Vacation Disaster...Need to Vent

[dbraun15]

I'm away with my family in Orlando...went to Discovery Cove yesterday(if you haven't been, you need to go--1,000,000 gallon lagoon with over 1000 fish, over 100 different species). Had a great time with kids snorkeling etc. That came to a crashing halt last night as my tank sitter goes to my house last night to check on things and finds all fish(except. Clowns) dead. I "had" a 10" Mertensii nem that decides to move and must have gone into a Vortech and got shredded releasing nemocysts killing all fish...I'm absolutely sick to my stomach and won't know the true damage until I get home Sunday...I pray that I don't have a complete crash...why is it that stuff like this seems to happen while on vacation? End rant...thanks for listening!

 

[erky]

it only happens when you are away from the house, only bad things happen when i am 600 miles away from my tank...

 

[Opus]

it only happens when you are away from the house, only bad things happen when i am 600 miles away from my tank...

So true. Living in Texas I rarely have to worry about cold weather. Several years ago before I had a thermostat I could control from my phone we went to visit the parents for Thanksgiving. We were gone for 5 days. It was in the 80's when we left and I didn't really think to check the weather and really couldn't have done anything if I had. During the couple of days we were gone we went from the 80's to the 20's and snow. Of course at the same time my heater in my 30gal tank decides to stop working. When I got home the tank was in the 50's. I lost almost everything except a few zoas and a brittle star. I've basically ignored the tank ever since then.

 

[Taylor t]

Ugh. I had the same thing happen. I had a 24” mertens. 11am I left for for work and all was well. 4pm I come home to all my fish face first on the opposite side of the tank, in the sand, almost like they were trying to escape. Clowns breathing hard but recovered. Mertens went for a walk 2’ away and shredded a chunk in the mp40. Mertens recovered, but lost all the fish and a handful of sps. It took a couple weeks for everything else to settle down. I had trouble keeping it from walking after that for a little while.

I feel your pain.

 

[Taylor t]

My skimmer overflowed all the nasty back into the tank. I adjusted it to really dry so it didn’t overflow. Took a while to get the slimmer adjusted back to where it was.

 

[pecan2phat]

Get one of these for your Vortech.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

dang, feel your pain. How are the Gig and Haddoni? Tried asking if anyone on LARC could swing by and hook up a carbon reactor?

 

[dbraun15]

Get one of these for your Vortech.

The nem was settled in the middle of the tank and had been for 10+ mos...it had to walk about 3' in either direction...really sucks.

 

[dbraun15]

dang, feel your pain. How are the Gig and Haddoni? Tried asking if anyone on LARC could swing by and hook up a carbon reactor?

I checked with Bobby, but he's out of town too. I am so frustrated and haven't really thought more about it. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Coronus]

Get one of these for your Vortech.

Where did you get that!

 

[dbraun15]

dang, feel your pain. How are the Gig and Haddoni? Tried asking if anyone on LARC could swing by and hook up a carbon reactor?

Bobby is going to run over there tonight on his way home. Fingers crossed that this isn't a total loss.

 

[Tmm87]

Where did you get that!

They're available on Ebay and some other places online. $20+ depending on size last time I looked.

 

[hyprc]

Where did you get that!

Looks 3d printed

 

[Dennis McGrath]

Get one of these for your Vortech.

That looks like it was printed on a 3D printer?

 

[davocean]

If it were me I'd try to get someone to pull anything surviving and get in a qt or holding tank, if that's an option, and get carbon on main tank to try to clean out toxins

 

[dbraun15]

Just got a phone call from my buddy who ran to my house...looks like all tangs(clown, Kole, orange shoulder, and scopus), royal gramma, 2 azure damsels, lyretail hawk are all gone. Mertensii must have been pretty much liquified...thank God all corals and other nems seem fine. Silver lining I guess.

 

[Radman73]

That sucks, and Murphy's Law is alive and well for reefkeepers. Nothing bad ever happens on a Sunday afternoon when I take the time to just sit and watch my tank lol! Always when we're away. Good luck and hope you can save as much as possible.

 

[dbraun15]

Pics he sent...all things considered, could have been a lot worse! Thanks for the moral support fellas!

 

[dbraun15]

If it were me I'd try to get someone to pull anything surviving and get in a qt or holding tank, if that's an option, and get carbon on main tank to try to clean out toxins

Carbon running as I type!

 

[davocean]

Not bad , could have been so much worse