Feeling defeated

dugthefish · Jun 2, 2019

Wishing I had not jumped so quickly, as I am wont to do in everything, into this amazing hobby. Wishing I had the patience and dedication to succeed in an incredibly demanding and unforgiving pastime. Feeling sad for the beautiful fish that are probably going to die in short order.

Quick recap, I started a 125g reef in October of last year. We had been somewhat successful 15 years ago, keeping a 75 and a couple smaller tanks alive for about 2 years until poor financial decisions forced us out of the hobby. I had dreamed of a 6' tank filled with corals and fish, and had thought about it off and on for many years. Some unexpected money came my way, and I went with it.

In the last 6 months, I built a beautiful tank, full of colorful corals and fish. I had battled dinoflagellates and won. I had seen my LPS corals grow new heads, zoas spread across rocks, fish swim into my hands as I feed or clean the tank. Built a pretty cool custom stand, light hood, basement water change station. I sit and watch for literally hours; as I type this, I'm sitting in my office chair that I dragged into the living room months ago for a comfy viewing seat.

When I woke up this morning, I found 3 fish covered in white spots, swimming into powerheads, scratching the rocks. Several others are showing spots as well, of what I believe is velvet. Of course I panicked, got together a quickie hospital tank/fallow plan, and began scouring Amazon and BRS for supplies.

Took a break to watch the NASCAR race, while my mind began playing out the steps that needed to happen. Find a big enough tank to comfortably hold most of my fish for 3 months; some smallet could go in the 20g QT. Now i have to **CATCH** the fish. OMG, I'm going to have to dismantle the entire rock structure to get them all out. ARRRRGH, it took me 2 days to get all those rocks mortared together. I'm gonna have to pull all the corals off that I've glued down and have begun to encrust. I'm sure I'll lose corals, to hopefully save SOME fish. And the cost. And the time. And I've got 12 hour days coming up for the next 3 months. I'm really feeling defeated.

IDK what I'm going to do. Just needed to vent a little and maybe get my thoughts in order. Thanks for listening.

Big G · Jun 2, 2019

Hang in there! Had a whole tank get velvet and then bacterial infection bombed awhile back. So sad for those beautiful fish. The whole tank. Nothing left. Fallowed the tank. And then slowly QT'd everything that has been going into the tank - everything: sand, corals, fish, inverts, chaeto . . . everything. It seems like it is taking forever to get to my dream tank. But alas, nothing good happens fast in this hobby. It's just too bad you and me got caught in this crazy epidemic of disease and parasites running rampant in the supply chain. But I do appreciate the little successes (and a few setbacks LOL) as the tank slowly develops. So hang in there.

SinCityRee4r · Jun 2, 2019

Keep your head up! I just went through this. get yourself a few brute 44 gal cans and pump the water down until there is very little water for the fish to escape. after you catch them all pump the water all back in. only thing I lost was a large waving hand colony. I did not have to touch my rock work. thank god! Good Luck!! I lost 10 of 14 of my fish to velvet.

o00brandon00o · Jun 2, 2019

dugthefish said:
Wishing I had not jumped so quickly, as I am wont to do in everything, into this amazing hobby. Wishing I had the patience and dedication to succeed in an incredibly demanding and unforgiving pastime. Feeling sad for the beautiful fish that are probably going to die in short order.

Quick recap, I started a 125g reef in October of last year. We had been somewhat successful 15 years ago, keeping a 75 and a couple smaller tanks alive for about 2 years until poor financial decisions forced us out of the hobby. I had dreamed of a 6' tank filled with corals and fish, and had thought about it off and on for many years. Some unexpected money came my way, and I went with it.

In the last 6 months, I built a beautiful tank, full of colorful corals and fish. I had battled dinoflagellates and won. I had seen my LPS corals grow new heads, zoas spread across rocks, fish swim into my hands as I feed or clean the tank. Built a pretty cool custom stand, light hood, basement water change station. I sit and watch for literally hours; as I type this, I'm sitting in my office chair that I dragged into the living room months ago for a comfy viewing seat.

