Thats it, IM DONE !!!

Antiloser24

New member
IVE HAD IT, IM DONE, SCREW THESE DAMN FISH.
Well, to start, i 'had' a 120 gallon saltwater tank. That was running beautifully for the past 12 or so years. I had a 9in clown trigger, halfmoon trigger, niger trigger, a manilla puffer, a stars and stripes puffer, and 2 snowflake eels, a scat, a mono, and a goldbar wrasse. The tank was perfect everything was healthy and i hadnt added or changed anything for over a year.

Now for the bad part.
Over the past two weeks everything totally crashed. All fish started dying unexpectedly. First i lost the wrasse, then the mono, then the scat, and today i came home from a relatives to find the clown trigger, niger trigger and 2 eels as pale as a ghost laying dead on the bottom of the tank, dead. So the only things still alive are the halfmoon trig, and 2 puffers. And im totally bummed. Everything tested perfect and pristine. The salt grain was 1.021, and the temp was steady at 78 degrees. The only fish that really showed signs of diesease was the clown. He had lost a bit of his voracious feeding habits, but still ate. Everything else seemed totally healthy and happy. Well i was wrong. Everything now sits out in the trash, being attacked by flies.

I have no idea what went wrong all the water quality tests showed nothing, Not the slightest ammonia, nitrate or nitrite. NOTHING. But yet, i pretty much lost everything. So ive given up on saltwater, and am probably try to give the survivors to the lfs. And drain the tank give it a good cleaning and go fresh. Probably either angelfish dominated or ill just go coldwater wit goldish.

Im just so hurt and shocked at how my pride and joy, could be taken away so quickly ...


- sorry for the long message i just needed to vent and get it outta my system - What do ya guys think about this ??? - plus i had a fancy new 4in golden puffer on hold at the lfs i was gonna pick up tomorrow. But back to fresh i go.

- Franco
 
Did you recently do any water changes?
- Maybe a bad batch of water

Did you recently clean the house or someone else?
- Air fresheners, bleaches, cleaning products
 
Not sure if this had anything to do with it, but it sounds like way too many fish to me for that tank size. Perhaps, the overcrowding led to increased stress and ultimate disease and death. I am not sure how that many big fish could behavorially deal with that tank volume.
 
First off - that sucks!! Im sorry you lost your fishes - esp. so suddenly.


But, really? Everything great for 12 YEARS - and then you just quit? I think you should be able to bounce back from this. Anything could have killed you fishes in that time: power outage, equip. failure, disease. Many things can go wrong like that - even with fresh water fish :o You're just feeling it worst right now, but it's all part of the challenge.

So,
- do your best to figure out what happened
- tell your LFS to hold the puffer a bit longer
- buy a bigger tank
- and get going again!!!

dump this horse-puckey quitters attitude. :mad:
 
Check your mag floats or similar units for the cleaning the glass. I've known people and read of them cracking and rusting getting into the water.

Sorry about your losses :(
 
Okay,

The last time i did a waterchange was about a month ago, so im due for another one, but ive been busy lately. And to my knowledge nothing was sprayed in or near the tank, but my mom is constantly cleaning so thats a very good possibility. And i dont own a magfloat so that possibility is out.

Stuart, i agree the tank was a bit overstocked but, it wouldnt kill most of the fish in less than a week.

T-T-trigger, i really love salt, but another factor that plays for getting rid of it, is that fish and supplies prices are getting outrageous. The price of salt has went up, and fish have sky-rocketed. Down where i am, ill end up paying about 9$ for a one inch domino damsel, and in all honestly i really cant afford to maintain it. And plus my bro has severe asthma and allergies and the humidity kills him. So all odds are against me.

The only reason i was going to get that golden is because my parents were gonna buy it for me as an early christmas type thing, because i have always wanted one and finally found one reasonable. But its not gonna happen now.
 
Bottom line, that is alot of fish for a 120. It was only a matter of time before it would crash. And you had the tank running for 12 years? Something is not adding up with your post.
 
The tank has been saltwater for 12 years. My dad had started it himself, and then i got involved. The fish arent 12 years old though, the oldest is the puffer who managed to live through this at about 4yrs. Everything else is a younger cept for a damsel who we had since cylce, but he died in the mix today too. ( He was immense, and even ate from my hand, i was sad to see, expecially, him go)
 
dr74ph.jpg



The pics are a bit dated to at least a year old. The puffers and trigger grew alot since these were taken ...
 
First, sorry for the losses :(.

How old were the test kits? If they're too old they could be reading falsely.
 
sorry for the losses. I hope you decide to stay in the hobby. I'd stock a bit lighter next time.

your stock list is more than I have in my 210, and I feel I'm on the edge of overstocked:

9in clown trigger, halfmoon trigger, niger trigger, a manilla puffer, a stars and stripes puffer, and 2 snowflake eels, a scat, a mono, and a goldbar wrasse.
 
The test kit is about 8months to a year old. My parents arent letting me keep it :[ They said i can down grade to about a 75. And do fresh. I plan to do planted with angelfish. But that means i wont be around here much anymore D:
 
If you want to restock I have some suggestions for a stuggling student. First off use natural saltwater that you collect yourself. New Jersey is on the coast. Second by seign net and with some a friend you can collect tropical fish that travel up the gulfstream. This means you are now paying very little for saltwater (gas+containers) and fish (gas + seign)
 
why won't your parents let you at least keep the 120 as FW? it's already set up, there are some really nice large fw fish.
 
Theyve been trying to convince me to do away with it completely. Because of how humid it makes the house, and my brother has severe allergies and asthma as it is. So its not good for him. I already have a 75 in the basement that ill probably move upstairs and move the 120 downstairs. They might let me convert the 120 though. First i have to try to sell whats still alive. I managed to save an eel and the niger trigger by doing a 60% waterchange at like 12am last night. Along with the two puffers and the halfmoon. And i want to sell a bit of the decor, before i can really do anything ...
 
What I would do is try to convince them to buy a dehumidifier. I have asthma also and the humidity does get to me from time to time, I finally bought a dehumidifier and life is good :)

That really does suck about your fish though. I do think you were overstocked and your tank finally crashed, although there isnt any way of proving that.

I would sure try to move on but I understand how it can be if you have parents telling you that you have to do something else. Might be a good time to give fish keeping a break and save up some money :)
 
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