I hired a local LFS to move my 400 gallon tank. They ended up losing half the fish and are blaming it on my water quality. I am heart broken about this and want to confirm if this is probably my fault so I can fix issues.
Back story tank is 7 months old with15 fish. All QTed for 30 days prior to entering DT due to Achiles being an ich magnet. I had done a 25% water change and ammonia and nitrite zero. Nitrates were sky high as I did slack on water changes a couple weeks. Has a protein skimmer and an Achiles tang among other high demand fish. I also starved the fish for 24 hours to get them ready for the trip
Now for the story when they got there they started taking the tank apart and said they smelled ammonia as soon asthey opened the lid (no one said anything to me and no test were done). They get down to 2-3 feet of water after taking rock out and disturbing a good amount of sand when they dropped a big pice that the bonds came undone. This is the water they used for the fish. Some including the Achilles who all survived were in separate buckets. The remaining 11 fish were placed in a container with 10-15 gallons of water. This is where half my fish died before even leaving the house to make the hour journey to the new place. I refused to use the water and wanted to watch all survivors. After a few hours in fresh water with about 20% old water and some of the sand everyone was swimming around and looking healthy. They are in a smaller tank for observation still.
The LFS admits balls were dropped and is replacing some of the fish. I already agreed to this and will not go back on it I just want to prevent any future issues if this was my fault.
Back story tank is 7 months old with15 fish. All QTed for 30 days prior to entering DT due to Achiles being an ich magnet. I had done a 25% water change and ammonia and nitrite zero. Nitrates were sky high as I did slack on water changes a couple weeks. Has a protein skimmer and an Achiles tang among other high demand fish. I also starved the fish for 24 hours to get them ready for the trip
Now for the story when they got there they started taking the tank apart and said they smelled ammonia as soon asthey opened the lid (no one said anything to me and no test were done). They get down to 2-3 feet of water after taking rock out and disturbing a good amount of sand when they dropped a big pice that the bonds came undone. This is the water they used for the fish. Some including the Achilles who all survived were in separate buckets. The remaining 11 fish were placed in a container with 10-15 gallons of water. This is where half my fish died before even leaving the house to make the hour journey to the new place. I refused to use the water and wanted to watch all survivors. After a few hours in fresh water with about 20% old water and some of the sand everyone was swimming around and looking healthy. They are in a smaller tank for observation still.
The LFS admits balls were dropped and is replacing some of the fish. I already agreed to this and will not go back on it I just want to prevent any future issues if this was my fault.