Dealing with setbacks and frustration

[Lavey29]

Hi Everyone, I am still new to the reefing hobby but totally fascinated and in love (I thought) with this beautiful hobby. My tank has been up and running 6 months so it is far from mature and I have been taking my time trying to learn the ins and outs and adding fish and corals slowly. Basic easy care fish and good easy starter corals also. I routinely check my water and keep up diligently on my tank maintenance. Several months back I had a brook outbreak in the tank which was surprising because I paid a premium for extensive QT fish. This wiped out pretty much everything. Now recently, I appear to have a major BJD outbreak among my corals. I only buy from well established vendors here and always dip prior to adding them in so not sure how this disease got into the tank.

Anyways, I am so bummed out now and am wondering how you deal with the frustration of this hobby and the setbacks you encounter? I see a gazillion posts where people are having troubles such as algae, corals dying, fish disease, etc... Doesn't it just really bother you and make you want to give up sometimes? I see people who tear down their tanks and start over. How do you know it will be better the second time around? At what point do the setbacks just outweigh the positives? I am so bummed now as corals are withering away. Yes, I have pulled some because they were to far gone and have tried the various BJD dips that are listed on here to see if some can be saved. Everything about my water is in perfect parameter range now and with the exception of some minor patches of hair algae, the tank is perfectly clear and functioning properly yet I am about to have another big setback. I don't have a lot of corals so it is not like my wallet is getting wiped out to to it is so frustrating. I just can't seem to catch a break.

Any recommendations are appreciated.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

Really only thing to do is learn what you can from the lesson and move on. As anything in life, you only fail when you quit.

 

[N.Sreefer]

It gets easier as your tank matures you'll have less and less problems. Once coralline covers your rock completely algae has a harder time taking hold and once your frags grow into colony's they'll be alot more forgiving and less prone to disease. I struggled immensely on my first tank to the point of contemplating going back to just fresh herps and amphibians. But eventually the struggle ended and my tank never gave me any problems for years. Until the seam gave and it flooded my livingroom...

 

[PeterC99]

We have all been there - every reefer goes through these stages!

I highly recommend finding yourself an experienced mentor to assist you. Finding that knowledgeable reefer who's been through all the issues will help you avoid or at least better manage many of the pitfalls.

 

[Lavey29]

Really only thing to do is learn what you can from the lesson and move on. As anything in life, you only fail when you quit.

True but at some point cost outweighs the effort. I am not at that point yet but disappointed in my results thus far.

 

[Lavey29]

We have all been there - every reefer goes through these stages!

I highly recommend finding yourself an experienced mentor to assist you. Finding that knowledgeable reefer who's been through all the issues will help you avoid or at least better manage many of the pitfalls.

Thats why I am here with 10000000000's of experienced reefers and soaking in their knowledge as best I can.

 

[Lavey29]

It gets easier as your tank matures you'll have less and less problems. Once coralline covers your rock completely algae has a harder time taking hold and once your frags grow into colony's they'll be alot more forgiving and less prone to disease. I struggled immensely on my first tank to the point of contemplating going back to just fresh herps and amphibians. But eventually the struggle ended and my tank never gave me any problems for years. Until the seam gave and it flooded my livingroom...

I got excited reading the first part of your post and then the last part killed me. I am sorry that happened and that certainly is a big setback but yet you strive on, good for you.

 

[N.Sreefer]

I got excited reading the first part of your post and then the last part killed me. I am sorry that happened and that certainly is a big setback but yet you strive on, good for you.

I just used it as an excuse to upgrade to a bigger system . Reefing is an addiction theres no escape!

 

[neonreef3d]

That feeling does not go away in this hobby, its sad but true.... living thing die off, weather its your fault or not, does not matter. The only thing to do is try to understand what happened, by- testing water- keeping track of your numbers always helps. If your tank is new. the best thing to do is spend your money on live rock pieces and put them in our display tank, or in a refugium.

Perhaps a reefer in your area is willing to sell or trade for live rock.
I found some reefers in my town i was able to link up with; I got some live rock which helps a lot. and some macro algae in the refugium tank.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

learn to leave your tank alone and you'll be happier. You've had 2 years worth of problems in 6 months, that tells me you went way to fast. Just add one thing per month to your tank, let your tank adjust for a month, add something else. Having an aquarium is a multi-year thing, 6 months is nothing. At the 6 month mark of my tank, I had only 3 fish and a handful of cheap "tester" frags. I'm sorry if I'm preaching, I find I do that more as I get older, but I think you are just being impatient. Anyway, wish you good luck.

 

[ZoWhat]

Comment on this statement

A major problem with Reefing IMO is; to be successful at Reefing corals, you have to be within an acceptable range of SIMULATING the NSW found in nature reefs. Not the NSW found at the end of some pier in Florida or California. But NSW in very exotic reefs in very specific locales in the world...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Isopod80]

Thats why I am here with 10000000000's of experienced reefers and soaking in their knowledge as best I can.

You can avoid alot of setbacks, including some you mentioned, by setting up a small quarantine tank for new arrivals. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just a cheap 10 gallon. Cycle it and add new arrivals for 30 days to monitor them before placing in the display. Most issues from the store will be evident within that time frame. Alot of treatments can't be done safely in the display anyway. There are loads of threads on quarantine setups on here to help. I wouldn't trust a stores quarantine unless I knew them personally.

 

[blaxsun]

In my experience, quarantined fish... usually aren’t. You can either be reactive (setup a QT tank yourself) or proactive (get a UV, reef-safe medication and plan for not if but when things go sideways).

