So...I'm an idiot:(

[michelle]

Yay!! I got my 55 gallon tank! so excited!!!

NOT YAY!!! I killed all my fish with the transfer.
coral beauty, flame hawk, diadema-dead from stress, Blue gudgeon goby-suicide from stress.
Even had my condi move around, sting my torch, who in turn stung the anemone=BOTH DEAD.

Did I mention I am the stupidest person I know?

BTW, a lot of changes on the site since I was last here. Looks great guys. Good work.

[cthegame]

Sorry about your loss. Dont be so hard on yourself, we all have our share of dead fish.

What do you think was the main reason for your fish dying? Did you use the same water & sand from your old tank?

By the congrats on your new tank. Be sure to take plenty of pics for us.

[Bifferwine]

No way!!! How did you manage to kill all the fish? Did you let the new tank cycle as much as possible before making the transfer, or did you use all your old substrate, sand and water? It's rare to kill everything in a tank transfer, I wonder what happened?

[michelle]

I filled the tank about halfway with "new" saltwater and a piece of shrimp (as advised by the lfs) left it for 10 days, then bagged all my fish and corals and moved the old water (33 gallon) and substrate over. Set everything up and left it for a few hours to settle, then added my livestock. they the next day the coral beauty was floating on its side. It died soon after. BEHIND the rock, so I pulled most of my rock out to get him out (ironically as an attempt to ensure the water quality would cause my other fish to die) The next day 2 more fish were dead and I realized I hadn't seen my goby in a while, but, he was shy and with the big changes I assumed he was still hiding. Later that night I opened the drawer in my stand and saw the goby IN it, stiff as the perpetual board. There had been one SMALL opening on top of the tank, and the drawer was slightly ajar...he hit both openings in his jump. (lucky hey?)

Then the anemone was still trying to find his perfect spot each night, and a couple mornings later he and the torch were dead basically on top of each other...stupid anemone. Why wouldn't he just keep moving? Anyway, that my (rather long winded) story. On the upside (I had to find an "upside" because I was very close to abandoning the hobby after all this-thus my absence) I have a 55 gallon with not much in it. Any suggestions?

[stagofdoom]

Im sorry to hear about that!
I wonder what did it. lol now you can stock your tank with whatever you want.

[fatman]

At least you have learned that your present LFS is not the place for reliable directions or advice. They seldom are. The employees are usually young, under paid and inexperienced. The managers and owners are more money oriented than any thing else, and few of them have all that large amount of experience with reef aquariums. Unfortunately the LFS with experienced employees are also usually owned by ethical, experienced people who place principles so high they usually go out of business. Usually they sell only good (but expensive) products and their live stock and products increased cost and higher labor are to much to handle when competing with places like PETCO and unscrupulous LFS stores. Some people make reference to them as Guru stores, as all the serious reefers tend to hang around them. Unfortunately they also tend not to spend any more money in them then they have to because of the high costs, so subsequently they seem to not stay open long. The methodology they recomended makes no sence at all. You do not give us water parameters, but I would safely venture a guess that your ammonia is quite high, actually probably very high. A shrimp in a bare tank with water for ten days is a whole lot of ammonia.

[kevinsimons]

Wow, Michelle - what a sad story - SO SORRY for your loss. If it's any consolation, you've convinced me NOT to fix the biggest mistake I've made in the year since I've started this hobby - which is using an acrylic tank. I inflicted a scratch right down the middle of the front of the tank - prompting me to poll the experts here as to whether I should replace this POS plastic junk with a glass tank now - or later. Everybody said NOW. After your ordeal (and my status as beginner), I think I'll just learn to live with the scratch.

[michelle]

Originally Posted by kevinsimons

Wow, Michelle - what a sad story - SO SORRY for your loss. If it's any consolation, you've convinced me NOT to fix the biggest mistake I've made in the year since I've started this hobby - which is using an acrylic tank. I inflicted a scratch right down the middle of the front of the tank - prompting me to poll the experts here as to whether I should replace this POS plastic junk with a glass tank now - or later. Everybody said NOW. After your ordeal (and my status as beginner), I think I'll just learn to live with the scratch.

Something tells me you would have much better luck then me. But, thanks for the sentiment

[michelle]

Originally Posted by fatman

At least you have learned that your present LFS is not the place for reliable directions or advice. They seldom are. The employees are usually young, under paid and inexperienced. The managers and owners are more money oriented than any thing else, and few of them have all that large amount of experience with reef aquariums. Unfortunately the LFS with experienced employees are also usually owned by ethical, experienced people who place principles so high they usually go out of business. Usually they sell only good (but expensive) products and their live stock and products increased cost and higher labor are to much to handle when competing with places like PETCO and unscrupulous LFS stores. Some people make reference to them as Guru stores, as all the serious reefers tend to hang around them. Unfortunately they also tend not to spend any more money in them then they have to because of the high costs, so subsequently they seem to not stay open long. The methodology they recomended makes no sence at all. You do not give us water parameters, but I would safely venture a guess that your ammonia is quite high, actually probably very high. A shrimp in a bare tank with water for ten days is a whole lot of ammonia.

I am sure that was probably (actaully most likely) the problem, but I miss typed. I was told (and did) leave the small piece of shrimp for a day (apparently to kick start the cycle-stupid I know) and then waited the 10 days.
I did see the cycle happen and all parameters were 0 when I did the transfer of the old water and substrate into the new tank. But, within a day I had (and still have) a slight ammonia reading. Nitrate & Nitrite are still 0, but Ammonia is between 0.25 and 0.5 on an APS test kit. I figured the ammonia was small enough not to be a problem. But, since it's the only reading I have had and so much died, seems you're right and it was a problem.
Thanks for the help Fatman, Alway a fountain of information. Too bad I didn't think to ask you first

I do still have a frogspawn, a couple mushroom polyps, a cinirina(sp?) and a bunch of snails that seem to be doing well dispite the still present ammonia reading. Snails are laying eggs everywhere, and corals are opening fully with great colors, but, I am going to wait another while before adding a fish

[michelle]

Originally Posted by michelle

I filled the tank about halfway with "new" saltwater and a piece of shrimp (as advised by the lfs) left it for 10 days, then bagged all my fish and corals and moved the old water (33 gallon) and substrate over. Set everything up and left it for a few hours to settle, then added my livestock. they the next day the coral beauty was floating on its side. It died soon after. BEHIND the rock, so I pulled most of my rock out to get him out (ironically as an attempt to ensure the water quality would cause my other fish to die) The next day 2 more fish were dead and I realized I hadn't seen my goby in a while, but, he was shy and with the big changes I assumed he was still hiding. Later that night I opened the drawer in my stand and saw the goby IN it, stiff as the perpetual board. There had been one SMALL opening on top of the tank, and the drawer was slightly ajar...he hit both openings in his jump. (lucky hey?)

Then the anemone was still trying to find his perfect spot each night, and a couple mornings later he and the torch were dead basically on top of each other...stupid anemone. Why wouldn't he just keep moving? Anyway, that my (rather long winded) story. On the upside (I had to find an "upside" because I was very close to abandoning the hobby after all this-thus my absence) I have a 55 gallon with not much in it. Any suggestions?

Oh and I forgot to add...my cleaner shrimp was crushed when a rock shifted. I mean REALLY!?!