Gilliroo Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 We got our tank swapped out this weekend and moved to a new location. Man, that was hard! I'll post a tank thread soon. Anyway, we've had one casualty. Our lyretail anthias didn't come out to eat last night. Boo. We looked all over for him, but no luck. Until, yikes! There he was, being devoured by crabs. It was pretty gruesome. I went off in search of our longest forceps so I could pluck him out of the rock work. But now he's gone again. I can't see him anywhere. I guess the crabs dragged him off under the rocks. Ew. So now I have a dilemma. Do I leave him in there and trust that my cleanup crew will take care of the body? Or do I take apart my rock work and try to find him? I don't want to add an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate spike on top of the stress of the tank move and lose another fish. But I also don't want to stress the fish out again by taking apart the rockwork. Thoughts? Ammonia is currently at zero, and nitrates are at 10 ppm. I assume that is from all of the junk that got stirred up in the move on Saturday. Do you think it's safe to just monitor the water params and do some extra water changes? Thanks, Gillian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Leave the fish, i bet its eaten up by now anyhow. I would do a WC to keep those nitrates down. Did you reuse the sand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliroo Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 I only reused a little of the top layer. It wasn't very old, and the tank was actually pretty clean when we broke everything down. Even the bottom layer of sand looked pretty clean. We still didn't use it, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I wouldn't remove all the rock Gillian to find the fish. It has happened to us where they just get lost in the rock work or a fish disappears and the skimmer cup is full so we know someone has died. Removing the rock work while also a pain in the but could actually make things worse because you are stirring up the sand more. Your skimmer is pretty awesome and a tank that size it shouldn't cause much of a problem with your nitrates or nitrites. A water change is a good idea. I always have a bit of a mini cycle with every tank move I have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliroo Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Awesome. You guys are telling me what I water to hear. So far, the tank seems to be doing ok. I expected a mini cycle, but it seems to be confined (so far) to a bit of nitrates and some cyano in the sump. I guess the dead fish explains why the skimmer smelled so bad when I cleaned it. Let me take a moment to put in a plug for Avast Marine Works cone skimmers. That thing works great. I'm really happy about the upgrade. Thanks for the advice, you guys. It really sucks to lose fish. I suppose I should wait a few weeks before I replace him? Gillian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I would ONLY worry about it if your tank is: -under 15 gallons and -has smallish cleanup crew. I lost a tang and a cucumber in the same day...couldnt get either out...tank mini crashed within a week due to high nitrates. My tank is 51.5gal If your tank is small, just test your ammonia and nitrates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriz2fer Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Yeah man happens all the time, fish dies crabs eat him and all is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilliroo Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 Ok, I think I'm good then. Tank is 90 gallons, and I have a large (and apparently aggressive) cleanup crew. I hate losing fish. Gillian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 Yah i'd give it some time before you add anything. Get over that mini cycle then you should be good to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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