There was a really good post I read not that long ago by a biologist who worked at several major aquariums, and his philosophy was to basically assume something was going to happen and plan for it as opposed to trying to prevent it from happening in the first place which almost always proves impossible (I’m paraphrasing poorly, but you get the idea).

I just got over a recent velvet outbreak that cost me a 1/3 of my fish in 48 hours, almost killed another 1/3 and took a good 1-1.5 months for the surviving to fully recover. It was introduced by way of a QT fish that had had a full copper treatment. Sometimes certain strains are immune, and that’s what apparently happened with me.

I feel your pain. Hang in there!

 

[Blumy]

Hey it’s BTR at RDP. What got BJD? Torches? They are cool as hell but fickle in my opinion. Don’t tend to ship well. My first go around was softies and zoas and the like. Went though various algae issues but eventually the softies overwhelmed the tank covering every inch of rock. At 3 years I ditched all the rock and added new rock a local guy had that was in a sump for over 7 years. Had to kill a few aptasia that popped up but no biggie. Got a bunch of bumblebee snails for the vermitid snails. They worked. After a month and a half, started with some of the easier SPS. Guess what? They took off. Got more and more and now have a successful SPS dominant tank. Moral of the story, time. Live rock helps too. In another year or so you’ll be getting $200 acros and crossing you fingers they make it but when they do…

 

[Lavey29]

Hey it’s BTR at RDP. What got BJD? Torches? They are cool as hell but fickle in my opinion. Don’t tend to ship well. My first go around was softies and zoas and the like. Went though various algae issues but eventually the softies overwhelmed the tank covering every inch of rock. At 3 years I ditched all the rock and added new rock a local guy had that was in a sump for over 7 years. Had to kill a few aptasia that popped up but no biggie. Got a bunch of bumblebee snails for the vermitid snails. They worked. After a month and a half, started with some of the easier SPS. Guess what? They took off. Got more and more and now have a successful SPS dominant tank. Moral of the story, time. Live rock helps too. In another year or so you’ll be getting $200 acros and crossing you fingers they make it but when they do…

Beautiful tank, I'm sitting here watching an 8 head ausi torch with a cool neon green base wither away and it used to huge the size of a cantelope. First noticed it on my big duncan colony, then my dragon soul torch closed up and died, then a hammer closed up. Now my larger torch corals are closing up.

 

[Lavey29]

In my experience, quarantined fish... usually aren’t. You can either be reactive (setup a QT tank yourself) or proactive (get a UV, reef-safe medication and plan for not if but when things go sideways).

There was a really good post I read not that long ago by a biologist who worked at several major aquariums, and his philosophy was to basically assume something was going to happen and plan for it as opposed to trying to prevent it from happening in the first place which almost always proves impossible (I’m paraphrasing poorly, but you get the idea).

I just got over a recent velvet outbreak that cost me a 1/3 of my fish in 48 hours, almost killed another 1/3 and took a good 1-1.5 months for the surviving to fully recover. It was introduced by way of a QT fish that had had a full copper treatment. Sometimes certain strains are immune, and that’s what apparently happened with me.

I feel your pain. Hang in there!

It's a local service so I'm able to see the QT process and it thoroughly covers all the requirements to ensure quality healthy fish. I wouldn't mind adding a UV to my set up and have researched it. I do have extra equipment, various medications , small emergency QT tank available, etc...

 

[Lavey29]

You can avoid alot of setbacks, including some you mentioned, by setting up a small quarantine tank for new arrivals. It doesn't have to be anything fancy. Just a cheap 10 gallon. Cycle it and add new arrivals for 30 days to monitor them before placing in the display. Most issues from the store will be evident within that time frame. Alot of treatments can't be done safely in the display anyway. There are loads of threads on quarantine setups on here to help. I wouldn't trust a stores quarantine unless I knew them personally.

Yes, but it's more convenient to have a local LFS do it and their methods cover all the requirements to ensure healthy fish but nothing is ever 100% guaranteed. When you order the fish the process begins. About 30 days later I go pick them up.

 

[ninjamyst]

Bad stuff happens. My tank is 7 years old and I just lost 6 heads of Indo gold torch for no reason. Other heads are fine. Other torches are fine. Nothing changed with my tank. People assumes stable water parameters is all it takes but we literally have a living ecosystem confined in a glass tank in our living room. There's so much more going on in the tank than can be tested. I learnt to just ride it out. Been through so many pests, so many semi crashes. Now if things go wrong, I don't overreact. I just let things be.

 

[Lavey29]

learn to leave your tank alone and you'll be happier. You've had 2 years worth of problems in 6 months, that tells me you went way to fast. Just add one thing per month to your tank, let your tank adjust for a month, add something else. Having an aquarium is a multi-year thing, 6 months is nothing. At the 6 month mark of my tank, I had only 3 fish and a handful of cheap "tester" frags. I'm sorry if I'm preaching, I find I do that more as I get older, but I think you are just being impatient. Anyway, wish you good luck.

I have 2 fish and maybe 8 beginner level LPS and softies. I have a lot of successful freshwater experience and did a lot of research before going into reefing. My tank itself seems to be going through the evolution process fine its just these major fish disease and coral disease issues that have risen up and really affected major portions of the evolution. I know I'm not alone in these problems but it is very disappointing

 

[anthonygf]

All good advice so far. You have only been in this hobby for six months, slow down. I have been reefing for 6-7 years and still have some setbacks, but I won't give up. If your fish are doing fine now just take care of them for a few months, get your algae under control, let the coraline algae increase throughout your tank. If you can give us all the water parameters you are testing, you may think it is all good but you may be missing something, happens to me still.