When I woke up this morning, I found 3 fish covered in white spots, swimming into powerheads, scratching the rocks. Several others are showing spots as well, of what I believe is velvet. Of course I panicked, got together a quickie hospital tank/fallow plan, and began scouring Amazon and BRS for supplies.

Took a break to watch the NASCAR race, while my mind began playing out the steps that needed to happen. Find a big enough tank to comfortably hold most of my fish for 3 months; some smallet could go in the 20g QT. Now i have to **CATCH** the fish. OMG, I'm going to have to dismantle the entire rock structure to get them all out. ARRRRGH, it took me 2 days to get all those rocks mortared together. I'm gonna have to pull all the corals off that I've glued down and have begun to encrust. I'm sure I'll lose corals, to hopefully save SOME fish. And the cost. And the time. And I've got 12 hour days coming up for the next 3 months. I'm really feeling defeated.

IDK what I'm going to do. Just needed to vent a little and maybe get my thoughts in order. Thanks for listening.

@dugthefish We hear ya bro! Keep up the good work, live and learn!

Do you have a fav driver?

Xam · Jun 2, 2019

Sad bro

are you sure its velvet? Could be flukes?

flchamp89 · Jun 2, 2019

You have proven to be a successful reefer from your past tank and this one. You got this. This is just a speed bump.

LovesDogs_CatsRokay · Jun 2, 2019

Do your fish come to the top to eat? It can be pretty easy to scoop them up while they’re distracted by food sometimes.

Demonic · Jun 2, 2019

Ups and downs. Don’t let it get to you, bounce back... you got this.

sghera64 · Jun 2, 2019

What do you feed the fish? What do you feed the tank?

dugthefish · Jun 2, 2019

I could drain the water, dismantle some of the rock work, disrupt the whole tank, probably lose some corals....to HOPEFULLY save some of the fish. I found a 75 gal 5 minutes away, have it up and running maybe tomorrow, possibly get most of the fish it by Tuesday or Wednesday, at the cost of a couple hundred bucks. I just started a large road construction project that will require me working from 530am to 6-8pm until completed, scheduled in August, so it's going to be tough to have time and energy after work for an endeavor this size.

Or I could just let nature take its course (from my own mistakes), survive with the ecosystem and inverts intact, run fallow for 80 days, and reset. I probably have twice the monetary value in corals and inverts as I do in fish. If any fish survive, I could just manage until winter, at which point I would have the time and energy to do a full QT protocol and fallow the DT

KrisReef · Jun 2, 2019

dugthefish said:
I could drain the water, dismantle some of the rock work, disrupt the whole tank, probably lose some corals....to HOPEFULLY save some of the fish. I found a 75 gal 5 minutes away, have it up and running maybe tomorrow, possibly get most of the fish it by Tuesday or Wednesday, at the cost of a couple hundred bucks. I just started a large road construction project that will require me working from 530am to 6-8pm until completed, scheduled in August, so it's going to be tough to have time and energy after work for an endeavor this size.

Or I could just let nature take its course (from my own mistakes), survive with the ecosystem and inverts intact, run fallow for 80 days, and reset. I probably have twice the monetary value in corals and inverts as I do in fish. If any fish survive, I could just manage until winter, at which point I would have the time and energy to do a full QT protocol and fallow the DT

Based upon your schedule this sounds like your best option. If you are going to QT in the future it makes sense to set that up before you buy any new fish. Take it all slow and take care of what survives; you have to survive a long job ahead, be safe on Iowa's roads and put the tank on the back burner while you do. GL

Xam · Jun 2, 2019

Can I have your stuff?

Sorry, that's an old gamer joke meant, in retrospective, to give the person about to quit a little hit of anger thus provoking new vigor to keep on keeping on.

I really hope you dont quit bro, from your writing it sounds pretty Eor'ish/down and out.

You can do it!!!!!

bluprntguy · Jun 2, 2019

Sorry to hear this. Been there though. Had live rocks strewn all over the living room at 2am trying to get the last fish out. Seems like you have a plan.

dugthefish · Jun 2, 2019

Makes me feel terrible to resign my fish to probable death.

