The survivor thread

Navyblue · 02/15/2010, 01:17 PM

In my history of reef keeping, I have had 2 major catastrophes. I define catastrophe as having a significant portion of the livestocks ends up dead. However even then there are some that refuse to give up no matter what.

I'd like to hear about your experience about your tank crashes and the survivors. Personally, I like a robust tank and would prefer to stay away from touchy species, or even the species of medium sensitivities, but still want to achieve a reasonable diversity (i.e. not a tankful of damsels). I am sure that there are those who are like me that loves a piece of ocean in our living room but do not have the dedication of towards the more difficult species. I hope those experienced and inexperienced alike would find it useful in deciding the choice of livestock of our tanks.

Of course, it doesn't mean that when a species can take some abuse, then it is ok to abuse them. We ought to do our best in giving our pets the best environment that we can afford.

Here are the my experiences.

Cause/symptoms: Cloudy water, which I suppose is bacterial bloom which I leads to oxygen depletion.
Dead: I don't quite remember, but I think all the shrimps and some fishes didn't make it.
Survivor: All of the (assorted) corals, snails, banded serpent stars, 2 x ocellaris clown, four strippes damsel, tangaroa prawn goby (Ctenogobiops tangaroai)

Cause/symptoms: Dead chiller. Some corals dead which started off a domino effect of death. Cloudy water.
Dead: Most corals (mushrooms, tree, toadstools), sponges, cleaner shrimp, snails, one spotted foxface, bicolor angel
Survivor: Devil's hand coral (lobophytum sp.) and a colony of yumas seems unaffected despite the heavy casulaties, 2 x ocellaris clown, four strippes damsel, purple tang, banded serpent stars, tiger tail cucumber

Hence my hardy species recommendation list:

Fishes
- ocellaris clown
- 4 stripped damsel
- purple tang
- tangaroa shrimp goby

Corals
- devil's hand (lobophytum sp.)
- an unidentified colony of yuma

Other invertebrates
- banded serpent star
- tiger tail cucumber

patsfan1130 · 02/15/2010, 02:07 PM

Cause/symptom - Wife (now ex of course) poured a gallon of bleach into my reef tank. All livestock dead except for my female maroon clown who I still have to this day. Her name was quickly changed to "lucky". My 14 year old daughter still calls her nemo. I purchased lucky the same year my daughter was born. She is without a doubt the best fish I have ever owned.

jacksonpt · 02/15/2010, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patsfan1130

Cause/symptom - Wife (now ex of course) poured a gallon of bleach into my reef tank.

:

How does that even happen???

Hephalump · 02/15/2010, 02:12 PM

I would have to second the Devil's Hand as being an EXTREMELY hardy coral. Mine was given to me for free during my first coral purchase about 5 years ago and has survived every mishap, rough time, and tank crash. I'd also add to the list my Rock Flower Anemone, who has also lived happily through most of my bumbling.

patsfan1130 · 02/15/2010, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jacksonpt

:

How does that even happen???

Clearly she has/had serious problems. Normal people simply don't do such vile things. I try not to think about it. Even though it was many years ago it still stings badly.

Navyblue · 02/16/2010, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patsfan1130

Clearly she has/had serious problems. Normal people simply don't do such vile things. I try not to think about it. Even though it was many years ago it still stings badly.

I hope she is fine now. I always believe that when a person loses his/her mine he/she loses everything.

Navyblue · 02/16/2010, 11:01 AM

Thanks guys for sharing, please keep them coming.

jbird69 · 02/16/2010, 11:23 AM

My corcea clam is my most notable survivor. Hes been thru some serious stuff. Bought him as a newby with only PC lighting. Had a catastrophic cyano invasion while I was in Mexico for 2 weeks that killed almost everything. When I got home, my tank looked like a big red brick. LOL I still have that clam today.

ChadTheSpike · 02/16/2010, 11:31 AM

Cause/Symptom: A major icestorm that hit upstate NY and destroyed several power stations and crippled transportation for 6 days, did I mention temperature was in the teens? Two days into it, I lost my generator and battery backups, temperature in my dozenish tanks fell into the mid 40s.

Dead: Almost a complete loss of all livestock (an SPS reef, several mixed reefs, several fowlr and FO systems, multiple culture systems)

Survivors: my reidi seahorses who passed this year at the age of ~7.

See! Seahorses are not the most delicate things after all!!

BTW, patsfan... I can relate to that story all too well... ex wife and bleach included.

ChadTheSpike · 02/16/2010, 03:08 PM

bump for a fun thread

ritter6788 · 02/16/2010, 04:56 PM

My green sinularia has survived power outages, chemical problems, 15 watt normal output lighting, my noob mistakes, and all my stupidity. It's as tall as my 75 gallon tank now and been fragged about 3 times. It was a 1 inch frag when I got it 3 years ago.

blennymower · 02/16/2010, 05:05 PM

I'm assuming the ex-wives poured the bleach knowing it would kill everything? If that was the reason... man, I can't find the words to describe how evil that it is!

patsfan1130 · 02/16/2010, 05:10 PM

You would be correct

ChadTheSpike · 02/16/2010, 05:13 PM

I socond that sad statement

On a positive note, my now girlfriend often asks to go to the LFS with me

Yogre · 02/16/2010, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blennymower

I'm assuming the ex-wives poured the bleach knowing it would kill everything? If that was the reason... man, I can't find the words to describe how evil that it is!

