Newbie Mistake Over stocked my tank way too quickly!

[doubleshot00]

Man i tried reading most of this thread and at this point I would just restart the tank from ground zero. Bleach everything and get better advice from someone other than that LFS. Good luck.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Man i tried reading most of this thread and at this point I would just restart the tank from ground zero. Bleach everything and get better advice from someone other than that LFS. Good luckundo

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Understood, but my coral and inverts would disagree. I have way too many of them in there. In that case I would just leave it as is.

 

[twentyleagues]

Yes, I suspect they think that because they got advice that says that they can. How do they know if they should trust @twentyleagues or @TL1 ?

It's part of what makes this hard, there is a lot of advice out there and it is often contradictory. Some people are very careful and others not so much. And some of the people who are not as careful say it's worked fine for them.

It can be very tempting to take the easy road when people are saying it was fine for them and the hard road looks very hard and super complicated (sometimes it seems like it might be made out to sound even harder than it is)

The worst thing is, they can leave that one vector and get more fish, and it "might" be fine. They can also be very careful and they "might" still have bad outcomes. Risk management is like that. Unless you have a lot of experience with the same risk it is likely you will either be too cautious or not cautious enough. Both have their downsides. Although it is tempting to say you can't be too cautious, that is not entirely true.

They did say they are trying to fallow and having trouble catching the last fish. Again perhaps from lack of experience in techniques for catching. Let's help them find a successful way to catch and hopefully they decide this advice is easy enough so they are less tempted to under appreciate the high risk of following the "she'll be right, it works for me" attitude.

I get it im just some dude that no one really knows so what do I know? But you have at least 3 dudes that no one knows so what do they know saying the same thing go fallow.

45 Day Fallow periods

I've been doing some research into the "76 day fallow period". I never heard of that prior to coming to Reef2Reef this past summer. I had always used 32 days as the maximum time for a tomont to remain viable under tropical conditions, and then I would round up to 45 days to help ensure that...

www.reef2reef.com

May want to reassess risking all future fish vs 1 chromis.

and then 1 dude who tells you what you want to hear and gives you a story that sounds like yours

Nice tank!

FWIW: I lost near the entirety of my fish at around the 1-year mark to which I suspect was velvet. Three or four fish survived. I left them in there for 6 weeks or so before adding any more fish. I slowly started to rebuild. I started with some of the cheaper fish I knew I wanted to keep, one or two at a time every few weeks. No QT, because it's too much of a pain. No disease issues at that point, so I put my name on some of the more expensive fish at my LFS and observed over a week or two and took them home. Still no issues. Of course, all of that was a gamble, and a gamble that I was willing to take. Once at ~90% stocked and healthy, I started only purchasing pre QT'd from drreefsquarantinedfish.com <-- highly recommend.

That's what worked for me with the least amount of effort and acceptance of the risk I was taking. As you learn more and more, think about what risks you're willing to live with and what you want out of this hobby.

^my two cents... worth what you're paying for it.

I dont know about you but if I get the same advise from multiple people that have been here longer with good reputations and consistently give good advise im going with the numbers. Chances are they are right or at least trying to give the best info. Not just hey man this one time at band camp........

OP sorry your fish died sorry I lost my composure and got sarcastic. Its frustrating how many time people take the easy road even though it leads to more heartache. I simply cant anymore. With all sincerity good luck! I'll spend my time elsewhere.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

I get it im just some dude that no one really knows so what do I know? But you have at least 3 dudes that no one knows so what do they know saying the same thing go fallow.



and then 1 dude who tells you what you want to hear and gives you a story that sounds like yours

I dont know about you but if I get the same advise from multiple people that have been here longer with good reputations and consistently give good advise im going with the numbers. Chances are they are right or at least trying to give the best info. Not just hey man this one time at band camp........

OP sorry your fish died sorry I lost my composure and got sarcastic. It’s frustrating how many time people take the easy road even though it leads to more heartache. I simply cant anymore. With all sincerity good luck! I'll spend my time elsewhere.

I get it im just some dude that no one really knows so what do I know? But you have at least 3 dudes that no one knows so what do they know saying the same thing go fallow.



and then 1 dude who tells you what you want to hear and gives you a story that sounds like yours

I dont know about you but if I get the same advise from multiple people that have been here longer with good reputations and consistently give good advise im going with the numbers. Chances are they are right or at least trying to give the best info. Not just hey man this one time at band camp........

OP sorry your fish died sorry I lost my composure and got sarcastic. Its frustrating how many time people take the easy road even though it leads to more heartache. I simply cant anymore. With all sincerity good luck! I'll spend my time elsewhere.

I do appreciate your advice and everyone else’s on here. I’m aware that none of you are being compensated and that the majority of you have good intentions and would like for every fish keeper to succeed in this hobby, but unfortunately not everyone is blessed or capable of doing it… no matter how much advice you give them or effort they put in. The only thing that I could recommend is to try to be level headed and understanding, and if you’re not capable of that, don’t say anything. Eventually your peers will catch on to the type of person you are. Keep in mind that this thread was created under new to saltwater and reef aquariums, so please be patient with them. I’m sure that there will be many interesting stories.

 

[dthom]

Just make the store that is doing your maintenance catch the last fish and take it back to the store. I agree with the others. This was a disease, not ammonia. Inverts would have died. Patience is key and hard for most of us.

After your fallow period with no fish, only add a single fish and wait a couple of weeks. QT really is a pain, but it will save you way more pain in the long run and protect the animals.

 

[southeastfishaddict]

Just make the store that is doing your maintenance catch the last fish and take it back to the store. I agree with the others. This was a disease, not ammonia. Inverts would have died. Patience is key and hard for most of us.

After your fallow period with no fish, only add a single fish and wait a couple of weeks. QT really is a pain, but it will save you way more pain in the long run and protect the animals.

Well wish it were that easy. The guys from the LFS have not been able to catch it. I guess they have a tough time as well with all of the rock. I will just have to play the waiting game for now.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Since its not been mentioned, I will only add, that freshwater and saltwater hobby are nothing alike, which you have found out now. Salt water is much harder, more complex, and requires some amount of time researching and googling. We all have to do it if we want success.

Salt fish are very territorlal, and each fish needs its own habitat, its very important. Lots of fresh water folks come over and think they can build a reef tank because of 20 years in fresh hobby (incuding me), but they really are nothing alike. Once you realise this, things get better. Good to take peoples good advise, but most important for success is do your own research. Cannot use the excuse 'someone told me I could'.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Thread cleaned up, lets keep it clean folks, and stop taking shots at one another. OP, asked a question, didn't ask for a firing squad.

 

[Ziggy17]

Since its not been mentioned, I will only add, that freshwater and saltwater hobby are nothing alike, which you have found out now. Salt water is much harder, more complex, and requires some amount of time researching and googling. We all have to do it if we want success.

Salt fish are very territorlal, and each fish needs its own habitat, its very important. Lots of fresh water folks come over and think they can build a reef tank because of 20 years in fresh hobby (incuding me), but they really are nothing alike. Once you realise this, things get better.

I whole heartedly disagree. It would be like saying fast pitch and baseball are nothing alike. There are some differences but they are very much alike in most ways.