Tank Move Disaster

AchilesTang

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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.
 

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just tossing in opinion for sample size: my vote is also on the disturbed sand & funky water ....
Did they provide air/circulation during the entire process?
 

AZMSGT

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You blasted this all over the local Facebook hanging the LFS to dry. I know because it was on the local reefing groups. I find it interesting you came here and are doing the same thing.

It’s a bummer you lost fish but, me.. I wouldn’t trust anyone to move my pets.

The LFS is stepping up admitting they goofed and replacing some fish. Be happy. Also accept some blame yourself.

Get some bella gobyfish to help clean the sand bed. Deep sand beds are a thing of the past. Keep the sand clean.

What YOU wrote on Facebook:
So the fish never made it out of the house. Died while they were breaking down the tank. I have a deep sand bed and the 7 that died were put in water after the sand bed was disturbed. I think this was the cause of their death. The survivors are in mostly fresh water and already doing well again. I am still talking to Artistic at the moment.



Thank you all Artistic has worked with me and are working to help replace the fish. In any move some loss can be expected. I admit I am not the best at maintaining the sand bed and am just happy to have it sorted and that the survivors are doing well. Artistic has stated they will be changing a few procedures going forward and this has not happened to them before.
 
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AchilesTang

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You blasted this all over the local Facebook hanging the LFS to dry. I know because it was on the local reefing groups. I find it interesting you came here and are doing the same thing.

It’s a bummer you lost fish but, me.. I wouldn’t trust anyone to move my pets.

The LFS is stepping up admitting they goofed and replacing some fish. Be happy. Also accept some blame yourself.

Get some bella gobyfish to help clean the sand bed. Deep sand beds are a thing of the past. Keep the sand clean.

What YOU wrote on Facebook:
So the fish never made it out of the house. Died while they were breaking down the tank. I have a deep sand bed and the 7 that died were put in water after the sand bed was disturbed. I think this was the cause of their death. The survivors are in mostly fresh water and already doing well again. I am still talking to Artistic at the moment.



Thank you all Artistic has worked with me and are working to help replace the fish. In any move some loss can be expected. I admit I am not the best at maintaining the sand bed and am just happy to have it sorted and that the survivors are doing well. Artistic has stated they will be changing a few procedures going forward and this has not happened to them before.
As I said I am trying to make sure this is not a deep issue I need to fix. Also yes I take part of the blame for not moving them myself. This is a post meant to help me fix issues as well as access what I need to do different on my other tank I am moving myself. I did not name them as that post did enough damage and a lot of the issues were not told to me until after the post.
 
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AchilesTang

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just tossing in opinion for sample size: my vote is also on the disturbed sand & funky water ....
Did they provide air/circulation during the entire process?
They did have an air bubbler that they moved around but, did not have enough for all the buckets.
 

NashobaTek

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Hmm, personally if I was moving and had some company coming to move the tank, I would have already caught the critters, coral and everything I value. Why even place the lives of the inhabitants of your tank in someone else's hands.

But that's just me. If they're replacing some of the stuff, be happy and stop slamming the lfs.
Just my honest opinion.
 

sharpimage

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Sounds like you already have the answer.
1. I don't think you can smell ammonia
2. Deep sand beds suck.
 

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You blasted this all over the local Facebook hanging the LFS to dry. I know because it was on the local reefing groups. I find it interesting you came here and are doing the same thing.

It’s a bummer you lost fish but, me.. I wouldn’t trust anyone to move my pets.

The LFS is stepping up admitting they goofed and replacing some fish. Be happy. Also accept some blame yourself.

Get some bella gobyfish to help clean the sand bed. Deep sand beds are a thing of the past. Keep the sand clean.

What YOU wrote on Facebook:
So the fish never made it out of the house. Died while they were breaking down the tank. I have a deep sand bed and the 7 that died were put in water after the sand bed was disturbed. I think this was the cause of their death. The survivors are in mostly fresh water and already doing well again. I am still talking to Artistic at the moment.



Thank you all Artistic has worked with me and are working to help replace the fish. In any move some loss can be expected. I admit I am not the best at maintaining the sand bed and am just happy to have it sorted and that the survivors are doing well. Artistic has stated they will be changing a few procedures going forward and this has not happened to them before.

I have a slightly different take, but I obviously don't really care. So just for the sake of the discussion - if you hired 'experts' to do the job, then you should expect to get expert service. The sand bed being too deep and too dirty isn't OP's concern here. I think most of us would know that if you disturb the sand bed and then place fish in the tainted water, you're going to have issues with water quality and need to plan accordingly.

