How sad do you get about your aquarium?

revhtree · Sep 23, 2016

Do you ever just get bummed out like me when it comes to your aquarium!

I mean I have been to the point of almost shedding tears over losing fish or dying corals, etc. Sometimes you fight an algae outbreak or you can't figure out the water chemistry and it just makes you SAD!

The most sad I have ever been was probably the time I was moving a current tank to a new tank and I had all the fish with rock in a brute cans, tubs, etc. One of the cans had an ammonia spike and I lost all the fish that were in the can including some that had been with me for years. Those are the times you want to cry and contemplate giving up.

What's your worst sob story?

Pugfishluv3 · Sep 23, 2016

I had a tank crash it was weird. Never figured out what happened, that part still bothers me years later. The only fish that lived was my puffer and all inverts I had. Lost a damsel, clown fish, flame angel, Saddleback butterfly fish, ugh I know I'm forgetting a few

donnievaz · Sep 23, 2016

I get more mad and frustrated than sad. But then I remember that if this were easy it would be boring.

RyanSweet · Sep 23, 2016

Going through it right now (for the second time).
I lost all my fish to ich. After qt-ing and after 3 months of not adding anything at all. No clue how it came in or who brought it in.

Powder blue (last fish added 3months ago after 8 week copper qt), chocolate tang (in the tank over 6 months), scopas tang (over a year), blue mandarin (over a year), tail spot blenny (over 2 years), and a frostbite clown (over 2 years).

Have 2 fish left, lubbocks wrasse (~2 years) and a blood orange Misbar clown (3 months after qt). I have (and still am) seriously considering selling everything and taking a break but I know I'll miss it. Been in the hobby for 18yrs and in that time only gone about a year without a tank (due to a cross country move, FL back to IN). It's a love hate relationship for sure.

Anirban · Sep 23, 2016

The only time I actually felt really bad was when my only angel fish died. He was one the earliest fish and one day morning I suddenly found him breathing heavy. So I put him in quarantine but he was gone. I felt so sad that decided I will never keep them anymore. He was a model citizen during all his life and never picked a fight or nipped at any coral possibly because he was very small when I got him.

Salty1962 · Sep 23, 2016

Years ago I had a 46G tank and I was vodka dosing. One night I had added my night time dose and everything looked good. The next morning I woke up to a catastrophic algae bloom that robbed all of the oxygen from my tank. Lost all of my fish

I almost hung up having a saltwater tank all together. Live and learn.....

LandenB · Sep 23, 2016

One time my zoa closed up... I almost started crying and couldn't stop fretting about a zoa disease... Then I realized it was just a turbo snail that had touched it while scavenging for algae... new to the hobby and have a feeling it will be a rollercoaster

BummersReef · Sep 23, 2016

No sadness ... yet!! but I love that photo Rev and will think of it when I do have a sadness, which is bound to happen.

DeepBrew · Sep 23, 2016

I've only been doing saltwater for about a year and while there have been several trying events one stands out. About 6 weeks after we added fish to the new tank we had ultra high nitrates caused by my ignorance and lost all of the fish. The reason I decided to set up the tank was because my daughter loves puffers and we had a Fiji puffer that was her special fish. One morning we woke up and it had died. It was terrible, we both sat in front of the tank and cried. It still hurts to think about it.

Ryan Hunter · Sep 23, 2016

Currently loosing the Bryopsis battle and motivation is at an all time low when it comes to the tank these days.

Daniel@R2R · Sep 23, 2016

I get really sad when I see goldfish in a saltwater/reef forum thread...

Paul B · Sep 23, 2016

mdbannister said:
I get really sad when I see goldfish in a saltwater/reef forum thread...

So you can't put goldfish in a reef?

Chris Ferrell · Sep 23, 2016

My saddest time, the Ice storm of 2000 that hit the south. I had a 150 gallon soft coral tank that had been running about 7 years with a yellow tang and and naso that I loved and lost them both. I wasnt prepaired for something like that. All electric house and no generator, lost them all. I was so sad I got out of the hobby but started back about a year and a half ago. I am more prepaired now though.

Brew12 · Sep 23, 2016

I'm sad that Humblefish won't let me put fish in my aquarium yet.

76 day fallow period since I didn't QT my CuC.... grrr!!!! :mad::mad::mad:

Ok, maybe I really just appreciate his advice, as frustrating as it is, since I know it gives my first tank its best chance at success.

pelphrey · Sep 23, 2016

I'm sad that I have a reefer 250 in my living room that is still dry.

I'm mad that I have a nano reef that I was going to pull some of the rock work over to seed the new tank but it has hair algae, tube worms, bubble algae!

Acroporaaddict · Sep 23, 2016

AEFWs make me sad lol watching expensive acro frags RTN because of AEFWs makes me even more sad...

HRBP · Sep 23, 2016

I dont even want to read these all because it will scare me off of re-starting my tank. I just sold my house and have a 4 week layover at my parents until we close on our new home. I was contemplating moving my tank to my parents basement, which would involve a complete break down and drain of the tank, putting all the fish/coral in 5 gallon buckets and holding them there while I did the break down, move, and re-assembly of my tank 15 minutes away.

I made the decision that was best for the fish/coral and sold them to my reef store for store credit. Rocks, coral, fish, and all went to them for a few hundred dollars. I "lost" about half a dozen fish and just as many corals. But in the end it was for the best to do that and ensure they all survived as just the break down of the tank itself and removing all the equipment and what not took several hours. So there's no way they could have survived sitting in those buckets that long.

I'm excited though that I ran the tank for two years with minimal loses and never suffering anything approaching a major crash. I'll be picking up a 2nd hand 120g reef ready tank next month and re-booting with that and my 60g thereafter. So I see it all more as a half step down to take 2 big steps up in my hobby! But if I had a major crash I think I'd have to hang it up for a few months before I could emotionally come back to it, nonetheless the re-investment required.

revhtree · Sep 23, 2016

Paul B said:
So you can't put goldfish in a reef?

HA! No but this fish I posted was sad so he fit right in.

Vdub819 · Sep 23, 2016

For me it's the hippo tang I tried and can't keep this fish I just give up on that fish I can keep other tang just not this one

jwhann6 · Sep 23, 2016

Before I moved to Philadelphia a few months ago I had to break down my nano that had been running for about 3 years. I knew I couldn't set up a tank right away when I moved into my new place so I had to give away my only fish, a b&w clownfish, Frank (see avatar). I didn't think I would be that sad, but it was super sad.