We followed pretty much the same procedure as last time. First we caught all the fish and put them into a 5-gallon bucket. We put a sheet of plastic film over the water surface in an attempt to reduce sloshing.
Then we drained the rest of the water and packed everything up in the trunk of the Golf for the 6-hour drive down to LA (well, 5:21 plus a lunch break).
At the other end, Oto was really freaked out. When we tried to net him out of the bucket, he wiggled furiously away, bashing his head quite audibly against the bucket walls. We ended up pouring him out of the bucket. The other fish were more cooperative (or possibly just stupider...if you put the net anywhere near them, the rasboras would sometimes accidentally swim in). Everybody was a little paler than usual. A bunch of the plant leaves had dried out during the drive, so perhaps next time we should cover the top of the tank to reduce evaporation.
Between the bucket and whatever was left over in the tank, I only needed to add 2 gallons of new water. We've been having some trouble with the LA tap water (too hard), so I put in distilled. Ammonium levels went up during the trip (I'm thinking probably from the plants), so we'll keep an eye on that.
Update (3/20): Ammonium levels around 0.25 ppm; took out some of the dying plants and did a 1 gallon water change.
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