Hard time in the hobby :(

[JcK03]

Good evening everyone, as you probably all know so well, this hobby can be very satisfying, rewarding but also very difficult and hard, both emotionally and financially.
I've been reefing for 10 years, with a break of a few years, and I started again 8 months ago.
I had to stop because I had a Redsea 170 which only had technical problems (winding pipe which splits, pump stop working etc.) and all that back-a-back.
So here I am again since February 2024, with an AIO 20gal waterbox and a fluval evo 13.5g.
At what point is it time I really want to stop everything again?!!
Dino LCA in my 20gal, quite aggressive.
Sudden death in my 13.5g of my wonderful and prefer Black-B (RIP) a flametail blenny, and of my cleaner shrimp.. the shrimp has completely disappeared into thin air (in a 13.5g with a very minimalist aquascape) and Black-B is died during the day.. no trace of battle, he had eaten well the day before, no ammonia or straight voltage, and his comrades (blackfoot anemone clownfish and cardinal bangaii) are doing wonderfully.. at least for the moment.. .
I'm not necessarily looking for an answer, I know no one can know, but maybe encouragement to continued... I love this hobby, but at the same time sometimes I hate it! A real love-hate relationship...
Especially being a person of little financial means, it hurts even more when deaths or damages happen that we don't see coming and don't know how to explain
thank you to those who read me, I think I needed to empty my heart.

 

[wjm6449]

Good evening everyone, as you probably all know so well, this hobby can be very satisfying, rewarding but also very difficult and hard, both emotionally and financially.
I've been reefing for 10 years, with a break of a few years, and I started again 8 months ago.
I had to stop because I had a Redsea 170 which only had technical problems (winding pipe which splits, pump stop working etc.) and all that back-a-back.
So here I am again since February 2024, with an AIO 20gal waterbox and a fluval evo 13.5g.
At what point is it time I really want to stop everything again?!!
Dino LCA in my 20gal, quite aggressive.
Sudden death in my 13.5g of my wonderful and prefer Black-B (RIP) a flametail blenny, and of my cleaner shrimp.. the shrimp has completely disappeared into thin air (in a 13.5g with a very minimalist aquascape) and Black-B is died during the day.. no trace of battle, he had eaten well the day before, no ammonia or straight voltage, and his comrades (blackfoot anemone clownfish and cardinal bangaii) are doing wonderfully.. at least for the moment.. .
I'm not necessarily looking for an answer, I know no one can know, but maybe encouragement to continued... I love this hobby, but at the same time sometimes I hate it! A real love-hate relationship...
Especially being a person of little financial means, it hurts even more when deaths or damages happen that we don't see coming and don't know how to explain
thank you to those who read me, I think I needed to empty my heart.

Test your water… that’s the first step. Always.

 

[JcK03]

Test your water… that’s the first step. Always.

Yes I have tested it.. only for NO3/PO4 ammonia and nitrite cause all corals are fine so I don't have tested mg ça and KH since those parameters don't affect fishes.
And I test bi-weekly in my 20gal to keep my nutrients in check for battling dino, it's hard to put so much love and time in both tank and to finish with poor results like unsuspected death or dino algea

 

[Brian W]

The hobby definately ebbs and flows. 1 minute life is great and before you know if corals die, fish die etc. dumb problems or choices. Everyone goes through it.

I killed my 1st saltwater clowns after having them for 7 years sue to a dumb idea of dosing dr tims one and only bacteria to a 13.5. Heard fish flopping at the surface. Female died. That tore me up. Male survived but died months later when I was in the hospital with covid when I told my dad just top off the tank he was in with tap water.

My full 75 gallon sps tank died due to the triton shortage years ago and i couldnt keep the tank stable. Dinos took out my last tank. My largest and current tank looks bare because I cant afford to add any more corals to it. Tank is 3 years old but with the amount of corals in it youd swear id only been in the hobby 3 months. not 9 years.

Gave my friend a yellow tang, fox face, sixline wrasse, damsel (all my first saltwater fish). His tank crashed and my the died.

Thats just reefing. Me personally I still could not imagine leaving the hobby. Id be bored and have no little fishy compainions to feed and take care of and watch grow and enjoy their best lives.

 

[JcK03]

The hobby definately ebbs and flows. 1 minute life is great and before you know if corals die, fish die etc. dumb problems or choices. Everyone goes through it.

I killed my 1st saltwater clowns after having them for 7 years sue to a dumb idea of dosing dr tims one and only bacteria to a 13.5. Heard fish flopping at the surface. Female died. That tore me up. Male survived but died months later when I was in the hospital with covid when I told my dad just top off the tank he was in with tap water.

My full 75 gallon sps tank died due to the triton shortage years ago and i couldnt keep the tank stable. Dinos took out my last tank. My largest and current tank looks bare because I cant afford to add any more corals to it. Tank is 3 years old but with the amount of corals in it youd swear id only been in the hobby 3 months. not 9 years.

Gave my friend a yellow tang, fox face, sixline wrasse, damsel (all my first saltwater fish). His tank crashed and my the died.

Thats just reefing. Me personally I still could not imagine leaving the hobby. Id be bored and have no little fishy compainions to feed and take care of and watch grow and enjoy their best lives.

You said your clownfish have died after dosing one and only in your 13.5... I have dose 5ml of microbelift special blend last night.... Can it be the cause ? The cause of the death of my blenny and my shrimp.. ? But two other fishes are fine ?

 

[Jimbo327]

I hear you. It's tough when things are not going the way you want. I think the best thing is to do water changes for a 20 gal. Do water change every week like 4 gallons. If you do it consistently for a couple months, you will be surprised how easy it is to get back on track with simple water changes. Good luck! Everyone is trying to sell you the next miracle cure. If you just do water changes, you don't need to dose or test much...but they can't make money off of you. So all this marketing by these big companies...they are just trying to sell you things.

 

[JcK03]

I hear you. It's tough when things are not going the way you want. I think the best thing is to do water changes for a 20 gal. Do water change every week like 4 gallons. If you do it consistently for a couple months, you will be surprised how easy it is to get back on track with simple water changes. Good luck!

For now j have stol the waterchange in my 20g cause I dose slicite to fight LCA, my nutrients are low and needed to be higher. But before dino happens, I was doing 10-20% waterchange every week like religiously

 

[Brian W]

You said your clownfish have died after dosing one and only in your 13.5... I have dose 5ml of microbelift special blend last night.... Can it be the cause ? The cause of the death of my blenny and my shrimp.. ? But two other fishes are fine ?

In my case. I dosed a capful. The tank was very cloudy within hours but I was too busy to notice. The bacteria starved out out the oxygen. The water was still cloudy for a coupkle days later from what I remember.

Im unsure if thats what happened in your case. Its similar scenario.

I would think maybe all of your fish would have died to to lack of oxygen not just one. If that is what it was.

 

[JcK03]

In my case. I dosed a capful. The tank was very cloudy within hours but I was too busy to notice. The bacteria starved out out the oxygen. The water was still cloudy for a coupkle days later from what I remember.

Im unsure if thats what happened in your case. Its similar scenario.

I would think maybe all of your fish would have died to to lack of oxygen not just one. If that is what it was.

Yea my tank wasn't cloudu at all.. I think maybe I have feed him to much protein and not enough algea.. don't know ‍

 

[danreef55]