Moved existing tank need help

[ronk]

Hi everyone. Been a while since I last posted anything but need some advice. Recently purchased a 92 gallon corner that is fowlr plus a couple snails and starfish. This was an existing up and running tank that has been established for 2 years. For the transport I packed live rock in a bucket filled with tank water sand was left in the tank with a couple gallons of water to cover. I transported about 40 gallons from the old tank and topped off the rest at my house. All live rock and fish had portable air pumps. Live sand did not. Total time from breakdown to getting the fish back into the water was about 3.5 hours. Water parameters were normal. No ammonia 20ppm nitrates. 1 day later we noticed nitrate levels rising. 2 days later we realized a star fish had passed and nitrates were spiked at 160ppm but still 0 ammonia. Doing partial water changes but no really helping. Could the tank have collapsed in that short time? Any other info I need to provide please let me know. Any help is appreciated

 

[coralbandit]

I don't think you have killed the BB.
Did you rinse out the sand or just fill the tank after transport.
That and the star fish are likely cause of nitrates IMO.
If the BB was dead/broken you would have had ammonia not nitrate IMO.

 

[54seaweed]

Hi everyone. Been a while since I last posted anything but need some advice. Recently purchased a 92 gallon corner that is fowlr plus a couple snails and starfish. This was an existing up and running tank that has been established for 2 years. For the transport I packed live rock in a bucket filled with tank water sand was left in the tank with a couple gallons of water to cover. I transported about 40 gallons from the old tank and topped off the rest at my house. All live rock and fish had portable air pumps. Live sand did not. Total time from breakdown to getting the fish back into the water was about 3.5 hours. Water parameters were normal. No ammonia 20ppm nitrates. 1 day later we noticed nitrate levels rising. 2 days later we realized a star fish had passed and nitrates were spiked at 160ppm but still 0 ammonia. Doing partial water changes but no really helping. Could the tank have collapsed in that short time? Any other info I need to provide please let me know. Any help is appreciated

From what I'm reading you did everything to the book , I don't think you lost your BB either , what I am thinking with all the nitrates came from the sand as the water left to keep it wet sloshed around releasing all those nasty gasses,
I would suggest doing a few big water changes as soon as you can to get those nitrates down , that high of nitrate could cause the fish to struggle as the oxygen in the water is compromised , it can lead to death if not addressed , if you do see your fish becoming lethargic , I would probably move them over to a QT tank till you resolve the water issue in your tank as a precaution and prevent any deaths

 

[ronk]

Thank you so much for the info. I kind of had to hear that from someone else. I will continue with larger water changes and monitor multiple times a day.