How sad do you get about your aquarium?

[mgoesma]

Well this form has bummed me out. I think this feed is the safest Esperance I have had so fare. That and this bacteria that won't go away no matter what I do.

 

[jasonrusso]

Well this form has bummed me out. I think this feed is the safest Esperance I have had so fare. That and this bacteria that won't go away no matter what I do.

Bacteria, like everything else, will go away after whatever their food source is gone. If you figure out what the food source is and remove it, the bacteria will die.

 

[cracker]

Way back when I didn't know better I put a real cool little robin fish I collected from the sea. I caught it on a tiny gold hook ( barb flattened ) at the boat ramp. In one week the entire tank at least 10 fish were gone ! clowns tangs puffer trigger lionfish, all wiped out. I even had a bat fish. That saddened me. Most times I get just very frustrated cause I can't figure out how to solve an issue. I'll never give up though. I've kept salt tanks since I was a teen in the late 70's.

 

[Rcfiftyone]

Reefkeeping can be a emotionally and financially draining hobby for sure. Im not even sure that "hobby" is the right word for it. Ive spent thousands of dollars and probably as many hours in an effort to keep all these creatures alive and thriving. Sometimes my best efforts werent enough and they died anyway. Its the failures that make success that much sweeter.

Easy to say when everything is going well....

 

[jasonrusso]

So the Robinfish killed the other fish?

 

[cracker]

Oh Sorry it carried some disease they all became covered with a white fuzz !

 

[Cpt.Flatspot]

Sad, frustrated even mad. I am in the hobby for a year and still have a lot to learn. I did not realize that a clown fish can be a bully(3 fish dead). Currently my Parazoanthus are slowly dying and I have no clue whats going on. So yes, I get close to wanting to give up. But then, when I look at the tank and how it has developed - and lets be honest, the money I spent - I refuse do do so and am determined to get my tank to be awesome.

 

[Susan Bates]

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?

I have shed many a tear, my tank crushed once, I had a anemone get chopped up in the wave maker, turned the tank to milk, had a very big blue tang i had from baby jump out on the floor also a green dragnet,when i was cleaning the tank, had pump heater and wave maker break down in 3 days and the list go's on......

 

[PJS]

It was 2006, I had been sick for a year and a half and had to move into my sisters. While in the hospital my friends and family moved most of my stuff into storage and broke my 125 down and moved it into my sisters. It was just after Christmas, I'd been living there for about 2 months and had just received a life saving heart transplant when we had a ice storm that left us powerless for 8 days. I threw all the blankets I had over the tank and went and stayed at a friends house until the power was restored. When I returned home I knew the tank inhabitants were dead and was really down about it, I just couldn't find the motivation to remove the blankets and deal with the loss. As I sat on my chair next to the tank watching TV I heard a sound I was quite familiar with, the sound of the lone survivor, a hermit crab shell tapping the glass. It motivated me to clean up the tank and restock. It was a sad loss with a bright side, the crab and I both got a second chance. Life is good!

 

[KillKennyTank]

OMG where do I begin ? So let me start with I still want to cry over this. It's been almost 9 months and I still have no tank. I had let a friend move in to help her out, and all was good so I thought. I had a 46 bow front tank that was well established with a 20 gallon sump under, power heads, lots of corals & 7 fish. I also was getting ready to start up anew 72 bow front with a custom stand and hood with a new refugium, new reef octopus skimmer, 2 new vortech MP40 power heads, 2 new Kessil ap700 LED lights and all the other goodies that go along with it. Plus a complete RO/DI Seachem water filtration system that can make a 100 gallons a day.
So I teach this person how to feed the fish, do water changes, and take care of all the stuff that goes with having a reef tank. Now this is where it get's really good !
I have to go out of town to take care of my father for a month and a half in another state. In the meantime I am talking to her every few days and checking on the tank. she is saying that it is doing great and I'm checking on it with my phone at the same time and all is looking like she is saying. So into the middle of the fourth week I get a alarm from my phone that I have a power loss. I try to call her and no answer, to no avail. OMG ! what the heck is going on I am starting to think. So I finally get ahold of her some four hours later on but i'm still good for now because I have it all covered because of the battery back up. She says that she is not home but will get there to take care of it in a bit. Okay so I go to bed and think life is great.
So the next day when I get my sorry butt out of bed, it show that I still have no power. Now I'm really upset ! so I thought ! Again I go to calling her, but by this time I start to think the world has just ended. I finally do talk to her by the end of the day and she tells me that all is ok but that there was a alarm still going off on my controller so she just unplugged it well sounded great to me. So life is still great and all is good.

