Talk me down from a ledge

[Squeaky McMurdo]

My new pump electrocuted almost my entire tank last week. Husband is an electrician and confirmed with his “sniffer” tool. It fried one of my powerheads too. I put my surviving fish in quarantine but still lost Spike my 13 year old Foxface and I’m devastated. I loved him so much I may as well have lost a dog. He liked to race my kids. I’m left with my valentini puffer, melanarus wrasse, Columbian Shark, and Scopas tang. The puffer decided to bite a huge chunk out of the shark so he’s probably going to die of infection. I’m hitting the quarantine with Melafix and Pimafix to try to heal and save him. He is swimming and eating.

I moved my surviving invertebrates to the 5 gallon I got for Christmas. Lost my anemones and coral banded shrimp. I thought my pincushion urchin was done for but it pulled through and started moving around again. My tuxedo urchin is wandering around too. A few corals have come out. The light that came with the tank was cute and bright but not sufficient so I put a blue plant light over it experimentally.

There are still snails and whatever is living in my sand bed in the 125 gallon tank. I turned off the sump but still have my remaining powerheads running. I stuck my heater in there too. I decided to do a blackout to try to eliminate the hair algae plague while the tank is down anyway.

I’m just not sure my heart is in it anymore without Spike. ;Drowning

I obviously need a different return pump before I can start again. *sigh*

 

[Quietman]

Devastating...sorry for the loss. Just focus on keeping what you have...take some time. No hurry at all. All the effort you spent and enjoyment now gone, will take a while to absorb. After a while, you'll know which way you need to go.

 

[Devaji]

oh so sorry to hear that. it's never fun to lose animals. I have been there lost 1K in corals last year my heart was broken I had to let things ride for a while before I got some intreat back.

maybe time for a tank upgrade?? haha best of luck!

 

[Zan's Aquatica]

I got so teary eyed!!! 8 years ago when I left the hobby (i just returned 2 months ago) was when I lost my clown that I had for years after my anemone got sucked into the pump (they were in a temporary holding tank overnight while I upgraded their tank) I loved her so much! I was a teenager and remember my mom told me to put her in a new batch of water and she might come back to life, I did and I waited. I was so devastated. I never got to set up that new 50 gallon I spent months building. Point being, I feel your pain and its super valid (not that you need anyone to validate it)

by the way.. you would think the 8 years away would have healed the loss but with my new fish now I feel constantly anxious for their well-being. point is, getting out doesn't exactly heal things so maybe allow yourself to feel the loss totally and just keep loving the ones who stayed with you. <3 sending you love!!!

 

[Magellan]

Oh no!! Sorry for your loss :(

I would view it as an incredible accomplishment to keep any fish alive for over 10 years, much less 13!! With all the randomness involved in this hobby, to have successfully kept him that long is amazing. Just think...at any moment a heater could explode, the tank could fail, the doser could dump half a gallon of Ca in the tank, etc etc. You successfully beat Murphy and his Law for this long.. be proud, and feel blessed to have enjoyed Spike for so long!

 

[Dierks]

My new pump electrocuted almost my entire tank last week

Oh my gosh!!! I am so sorry!!! I feel somewhat responsible for this. I know I'm not but I feel it. I am so sorry @Squeaky McMurdo I should have got you a better one instead of matching the old one on your list. I feel heartbroken. If there is anything I can do please let me know.

Im so sorry

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

It’s my fault too. It was advertised as being silent and the flow adjustable. It was extremely loud and started having an erratic flow when I tried to turn it down so I didn’t have to worry if my overflow could keep up. I should have realized something was wrong then and unplugged it but I didn’t.

We’ve lost so many animals since Halloween when some kids killed all my kids‘ pet rabbits and 7 ducks. Then I was forced to sell my livestock guardian dog because ironically she was doing her job and killed the wrong dog that was attacking my goats (a police dog) I had to send her to her new home on the same day I found my horse kicked in the head and dying. This is just yet another blow and I’m pretty depressed.

I only get credit for keeping Spike for a year. His previous owner had him for 12 with the help of a professional maintenance company. He outgrew his 60 gallon tank long ago so I’m glad he had so much more space for his final year. December 31 was our 15th anniversary and last year my husband took me down to Utah to pick him up.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thats not good . Fortunately, you were able to catch and pinpoint the cause. Many reefers don’t and are in suspense.

 

[DonTavo27]

I know how you feel, our clown we had for 7 years
Decided to jump, while my girl and I happened to be out of town. Both of us were devastated, but we stuck it through, I mean she still gets teary eyed sometimes when she looks at the tank. But we’ve managed to keep going. I’m sorry for your loss.
Just keep swimming...

 

[Terri Caton]

Oh wow. That’s a lot of loss. Give yourself time to rest if you need it. Then ask yourself, would you have wanted to live life without your pets? Or was it still worth it?

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

...and the tang and wrasse look like they’re going to die now. Down to the puffer and badly wounded shark

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

The fish death toll is at 10 if those two don’t make it

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

The tang died overnight but Rainbow Bill the wrasse seems to be doing better. He might have just been upset that his dish of sand was getting too much current. He was sleeping under the plastic rock instead

 

[The cats wrasse]

My new pump electrocuted almost my entire tank last week. Husband is an electrician and confirmed with his “sniffer” tool. It fried one of my powerheads too. I put my surviving fish in quarantine but still lost Spike my 13 year old Foxface and I’m devastated. I loved him so much I may as well have lost a dog. He liked to race my kids. I’m left with my valentini puffer, melanarus wrasse, Columbian Shark, and Scopas tang. The puffer decided to bite a huge chunk out of the shark so he’s probably going to die of infection. I’m hitting the quarantine with Melafix and Pimafix to try to heal and save him. He is swimming and eating.

