, the flu only lasts a week tops. Because of the medication I'm on, my choices are limited on what I can take....I cheated and took some Alka-seltzer plus for colds, at least I can sleep at night now.
 

geridoc

Well-Known Member
I got this cold right after getting a flu shot. On top of it all, there was something on the news saying the flu shot they gave to people is no good for the strain that is out this year. It was all for nothing, Next year I will pass on it, the flu only lasts a week tops. Because of the medication I'm on, my choices are limited on what I can take....I cheated and took some Alka-seltzer plus for colds, at least I can sleep at night now.
Flower: The exact message from the CDC was that the shot used this year only covered 50% of the viruses out there, but that even for the others the vaccination reduced the intensity of the disease. For folks like us (old and wearing out) the flu is a potentially fatal disease, and whatever will reduce your chances of getting it, even if only by 50%, is worth doing.
 
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