It was this big... Now its this big...

Sean Clark · Mar 20, 2023

Wow, that is rough. You'll pull through and be stronger on the otherside of all this.

Nate Chalk · Mar 20, 2023

Cheers

F i s h y · Mar 20, 2023

Nate Chalk said:
Cheers

Every time I see Busch I hear the commercials... Buuuusssscccchhhhhh

Nate Chalk · Mar 20, 2023

F i s h y said:
Every time I see Busch I hear the commercials... Buuuusssscccchhhhhh

We do it for the farmers. Taco Tues on a Monday. Needed it.

crusso1993 · Mar 21, 2023

F i s h y said:
I have been reluctant to post any of the not so fun things that have been happening in my reefing life... But i think truth in reefing is important so here are a few of the not so great things that have happened recently. Im mostly writing this as a reminder to myself that sometimes bad things happen even when everything seems to be going really well. And that it is a reminder to enjoy the best parts of reefing when you can, accept the worst parts when they happen, and remember that is part of the passion. Fixing, balancing, restoring, growing an entire ecosystem in a glass (or plastic) box in our homes. I don't have dates for some of this but.... it is what it is.. This will be long... for some of you TLDR... but thats ok its really just for me.

EEFW's
A few weeks ago while doing some routine maintenance, Mrs. Fishy mentioned to me that some of the torches did not appear to be as happy as they normally were. I thought it was because i was still dialing in the doser and getting the alk and calcium where they needed to be. I had randomly lost a hammer and a frog head, but only a single of each so thought nothing of it.
About a week later while fiddling around i had a torch knocked over. i picked it up and thought that the skin was peeling on it. Turns out upon closer inspection there were Euphyllia eating flat worms all over the neck of the heads. Immediately i went into fix it mode. i took every one of the euphyllia out of the tank. gave them all a dip and a thorough scrub. then i put them all into a 10 gallon QT tank i set up. The intent was to continue to monitor them, dip them once every 3 or 4 days and keep watch over them to make sure there were no eggs or anything.
I dont know how they got in. i dip everything... learned that the hard way once before, inspect everything, etc. it had been almost 4 months since i had added anything.

Busted heater in QT.
Fast forward around 36 hours from the discovery of the EEFW's. I was at work it was about 4pm. i had an hour to go and i get a message from Mrs. Fishy. The QT tank is cloudy and the water smells awful. there was nothing i could do and she was busy with kids from school, getting oldest son to work, cleaning the house, dinner, etc... So it had to wait... I get home and instantly i know that it isnt good. I immediately go into disaster mode for the 2nd time in a week. I take out anything that even looks half alive. rinse everything in fresh clean saltwater, and then with no where else to put them, drop them back in the DT. The heater had stayed on in the tank. 10 gallons of saltwater heated to a nice 95 degrees F.

in those 2 incidents i lost 70% of my personal Euphyllia collection. I am still losing a few things at this time after a few weeks... most recently i lost 2 heads of torch on saturday. i think i still have a few colonies that are not going to push through and im prepared to take those losses.

Flying Fish
i received a beautiful regal yellow belly hippo tang from a reefer that was getting out of the hobby. i placed it in my Nem tank (all the nems were in isolation boxes because they were for sale). This tang had been in the persons tank for 6 years. it was a beautiful specimen. i had it for 48 hours. Lights out on the 2nd day... it spooked, jumped up 2 inches out of the water, and landed in the isolation box with my carpet nems in it. i heard it happen and had it out in less than 30 seconds. but the damage was done... it lasted until the morning.

Coral show disappointment
Stocked up with all kinds of amazing coral... had a great setup, some amazing help on marketing, lots of positive vibes from all my reefing friends... prepared for a long time. My prices are hands down better than anything anyone else was offering... Sold nothing... i sold about $600 bucks in frags that i had glued to plugs because i broke them off my colonies while cleaning my tank. or they were loose zoas, or a few cuts from a gorg. more than 50% of my sales were nems. Everyone wants frags. Everyone wants single or double head Euphyllia.

Car break in
Last Friday night my vehicle was broken into in front of my home. Some personal items were taken, debit cards that were either not activated or expired, car registration, the amazing painting that my wife had painted that was due to be shipped to a fellow reefer, and a box of lights in the back seat. These were the brand new Noo Psyche lights i had just gotten from another R2R member and one of my Kessils. My intent was to put them over the temporary holding bin for the coral while i worked through the new tank upgrade at the end of the month. People should stay in their own lane...

