Gravel to PF Sand underway!

[Mrduna01]

So I'm finally risking my fishes to change out for sand. I transferred fish to clean bucket with tank water and running filter, heater. Put in the sand which settled right away although there is still some gunk clouding up the water from the gravel. I went ahead and put the barbs and decorations back in and the loaches will be in soon. All seems to be going well and it looks great!

 

[Mrduna01]

All fish are in the tank which is a 30 gallon btw. I bought a piece of driftwood at the pet shop that's already attached to a nice piece of slate. I'm going to boil it for a couple hours but should I still soak it?

 

[mfdrookie516]

If you boil it, there's no need to soak it unless it floats. If it floats, then you'll either need to tie it down, or soak it for a while.

 

[Mrduna01]

Ok IC. It's been boiling for an hour or so and the water is pretty brown. Should I keep putting in clean water and re boiling until the water stays clear? I want to avoid turning my tank brown. Thanks for the help!

 

[Mrduna01]

Well one of my smaller loaches just died. I'm actually pretty saddened over it as he was perfectly fine before the change. I checked my water and everything is the same as before the change. Safe level of nitrates, 0 nitrites, and 0 ammonia, no chlorine, stable ph and so forth.

Only thing I can think of is that I accidentally caught him between the tank and the frame of the net while moving him to a bucket. I suppose I may have Injured him somehow. He was acting odd right off the bat once he was back in the tank, just sitting on a rock and showing no activity.

Today the same thing but periodically would fall over on his side and struggle a bit to right himself. His gills were also moving very rapidly. This was when I knew he was on the way out. A couple hours later he left us.

So sad...

All others are doing fine.