Hemmdog · Jun 2, 2019

I’d observe and not over react just yet. I had a stress ich flare up a few weeks ago, I thought it might be velvet, I was so worried and very sad about my fish and tank feeling defeated as you said. As of now all the fish are healed, healthy looking, eating tons, ich free. It all started from a few hot days in a row got my tank temp to high. I just fed small amounts of high quality frozen foods 4 times a day, nothing else.

Big G · Jun 2, 2019

dugthefish said:
Makes me feel terrible to resign my fish to probable death.

You could setup a temporary container like a large rubbermaid water trough . . . . Doesn't have to be an aquarium.

Mariette · Jun 2, 2019

You have 2 good options as set out above:

1 - hemdog’s suggestion of leaving fish in and just focusing on nutrition. Surviving fish will build immunity

2 - the brute container route to drain the tank and catch the fish.

I’ve been there. Twice. But w smaller tanks, no corals, and rocks not glued. both came at bad times, and both ended in disaster, but I made it through. I’ve got my DT running fallow as we speak. Instead of tearing it down, I decided to upgrade. Point I’m making is this: not all is lost. You have options.

It seems to me that you get much too much enjoyment from your tank to give up now. Hang in there.

Purplelobst92 · Jun 3, 2019

dugthefish said:
Wishing I had not jumped so quickly, as I am wont to do in everything, into this amazing hobby. Wishing I had the patience and dedication to succeed in an incredibly demanding and unforgiving pastime. Feeling sad for the beautiful fish that are probably going to die in short order.

Quick recap, I started a 125g reef in October of last year. We had been somewhat successful 15 years ago, keeping a 75 and a couple smaller tanks alive for about 2 years until poor financial decisions forced us out of the hobby. I had dreamed of a 6' tank filled with corals and fish, and had thought about it off and on for many years. Some unexpected money came my way, and I went with it.

In the last 6 months, I built a beautiful tank, full of colorful corals and fish. I had battled dinoflagellates and won. I had seen my LPS corals grow new heads, zoas spread across rocks, fish swim into my hands as I feed or clean the tank. Built a pretty cool custom stand, light hood, basement water change station. I sit and watch for literally hours; as I type this, I'm sitting in my office chair that I dragged into the living room months ago for a comfy viewing seat.

When I woke up this morning, I found 3 fish covered in white spots, swimming into powerheads, scratching the rocks. Several others are showing spots as well, of what I believe is velvet. Of course I panicked, got together a quickie hospital tank/fallow plan, and began scouring Amazon and BRS for supplies.

Took a break to watch the NASCAR race, while my mind began playing out the steps that needed to happen. Find a big enough tank to comfortably hold most of my fish for 3 months; some smallet could go in the 20g QT. Now i have to **CATCH** the fish. OMG, I'm going to have to dismantle the entire rock structure to get them all out. ARRRRGH, it took me 2 days to get all those rocks mortared together. I'm gonna have to pull all the corals off that I've glued down and have begun to encrust. I'm sure I'll lose corals, to hopefully save SOME fish. And the cost. And the time. And I've got 12 hour days coming up for the next 3 months. I'm really feeling defeated.

IDK what I'm going to do. Just needed to vent a little and maybe get my thoughts in order. Thanks for listening.

Always quarantine for atleast 2 weeks too a month, it sucks but its better than having an epidemic of new world proportions.

jccaclimber · Jun 3, 2019

I would rush order a fish trap (assuming there isn't one in your local club) before I tore the rocks out of my tank.
Not worth the cost to buy a new one that's big enough just for this, but you might see if anyone in your local club as a really huge UV sterilizer laying around. I used to know a guy who kept a 50 W unit sitting in his closet for emergencies. It won't cure things, but it won't hurt either.

CrissyCoralsGirl · Jun 3, 2019

This hobby is very challenging and rewarding. I have been doing for over 3 years now and I learn something new everyday. The reef will present a set of new challenges no matter how long you have been reefing. DONT GIVE UP!!