What constitutes and "Emergency"?

[Dom]

I'm curious to know; what constitutes an emergency in the hobby? I have my ideas and wondering what others think.

 

[W1ngz]

Anything that makes a reefer panic and not know what to do. Most of the stuff I see in the 'emergency' section on here really isn't, they just don't know or don't have the experience to manage it.

 

[Auquanut]

In my opinion it would be anything that requires immediate advice and immediate action. Of course, a lot of us won't know how much of an emergency a situation is until we start getting advice. I have seen quite a few posts in the "Tank Emergency" forum that were obviously not emergencies though.

 

[Jay Z]

Somethings that seem normal, may seem like a emergency to others. Plus its hard to look up and digest info when in a panic. Emergency section would make sense to post with the idea of a quick response. Im sure most know a answer on what to do, but are second guessing until someone confirms it.

I would consider a emergency a immediate issue that could possibly lose a tank or inhabitants, power out, fish swimming upside down, coral turned inside out, something spilled in tank, anemone suicided, stuff like that. Something that may cause a tank or item in tank to be lost.

Things I wouldn't consider emergencies are missing fish (does not affect the right now) ph swings and other stuff that left unchecked would not kill a tank off in 24 hours.

Maybe we need a need a answer asap section for non emergencies. Or a flag button for real emergencies to get everyones input.

Good question @Dom

 

[Indytraveler83]

For me anyways, I post an “emergency” if something needs immediate intervention, but I’m not certain what action should be taken.

A great example is that I recently posted that my clownfish might have velvet, and wanted to be sure I was taking the right course of action with copper treatment.

Turns out they had brook, and needed Metro, not copper. Because of quick answers here, I was able to start the correct treatment and save them. I’m certain they would be dead had I treated them for velvet.

 

[Auquanut]

For me anyways, I post an “emergency” if something needs immediate intervention, but I’m not certain what action should be taken.

A great example is that I recently posted that my clownfish might have velvet, and wanted to be sure I was taking the right course of action with copper treatment.

Turns out they had brook, and needed Metro, not copper. Because of quick answers here, I was able to start the correct treatment and save them. I’m certain they would be dead had I treated them for velvet.

Sounds like a perfect example of what the "Tank Emergency" forum is there for. A life saved.

 

[Dom]

I don't know that there are any hard and fast rules. But I feel experience level has a lot to do with it.

 

[Sailingeric]

Any issue that happens when I am not there. Last week I was in Alabama doing some remodeling work on the mother-in-law's house and my wife calls me saying my giant snail has gotten in to the overflow. It has happened before and I usually pull it out but she could not get it because it was way down in there and I was worried about it affecting the flow to the sump and cause a possible overflow issue. I do have an auto shut off on the return pump but I did not want to risk it so I had her turn off the pump and let it ride for the few days I was gone. I get back and is well other than one of my clowns has gone missing that was there in the morning at feeding time and I did not see signs it went carpet surfing, so it is either hiding or died and became crab food. :(

 

[motortrendz]

An emergency for an beginner reefer may just be another day for an experienced reefer. I've seen emergencies posted for my "sand changed color" lol but I've also seen emergencies like "does this look like a crack on my bottom glass" (it was btw and started to leak) so I guess it's in the eye of the beholder.

Although it's also like the boy who cried wolf, if everything gets posted as an emergency peoel are gonna stop looking when they see the same person over and over again. Just my opinion of course.

 

[muzikalmatt]

Anything where death of livestock (fish and/or coral) is an imminent possibility constitutes an emergency in my book. Power outages, kalk overdoses, fish disease (velvet, ich, brook), etc. are the usual suspects, but sometimes it's the unknowns that scare us the most.

I recently had some sort of issue where all of my corals were closed up tight and obviously not happy. I wasn't sure what it was but I suspected a foreign contaminant so I did a large water change, changed out the carbon and added a polyfilter just to be safe. Everything pulled through and in hindsight it probably wasn't what most would consider an emergency, but at the time it felt like one to me.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

In my opinion it would be anything that requires immediate advice and immediate action. Of course, a lot of us won't know how much of an emergency a situation is until we start getting advice. I have seen quite a few posts in the "Tank Emergency" forum that were obviously not emergencies though.

+1 Most of the time it’s new reefers asking an advise on a situation that may require immediate action. Sometimes it’s an experienced reefer looking for advise on something they themselves haven’t experienced .

I myself had a accident where I overdosed Alk and was just seeking opinions/guidance on what to do next. I already had a plan but I want opinions and advise right away since livestock is at stake.

 

[AJQ69]

IMO, I would consider an emergency an immediate issue that could possibly lose and or affect a tank or inhabitants