My heart hurts so bad. Need support.

[Miami Reef]

Hey guys, not so happy tonight. I have marine velvet, so I set up a 40 gal bin as a treatment tank. My tank is 300 gallons, and my initial plan was to drain the water to the bottom and scoop them up.

Well things haven’t gone as planned because some fish when under the rocks and wouldn’t come out. I had to completely destroy my amazing rock scape and damage a few corals. I didn’t set up the rocks, I had a guy do it and I’m sure he can do it again if I asked. It just hurt me so bad.

Midway through I was thinking (why am I doing this, I should just leave them to fight it on their own. At the end, I couldn’t find my medium sized powder brown fish. I lifted every last rock and found a skeleton of its corps with some of its flesh remaining. The velvet killed it that day and my CUC took care of it. That gave me encouragement.

Anyway, after getting every last fish out, I dump the rocks back in. It’s so ugly right now and I lost another fish from stress.

My floor is soaked with saltwater, and I feel very heavy in my heart right now. I put so much work, time, money, and energy in this system. We just renewed every single thing a month ago and it couldn’t of looked better...now it can’t look worse. My corals are I don’t know where and I’m just not feeling well.

I know this isn’t a therapy forum, but I kinda need some words of encouragement. I really did something I didn’t want to do, and it was (and is) very hard for me to do this big move.

Thank you for listening.

 

[Ron83]

Wow! Sorry for your loss. The time, emotional attachment and money that we spend on this hobby make us vulnerable to the absolute gutting that we can take after something like this. Hang in there.

 

[leepink23]

I feel your pain, I had my tank looking amazing when my bracing cracked, I had to swap my aquarium out and started a cycle causing me to lose some of my sps, also lost anthias in the process. If we learn from our mistakes and view this as an adventure then we realize it will have ups and downs. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Brad Miller]

I can only imagine the feeling in the pit of your stomach.
We do this for the love of it, and don't count the dollars spent.
Take some well earned vacation time and salvage what you can, and make it better this time

 

[SDK]

So sorry to hear. This hobby takes perseverance sometimes....

 

[ngoodermuth]

You did the right thing, you really did. You are giving them a chance. You have no idea how frustrating it can be as a regular in the disease forums, and everyday seeing people that won't do what you are doing, and fish suffer. I commend you for ripping off the band-aid and trying to help your fish.

I've been in your shoes, more than once. Twice with my current tank actually, and several times before. It sucks, but you can get through it and still end up with a beautiful reef.

Chin-up, and we are here for support or advice if you need it!

 

[4FordFamily]

I’ve been there, friend. More times than I want to admit. Keep your head up, we committed to caring for these creatures and you’re attempting to make good on this commitment.

God bless, let us know if we can help in any way, and good luck!

 

[ngoodermuth]

And I can't tell you how many times I've been forced to re-scape for whatever reason and ended up LOVING my reef's new look after. Maybe even try doing it yourself this time, if you hate it you can still call your guy... but you might find that you like having that artistic freedom ;)

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Glad you shared and sorry for the loss. Forums are not just to discuss algea but also for support.

I had flood Sunday also and I was about to give up. Took a step back and today started to redo all my plumbing. Going slow and taking time to not stress out.

Hang in there.

 

[DHill6]

I can relate, ten years ago I had a bow front tank crack overnight, drained as far as it could. I was new in this hobby and listened to a LFS, tank, strange hob inside type of filter/skimmer and overloaded with livestock. It was amazing how good that tank looked with the not so clean water, inhabitants thrived including nine anemones, two clams, soft -lps coral, and numerous fish. I was heartbroken seeing a beautiful fat purple tang who was now sheet white and lifeless, clowns, helrichi firefish, every fish in there was purchased for its vibrant color. It was a painful process, picking up the dead, taking out the tank, walking across soaked carpeting. Getting the carpet out was horrendous, very heavy. The damage wasn't covered by homeowners ins. since it wasn't directly plumbed into the house plumbing, through the wall. So, I had to purchase a holding tank, another LFS setup, new carpet and install. After all was done, I put myself back into this hobby, it's so challenging. The temporary tank setup is holding a turtle/fish tank at my son's home along with the next tank that was a custom cube built by Miracles. That is his fresh water mixed tank #2 holding angels and interesting small fish. His 150g tank holds a snakefish, which is big and a very large oscar. Past the pain, the money, looking back at equipment that I purchased high and sold very low, regrets.... I kept pursuing reefing, my answer it's a challenge. I hope this lifted your heart just little bit. Best of luck going forward
Debbie

 

[scriptmonkey]

Sorry for your loss. I had this really long message typed up giving you encouragement but I deleted it.

Only you know in your heart if you have it in you to rebuild. Rock scapes can be remade. Fish can be treated. You can build it better or not. Just remember to take deep breaths and look at what needs to be done now. Do not worry about the rock work. Just concentrate on what has to get done now and accomplish that. Once you get that done then you can go big picture. Deal with one thing at time and eventually you will get through it. Baby steps.

 

[DHill6]

I'm on tank # 4, downsized to a reefer 170.

 

[Miami Reef]

Thank you guys so much! I’ll be honest, as a 20 year old man, I feel like I’m almost on the verge of breaking down and crying like a kid.

I really really appreciate all the responses so far. I do feel a bit better. I gave the first dose of copper. Any more stories are welcome.

 

[Katrina71]

Nothing wrong with shedding tears when you lose a friend.

 

[Mical]

Sorry for your loss, I know the feeling (a little smaller scale) had velvet wipe out years of work and livestock. Just step back, regroup and move forward as you would after any of "life's inconveniences".All of us feel your pain. Hang in there brother.

 

[lolgranny]

I’ve been through all sorts of downs with my tanks over the years. I know what your feeling. From having a tank crash when I was out of town and losing hundreds of sps colonies to trading someone a reflector to a sps which gave me aefw. I beat them but it took months of dipping and tons of loss. That was years ago and it still frightens me. You’ll make it through this, just take a deep breath and take your time. No sense in rushing it now. You’ll get it back to where it was and this time it will be much better.

Or take the easy way and...Have a glass of whiskey and/ or a blunt. That will clam your head ;)

 

[Geebs19]

Very sorry to hear this! You will get back on your feet and the tank will look amazing again.

 

[elisa h]

You’ll have lots of time to make your reef beautiful again while the fish go through treatment. Take this opportunity to change anything you didn’t like or weren’t quite happy with. You may even like it better than before!

 

[Billldg]

Sorry you are having to go thru this, it sucks. I also feel your pain. I recently had to tear down my tank due to a tank crash, different reason but same result. I ended up having to tear my rock scape up getting the fish out and I ended up slipping into a dark place. Thankfully, as a member of this great forum fellow reefers helped by keeping my spirits up and I ended up rebuilding my tank, and 2 months post rebuild it's starting to come back to life. We r here to help and for support. Don't let this get you down, you will recover and end up better for it in the long run. We dont always know why, but their is a plan for us. YOU WILL GET THRU THIS!!!

 

[Pbh-reef]

When we lost the first fish we got together to ich my husband and I were both crying and were in our 30s! You get so attached to these amazing creatures you bring into your home and hope to see thrive and grow.

You can remake the tank and if you do you will have loads of help and support here. And for the velvet treatment you’ll get loads of supper now on the disease forum, just like I have.