Temp bin destruction
I had moved all of the livestock and coral to the temp holding Rubbermaid this weekend. Everything went really well, the transition was seamless. And i was able to take my time doing it. Fast forward to today at lunch. i walked in the front door and i could smell the stench of death again. My first thought was the old sump, i had scrubbed it and dried it but i was unable to get all the algae off the acrylic baffles. walked into the fish room and saw the cloudy milky color of the bin. saw the fish at the surface breathing in air... i instantly knew something had happened. Ammonia spike. Turns out i had failures of not 1 but 2 of the power heads that were running to keep the water oxygenated. I dont know how long it had been going and i dont know what other contributing factors there may have been but today i lost nearly all of my fish from my tear down in my temp housing 12 of 17 died. I also lost one of my most beautiful nems, and another full round of coral. SPS and Euphyllia were hit the hardest. I think this was a perfect storm... once things started to perish it snow balled and in the hours between yesterday at 4pm and today at 12pm when i had last checked it imploded. A large water change later, increased flow, and removal of anything that looked like it was not going to last... and ive done everything i can.

Here is the spin...
Stuff happens. My brain is fried today. I am mentally exhausted and physically sick about what has happened in the last month.
EEFW's - i was able to quickly formulate a plan and put it in action. Had it not been for the heater, i think my chances of success were very high. This tells me i am ready should anything else happen that requires emergency action.
Flying Fish - yep these things happen. next time i should keep a lid on the isolation box, or better yet, put the fish somewhere else.
Coral Show disappointment - I think i had a great game plan. i think i was well prepared. This was a great learning experience. i know what to do differently in the future and i believe i will sell lots of coral moving forward. it was worth the experience to be a little disappointed.
Car Break in - yea.... not sure i can spin that one. people suck... did give me a reason to clean out my car again. i wont keep anything in there that i wouldnt be ok with just putting on the curb ever again.
Temp bin destruction - still processing this one. i think if nothing else, it showed that again i can pivot well during an emergency and identify problems and come up with solutions quickly. I gave this my best shot. thats all i can ask.

In the words of one of my favorite movie characters of all times...

Just keep swimming...

Thats all we can do right?

Life can be, and often is, downright hard. I applaud you for sharing your recent tough times. I am happy that you wrote about them as there are therapeutic aspects gained in doing so. It also shows and is encouraging for others to know when they go through something hard that it can actually be good to share about it. At the very least, reading all the related comments is indicative of the fact that you and @Mrs.F i s h y are not alone and surrounded by people who care and support you. There aren’t many worse things than being and/or feeling alone. I know this, all too well, from experiences throughout my life.

Peaceful and good energy has been sent to you and your wife.

Onward and upward!

cmaxwell39 · Mar 21, 2023

Have not participated in this thread much, but I have read most of it. I want to commend you on your outlook on all the crappy things that have come your way the last few days. When you hit a patch like that it can really take the wind out of your sails.

That being said, when you get the new tank set up and are ready for SPS some corals, hit me up. I am about an hour outside of Fort Wayne and will gladly share frags of what I have. My collection isn't large or overly impressive, but at least it will get you started with some SPS again.

F i s h y · Mar 21, 2023

cmaxwell39 said:
Have not participated in this thread much, but I have read most of it. I want to commend you on your outlook on all the crappy things that have come your way the last few days. When you hit a patch like that it can really take the wind out of your sails.

That being said, when you get the new tank set up and are ready for SPS some corals, hit me up. I am about an hour outside of Fort Wayne and will gladly share frags of what I have. My collection isn't large or overly impressive, but at least it will get you started with some SPS again.

Appreciate that. I would love to meet up and do some trading. Nice to hear from a fellow Hoosier.

Nate Chalk · Mar 24, 2023

Hey Bud- 1 week ....1 week...! (starts chant, pounding hands on table)

rmorris_14 · Mar 24, 2023

Happy Friyay friend!

F i s h y · Mar 24, 2023

Next Friday at about this time I should be pulling into glass cages...

tcarstens4 · Mar 24, 2023

Dang that’s exciting

Stang67 · Mar 24, 2023

F i s h y said:
Next Friday at about this time I should be pulling into glass cages...

Dang I just had them deliver it. Think Dominoes only not edible and way heavier.

MERKEY · Mar 24, 2023

Stang67 said:
Dang I just had them deliver it. Think Dominoes only not edible and way heavier.

Stang67 · Mar 25, 2023

Will flannel be part of the dress code? Asking for a friend.

F i s h y · Mar 25, 2023

Stang67 said:
Will flannel be part of the dress code? Asking for a friend.

Flannel is encouraged.

sp1187 · Mar 25, 2023

Goaway · Mar 25, 2023

sp1187 said:

No.... thats everyday i get to stay home.

Fish Styx · Mar 25, 2023

Good morning. I just got caught up on the goings on from the last few days. Really sorry to hear about what you've gone through in the past month. Your outlook is amazing, though. Keep your head up, this too shall pass!