Moving next week…

[LaurieinIA]

I’m probably a little late in asking about this… I am moving to a new town - about 30 miles away - next week.  I have a 75 gal African cichlid tank, a 40 gal planted community setup, and a small betta setup.

Should I do any preventative meds, etc before/after the move?

The cichlids and betta have been 100% healthy for months. no signs of illness. In the community tank, I have lost a couple of Tetras in the last 2-3 months to what appeared to be dropsy… One at a time, spaced weeks apart.

Still trying to figure that issue out, but haven’t treated for anything since the cases seemed mostly isolated and water parameters are stable with regular 25-30% water changes. 

[Zenzo]

No, I see no reason why you would need to use medications as a preventative care unless there is a specific illness/disease that you are trying to treat.

Good luck with the move! 

[lefty o]

agree'd. maybe at most a squirt of stress coat in your fish moving buckets if you are really concerned.

[Odd Duck]

On 9/21/2021 at 2:12 PM, LaurieinIA said:

I’m probably a little late in asking about this… I am moving to a new town - about 30 miles away - next week.  I have a 75 gal African cichlid tank, a 40 gal planted community setup, and a small betta setup.

Should I do any preventative meds, etc before/after the move?

The cichlids and betta have been 100% healthy for months. no signs of illness. In the community tank, I have lost a couple of Tetras in the last 2-3 months to what appeared to be dropsy… One at a time, spaced weeks apart.

Still trying to figure that issue out, but haven’t treated for anything since the cases seemed mostly isolated and water parameters are stable with regular 25-30% water changes. 

No need for meds, just keep the water parameters as pristine as possible before hand so the fish are in top shape before the stress event.  You should test the new tap water and do a comparison to your current tap water and tank water.  If they are different enough, consider taking some water with you for refilling the tanks the first time around.  Then do small water changes until “converted” to the new water.

If the “new” water is close enough, it probably won’t matter.  Chances are very high that the new water will be close enough with that short a move.  If you can drip acclimate in the new tanks, it probably won’t matter, either, unless parameters are wildly different.

[LaurieinIA]

@Odd Duck thanks!  Actually, I plan to take as much existing water with me as possible. Thankful for my pond pump and my local hardware store for letting me borrow trash barrels 😊

I plan to do a water change tonight or tomorrow, then, with the move, it will “theoretically” be like another big water change next weekend.

Right now the new water is liquid rock - to the point that both toilets had to be replaced, etc - but we are having a softener installed on Monday.  I buy RO water for all but the cichlids already, so they should be OK.  I just don’t know how soft the new “soft water” will be, but that’s a simple fix if needed.

 

[Odd Duck]

That’s all good planning,it sounds like you’re setting up for a win.

If you’re buying that much RO water, an RODI unit would pay for itself rapidly.  You’d need a spot where you could put a reservoir/holding tank (AKA heavy duty trash barrel for me), but then you wouldn’t have to buy any water.  With a reservoir, you could get a fairly low cost unit and use a shut off float valve in the barrel. It works well for me.  I do also set a timer and shut off the water to mine once the barrel is full, because I’m paranoid, but it’s been working well so far.

[LaurieinIA]

On 9/21/2021 at 3:53 PM, Odd Duck said:

That’s all good planning,it sounds like you’re setting up for a win.

If you’re buying that much RO water, an RODI unit would pay for itself rapidly.  You’d need a spot where you could put a reservoir/holding tank (AKA heavy duty trash barrel for me), but then you wouldn’t have to buy any water.  With a reservoir, you could get a fairly low cost unit and use a shut off float valve in the barrel. It works well for me.  I do also set a timer and shut off the water to mine once the barrel is full, because I’m paranoid, but it’s been working well so far.

I’ll take an RO system into consideration. I was going to start slowly changing them over to tap water, but held off for some unknown reason. Kind of glad I did now, with the move. I’ll see how the new water comes out and then decide how to move forward. 

[Zenzo]

If it is liquid rock to the point where it damages appliances, investing in an RODI unit may be a good idea. You could even mix the liquid rock tap water with RO water to get the perfect blend! 😁

[LaurieinIA]

On 9/21/2021 at 4:54 PM, Zenzo said:

If it is liquid rock to the point where it damages appliances, investing in an RODI unit may be a good idea. You could even mix the liquid rock tap water with RO water to get the perfect blend! 😁

True… I’ll see what happens when we get there. Honestly, I’m wondering how much of the plumbing issue is lack of maintenance/cleaning by the previous tenant.  Thank you for the input! 

[lefty o]

On 9/21/2021 at 6:39 PM, LaurieinIA said:

True… I’ll see what happens when we get there. Honestly, I’m wondering how much of the plumbing issue is lack of maintenance/cleaning by the previous tenant.  Thank you for the input! 

good thought. it doesnt take much lack of cleaning etc to trash fixtures if you have very hard water.