So now is the time that I'm getting ready to go home and see my fishies and tank that I have missed ! Now that's it's been six and a half weeks since I have seen the little fellas and all my hard work. So anyways I get to my house just to find that she had moved out and Taken all my stuff with her ! what the heck is going on in my head ! By now I'm starting to get really sick. So I start to call her and find out what the heck is Happening ! Again no Flipping answer ! Next call is to the Police. After an hour of waiting here they come. I proceed to tell them that I have been out of town and so on. They take a report and say that they will get in touch with me the next day. Well I do hear from the Detective the next day and go to asking what I can do plus he asks a lot of questions after about an hour of talking to him he comes over to see for himself and take pics. Now that he is there all he sees an empty house ! So he asks what the heck and I say the same thing to him. So now it has been almost nine months and I can't find her, my fish, my tanks or any of my stuff from the house. I have filed with the state to try and serve her with grand theft, but to no avail this low life is nowhere to be found ! One day she will be found !
So as of now I have to start all over from scratch. The only thing I have is the clothes on my back and the things I had with me. I only work part time for now and can't even start a new tank at all, and I loved this hobby so dang much ! I wish that I could get me a new redsea reefer system like a 450 and all the goodies that go with it but that is just a pipe dream now days ! I will never be able to recover over this crushing blow ! It was the most devastating day of my life ! The worst thing that there is, is all this is just getting to get so expensive to start over ! Well that's what you get for trying to help a mother and her kids ! Well thanks for reading my super sad story ! THAT'S WHAT I CALL SAD !

 

[Debramb]

Wow, that's terrible, a friend told me if you curse ( or screw a person) someone, it'll come back on you 3 fold! She's got it coming! Why not post a photo of her to the good people here? Maybe she'll turn up!!
My bad experience was our first SW tank back in '82. 55 gal, newlywed for a yr and moved from NY to Fort Worth. Got it set up, put beautiful carpet anemone and clown fish and would just adore. Only testing was at LFS and it rocked on about 6 months, both died! It wasn't till 89, new house new aquarium and many fish later was my fav female Naso who looked me right in the face and air kissed! Had her 7 or 8 yrs and would eat out of our hands. Sad didn't begin to explain our loss. I agree with many of people here about all these sick fish, REALLY never lost new fish. Just acclimated and enjoyed!!

 

[Philip Chin]

I get sad when I lost a coral or two due to my lack of attention ! Also I get very sad when my favorite fish, jawfishes go carpet surfing. I must try harder to keep them safe and my corals safe!!

 

[vlangel]

I have had fish tanks all my life and salt water since the late 90s. I have managed to avoid any all out crashes and my fish if they make it through the initial acclimation period live for years and years. I am currently keeping seahorses and my pair would have been with me for 2 years Oct 2nd. However about 3 weeks ago I added my hand raised captive bred clownfish (who is 7 years old) and the sand from its tank. My male seahorse Adam got popeye, probably from the sand being dirtier than I thought. He died 8 days later and I still feel heart sick over it. When I look in the tank and Eve is hitched all by herself it makes me really sad. I do plan to add another pair of ponies when I am sure the tank is safe and settled.

 

[cracker]

Honestly, If this was easy ,I'd get bored with it . It's the challenge !

 

[jgvergo]

Lost an LTA to a powerhead (( It really bothered me b/c it was totally my fault. It was very healthy and growing well for a couple of months. I changed the flow in the tank and it started moving around. One morning I woke up and it had been shredded was the worst day of the hobby for me.

 

[Leen]

When I lost my Clarion Angel due to uncontrollable heat during summer here in our country, that even my chiller compressor burned out -- broke down!

 

[Steadyreef42]

I've been battling dinoflagellates since I pretty much started up my 40 gallon. Even though I've got them contained to mostly my sump , I still have a lot on my sand bed and a little bit on my corals . Pretty depressing

 

[ShawnS1974]

My current tank is moody with me, and it can be a love hate relationship. When it originally went online, I had transferred everything from a 75g after the cycle was complete. 4 months later I had a large battle with bryopsis, and all of the fish passed on top of it. New rock and started the system over... Then for the last three years there has been some ups and downs until the last 4 months I had serious equipment failures one right after another. Lighting system fried, return pump fried, also the rke failed. We are still talking, but there are days...

 

[twilliard]

I am bummed as I type David.
Looking at my tank saddens me that there is a lack of life and diverse colors.
My 2 fish are lonely.
Rock.. gosh there just is not enough.
I tell my wife, Mindy, that my tank saddens me just by looking at it. It's empty.

That is saddening.
To top it off I have started full time college.
In time my tank will not be sad but will turn into vibrant.

That is my story

 

[Thle009]

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

Have you consider stocking lettuce slug? I heard they are good for that.