Stressed fish after house move?

[OliviaBolivia]

Hi all, not been on for a while!

I currently have a 20 gal/90 litre tank housing 6 rummy nose tetra, 12 5-banded barbs and an Ancistrus (plus a few amano shrimp, a lone bumblebee goby and some assassins). I plan to add a trio of pearl gourami, but I'm hesitating because the current fish aren't looking so good.

As per the thread title, I recently moved house. I took the water level right down to about a quarter full, so the fish could still hide amongst the plants and under the driftwood during the move - it was a 20 minute car journey which we took very steadily. I kept 40 gallons of the original tank water to put back in the tank at the other end - but I did take the opportunity to give the back of the tank a good clean, and rinsed out the filter with dechlorinated water (it's an external filter, which I kept full of "old" water throughout the move but rinsed out at the other end, in case of a build up of toxins etc).

So, upon the final refill, only about 30-40 litres would have been "new" treated tap water (max 40%).

All the fish seemed fine initially, and were feeding voraciously if being a little shy - presumably due to the stress of the move and the general disturbance etc. The rummy-noses went pale for the move, but recovered their bright-red snouts within hours of refilling the tank.

However. In the last 7 days, both the tetras and the barbs have grown paler and paler, sticking close the the substrate and scarcely swimming at all. The only time they come out is to feed, when they eat as though they havent been fed in weeks. The Ancistrus and the goby are fine, and the amano shrimps are more active than ever.

I figured that I had stupidly kicked off a problem in the tank by rinsing the filter too thoroughly and replacing 40% of the water, so I tested it yesterday - sure enough, whilst ammonia was 0, nitrite was 0.5 and nitrate low at 5 (normal for my tank is 10-20). So I guess they've suffered a mini-cycle.

I completed a 25% water change immediately, and will do so again today. But despite what I would hope to be immediate relief for them, the two schools of fish are still pale and staying hidden, until I put food in the tank.

I guess it will take time for them to recover - or could there be another issue I haven't thought of? The only other salient info is that I had a breakout of Ich a few weeks before the house move, which I treated using the heat and salt method - the water was probably still slightly brackish upon moving as I hadn't completed quite enough water changes to eliminate the salt entirely. Maybe I took away the last remnants of salinity too quickly with the 40% water change?

As for alkalinity and hardness, I haven't tested the new tap water at the new house but we are barely 5 miles from where we were before, so I doubt the difference will be much, if any at all?

Temp - I was still in the process of slowly reducing it further to the ich treatment, but I took advantage of the natural drop in temp during the move, when the fish were still in situ - so I let the temp drop a couple more degrees and added water to match at the other end. Temp now 27.

What do you guys think, what am I missing?

O

PS barbs have brightened up a little this morning, tetras still pale.

 

[Kashta]

You mentioned 7 days, is that how long ago the move happened?

It sounds like you're considering a lot of factors already. Since you moved the tanks with the fish just lowering the water first, a bunch of gunk still in the substrate may have been sloshed around. That would surely diminish their gill function and might reduce the amount of oxygen available to them. We moved a lot of different kinds of fish about a year and a half ago. Kept them in separate tubs with new/clean and treated water... each one with individual air stones. Plus it took us about two weeks to get all the tanks set up again so we were really surprised we didn't lose any of them.

The level of stocking you listed for a 20 gallon tank seems awfully high, actually. You have a lot more in there than I'd ever put together in a tank that small. It's great that you're testing the water. (Just in case, make sure you are using liquid drop test kit and not relying on paper test strips.) At this point, I would continue testing a lot and doing smallish but frequent water changes. Just try to keep pristine conditions with the toxins down to zero. Stabilize the temperature. (Definitely don't add any more new fish for the next few weeks if any at all.) You might not actually want to continue treating them for ick right now either or introduce any other meds if they're highly stressed already. It's not likely to save a fish right now that's already too far gone and it may elevate the stress factor even more for the others.

Everyone should also test their tap water for ammonia/etc. if they use that for their tanks. Even if you'd only moved to a house next door, the water still comes through a wholly different set of pipes, so I'd recommend checking that too.

 

[OliviaBolivia]

Hello Kashta, thank you for the reply!

Actually yes, the move (which was now 9 days ago) did stir up a little bit of substrate gunk, although its fine gravel and I try to keep it well hoovered....the external filter (a Fluval 205) cleared it all within a couple of hours of refilling, but it occurred to me briefly that stirring up all that stuff might not be helpful for the fish.

I believe the tank has a capacity of 22 US gallons, 20 UK gallons. I guess if I go by the inch of fish per gallon rule (which I understood to be a little outdated??), the stocking is a bit borderline if the barbs are three quarters of an inch and the tetras are just over an inch. But I've maintained the tank with higher stocking levels before, and provided I'm meticulous with my weekly water changes, monitor the water conditions and don't over feed, it should be okay. I'll certainly rethink the gouramis, or at least check with the LFS - Maidenhead Aquatics here are very good.

I'm not treating for ich at the moment, I had already ceased the heat/salt method before the move (I maintained the temp and salinity for 14 days after the last cyst dropped off the tetras). But I had been changing out the salt water very slowly, there may have been some left which all got switched out rather suddenly due to the move.

I will certainly test the tap water too (I'm using the dropper kit rather than strips). The barbs have now darkened up nicely and have their bright orange fins back, and the tetras have nicely glowing red snouts again. They are still remaining in hiding for now.....I'll keep up the water changes daily this week (maybe just 10%) and see if they perk up. The tetras have been whizzing around the tank as a school again this morning, much like their old selves, so that's a good sign.....!

Thanks again for the response, much appreciated.

OB