The fish were living in the tank water just fine. The LFS people created the water quality issue then put the fish in there. To me, that's just negligence and/or a product of hiring people who maybe aren't experienced enough.

They should have A) tested the water when they arrived if they thought it was foul so they could tell OP and thus limit their responsibility. And then B) put the fish in buckets before disturbing the sand bed...or at least C) put the fish in clean SW.

I think OP has every right to be upset, and to me he/she is being incredibly reasonable and fair. The fish were alive the day of. Then LFS shows up. Fish are dead. It's a pretty clear cause and effect.

If I hire experts to help move something delicate and fragile, and it breaks - it's not my fault for having something delicate and fragile. IMO everything in that tank becomes their responsibility the minute they start tearing down the tank. As with any pros, I would expect that they would do a thorough look at everything beforehand to let OP know of any existing issues.

Just my two cents. Sorry for your loss op.
 
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AchilesTang

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Hmm, personally if I was moving and had some company coming to move the tank, I would have already caught the critters, coral and everything I value. Why even place the lives of the inhabitants of your tank in someone else's hands.

But that's just me. If they're replacing some of the stuff, be happy and stop slamming the lfs.
Just my honest opinion.
Please note I did not list them on this thread because this was not meant to slam them and more a help fix the issues. Yes I should have moved the fish myself but, I had no where to store water and they told me they would take care of it. I have another tank to move and want to make sure none of them die. It has a deep sand bed as well and want to correct issues in this tank and get opinions only. I do say I want to work on correcting issues and have already made the arrangement.
 

brandon429

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even though this was painful :( your example will help others to avoid loss. This thread is now the very first post in the sand rinse thread.

your lfs did opposite of the correct order of ops, and no they can't smell ammonia at the start/before work or all your fish would have already been dead.

upwelling the rotten sand sure might smell. their fault fully/ we are 5 years into moving tanks and not one loss/
 

bevo5

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Please note I did not list them on this thread because this was not meant to slam them and more a help fix the issues. Yes I should have moved the fish myself but, I had no where to store water and they told me they would take care of it. I have another tank to move and want to make sure none of them die. It has a deep sand bed as well and want to correct issues in this tank and get opinions only. I do say I want to work on correcting issues and have already made the arrangement.

As far as changing how you do it - I would just catch/store the fish in the water before disturbing the sand bed, obviously. Then - it's pretty common practice now to completely discard the old sand and start fresh with whatever you want in there.
 

DaneGer21

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I have a slightly different take, but I obviously don't really care. So just for the sake of the discussion - if you hired 'experts' to do the job, then you should expect to get expert service. The sand bed being too deep and too dirty isn't OP's concern here. I think most of us would know that if you disturb the sand bed and then place fish in the tainted water, you're going to have issues with water quality and need to plan accordingly.

The fish were living in the tank water just fine. The LFS people created the water quality issue then put the fish in there. To me, that's just negligence and/or a product of hiring people who maybe aren't experienced enough.

They should have A) tested the water when they arrived if they thought it was foul so they could tell OP and thus limit their responsibility. And then B) put the fish in buckets before disturbing the sand bed...or at least C) put the fish in clean SW.

I think OP has every right to be upset, and to me he/she is being incredibly reasonable and fair. The fish were alive the day of. Then LFS shows up. Fish are dead. It's a pretty clear cause and effect.

If I hire experts to help move something delicate and fragile, and it breaks - it's not my fault for having something delicate and fragile. IMO everything in that tank becomes their responsibility the minute they start tearing down the tank. As with any pros, I would expect that they would do a thorough look at everything beforehand to let OP know of any existing issues.

Just my two cents. Sorry for your loss op.

This. If you hire anyone for any job, big or small, and they are a legit company things should turn out fine or issues should be taken care of. Unfortunately that’s the “contractors” fault. They have insurance for things like this.


In any event, it sucks...
 

NashobaTek

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Get a large brute trash can or 2 and siphon water into them for the fish. Then at least you know they're safe.
It's a hard thing to go through, but I just wouldn't trust anyone else moving the animals.

Sorry for your loss and I am glad they are at least replacing some of the animals
 
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AchilesTang

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So I am getting remove deep sand ok. Will take care of that and as far as gobies my Achilles will not allow them as he only attacks them. I have removed my star fish eater so I am reputting brittle stars and sand sifting star fish. They were in there but, got eaten a month before move.
 

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