I moved my surviving invertebrates to the 5 gallon I got for Christmas. Lost my anemones and coral banded shrimp. I thought my pincushion urchin was done for but it pulled through and started moving around again. My tuxedo urchin is wandering around too. A few corals have come out. The light that came with the tank was cute and bright but not sufficient so I put a blue plant light over it experimentally.

There are still snails and whatever is living in my sand bed in the 125 gallon tank. I turned off the sump but still have my remaining powerheads running. I stuck my heater in there too. I decided to do a blackout to try to eliminate the hair algae plague while the tank is down anyway.

I’m just not sure my heart is in it anymore without Spike. ;Drowning

I obviously need a different return pump before I can start again. *sigh*

Your children once raced spike? Think about the children ...the grandchildren etc and what they got from it ....get back on that seahorse and do it for the kids...do it for spike

 

[JLynn]

I've experienced this. Had a heater fail on a thriving tank and lost everything except for 1 fish, 1 rock flower anemone, and the CUC. It's so devastating.

I tried rebuilding what I had before, but it was never anywhere near as good, the second time around. What I eventually decided is that instead of trying to recapture the reef I lost, always feeling a bit miserable about the tank because nothing could live up to my memory of what it was, I needed to try and build something totally different. So like, my tank before was all soft corals and gorgonians. The tank I am planning out right now is going to be half LPS, half SPS, no soft corals at all. When I get that going, I won't be trapped by the constant comparison to what I lost, and I can just enjoy the reef for what it is.

If you decide to rebuild, I would recommend doing something similar - planning a tank that you can enjoy without being reminded of what you lost. This is also a good time to upgrade or downgrade or move the tank to a different room - anything about the basic setup of the tank itself that you didn't like, now is the best time to change it. It's really rough no matter what you do, but this can be turned into an opportunity for renewal. Best wishes, whatever you decide!

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Update: Not depressed anymore and can talk about Spike without crying.

I completely redid my rockwork. Whenever I have had to pull rocks out to get something, I put it all back to look pretty much the same. It’s against the back glass now and my sand bed looks bigger.

I’m waiting on a bag of salt to get things going again. All the roads into my part of Wyoming are closed so I might get my order tomorrow, I might get in next month. I’m hoping tomorrow. I noticed Buster the pincushion has lost a few spines. Still has his feeding tentacles out and is cruising around quite fast so I don’t think he’s dying, but my pico tank is a bit cramped for him. My big display tank has powerheads going and snails living in it, but the salinity is only 1.020 otherwise I would put him back in there.

Rainbow Bill the melenarus wrasse that survived being electrocuted was sent to “protective custody” in my 50 gallon “prison tank“ with Bonnie and Clyde (the reason I had to tear my rockwork apart so often, murderous clarkii clownfish) Bill can escape them easily by hiding in the sand and is faster than them so he’s doing alright for the time being. The rocks in there are just interesting shaped concrete finds, so I won’t chance inverts in it except hitchhikers and freebies. And I’m not about to use any water from it.

The valentini puffer and Columbian Shark are still hanging out in quarantine. The shark somehow not only survived the puffer nearly severing his tail, but looks to be completely healed. I removed the divider now that neither is showing signs of illness (which I now know was just an early warning about the pump) I guess I need to name them now too.

I’m THRILLED with my 5 gallon pico by the way @Dierks. The lid keeps it from evaporating to any noticeable amount. I made a thread about it in the nano tank section of the forum so won’t say much else about it here other than Tux the tuxedo urchin managed to get a big piece of green star polyps shortly after I put him in the tank and hasn’t let go of them.

Nano Build - 5 Gallon Phoenix: Out of the Ashes

Out of the ashes of my 125 gallon tank crash comes my blossoming 5 gallon full of survivors. I just went all in today and put a 12w ABI tuna blue bulb over it. I was using a blue grow light that was a nice looking fixture but was too blue to see the color of everything. It did a decent job of...

www.reef2reef.com

Update unrelated to reefing but that I am very excited about, a nice lady from the Bureau of Land Management in Rock Springs called me yesterday to tell me they approved my application to adopt another mustang. I’m planning on getting a little weanling or yearling this spring. Baby Fever!

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

Oops double post. Sorry @mods squad

 

[Dierks]

@Squeaky McMurdo I am so happy that one of the presents worked out well! I still think about you sometimes and feel bad about everything. I am super happy that you are able to bounce back and make another run at this, you are too good to simply leave us. I think I might have to get my hands on one of the nano tanks as I miss my old one.

Also happy to hear that you might be getting a new Mustang, I know it had been a heart breaking year for you and you deserve the good times to come. Keep your chin up and I will make sure to stop in the nano build once in a while and remind you how awesome you are!!

Sending good thoughts your way!!

 

[fattiremike]

I have been reefing for almost 20 years now. I have some very old corals and fish that have been with me from the start. They are the survivors. Many of my favorites are not with me anymore. I understand your pain and loss. I once had a tank that I could keep nothing alive in and I could not figure out why. Then one day my while my arm was in the tank, I brushed the metal light fixture, and a shock went through my body and the GFI tripped. I had a pump that was not a three prong plug that had shorted out internally. The electricity found a path from that pump, through my arm, and to the three-prong light fixture. That GFI saved my butt, literally. Having read your story, I thought of my experiences. Please ensure that you have a properly wired GFI in place for your aquarium. It may save more than your aquarium inhabitants!

 

[Squeaky McMurdo]

I can’t get either of my old Rios to stay on now. Is hygger a good brand of return pump?