Is that justifiable homicide?

ChadTheSpike · 02/16/2010, 06:52 PM

heh, it was justifiable divorce with no alimony and no looking back.

bluetang66 · 02/16/2010, 06:55 PM

I've learned the hard way twice about quarantining new livestock, i'm hardheaded i know but I do have a nice leather coral that has been with me since the beginning. It's getting pretty big and I can't bring myself to frag it, guess i figure it deserves it after all it has went thru.

KbauerCTU · 02/16/2010, 08:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patsfan1130

Cause/symptom - Wife (now ex of course) poured a gallon of bleach into my reef tank. All livestock dead except for my female maroon clown who I still have to this day. Her name was quickly changed to "lucky". My 14 year old daughter still calls her nemo. I purchased lucky the same year my daughter was born. She is without a doubt the best fish I have ever owned.

My own stories are not so bad.....Glad my wife and I like eachother.

Back when I was just doing fish and live rock only I had a very friendly puffer who I had for about a year. I went on vacation, and my fridge that contained the food stopped working. The food rotted, and then re-froze when it started working again.

Thinking all was ok I fed the tank this rotten food and lost both my puffer and trigger fish. My lion fish survived who currently is sitting in a fish store awaiting purchase. That lion fish refused to die, although he came close.

He is about the size of a football, and just hanging out at the LFS I sold him to over a year ago.

Indymann99 · 02/16/2010, 08:59 PM

This was back in 1987. high school graduation trip to Hawaii that got extended by a week (wooo hooo 5 more days of diving off Kona)... bad side was my friend who was feeding my FO tank also had a family vac... short story is tank went into survival of the fittest for the last week...

tank inhabitants

Volitan Lion
pearlscale butterfly
yellow tang
Domino damsel
Niger trigger
snowflake moray

Survivors
Snowflake moray (no big surprize.. he routinely went 2 weeks between eating)
Niger trigger
Domino damsel

elFloyd · 02/16/2010, 09:29 PM

Cause/Symptom: CO2 regulator failed... tank pH dropped to 6.36 within 20 minutes. This happened at 5:30 am and I discovered it at 8:00 am. All fish on the bottom belly up.

Dead: Powder Brown Tang, Flame Angle, 6-Line Wrasse, Long Nose Butterfly, Firefish, stag horn coral. verdict still our on pokerstar monti (turned bluish white but still has come polyp extension.

Survivors: Pair of Clowns, Royal Gamma, Walker Gobie, Manderine,GTBA, Zoas, Scolys, mushrooms, Garf Bonzi, Milli Peppermint Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp.

BigRedSpecial · 02/16/2010, 10:44 PM

Incident One

Cause: Noobism. misread some aiptasia advice and ended up dosing the tank with vinegar. Caused a bacterial bloom (and subsequent oxygen depletion) and dropped pH down to ~6.5 in a few minutes. Link to the original disaster thread

Losses: several snails, cleaner shrimp, blood shrimp. Unique encrusting LPS hitchhiker.

Survivors: clown goby, stomatella snails, soft coral

Incident Two

Cause: Dinoflagellates outbreak.

Losses: Bicolor blenny, ALL snails, majority of hermits, emerald crabs, bristleworms. Keyna tree. Verdict still out on palythoas.

Survivors: percula clowns, yellow chromis, blood shrimp. zoas, GSP, Pipe organ, mushrooms, clove polyps.

aleaksreef713 · 02/17/2010, 01:50 AM

Cause: Hurricane IKE

Dead: Over 5K in fish and coral

It wasnt me, but a friend of mine had a 72 gallon filled and doing really good, well he went outta town before the hurricane hit and didnt come back til 3 days after. Well he didnt think he lost power, as soon as he got back he noticed the tank lights were off. He got really discouraged about the whole situation and didnt mess with his tank for 3 weeks, it smelled like death and the whole 9.

Only survivor: Toadstool leather.

Now I know what he did was dumb, but to me there was no excuse for it....

dwd5813 · 02/17/2010, 02:03 AM

i'll play

catastrophe:

2/3 of my tank evaporated while i was away for a trip that got extended. i had originally planned on being away for 2 weeks, the exact amount of time that my top off lasted. i asked my cousin's wife to come over halfway through the second week and top off the top off tank with rodi that i had made and had resting next to the tank in gallon jugs, just to be on the safe side. she did this, but then when my trip ended up turning into a longer one, she stopped taking my calls and/or returning calls when i left messages. i was a bit concerned at that point. then i hear from my aunt that i might as well figure on my fish being dead after she talked to my cousin in law.
anyway, when i finally did get home, my hob filter, 3 nanostreams, and 2/3 of my heater were out of the water, and what little there was left was full of padina and dead snails, with a dead blenny dissolved/eaten somewhere in the mix.

it took me a couple months to get back into position to restart, and at one point i started listing equipment for sale (none of which actually sold [in retrospect i'm happy about that]) but as i type there is salt dissolving in the tank. i rinsed the crap out my sand, and have been recuring the rock in a brute for the past couple months. this weekend i'm going to get the rest of the rock in there, and start monitoring parameters for signs of cycling.

Navyblue · 02/23/2010, 10:07 AM

Bump.

SwampyBill · 02/23/2010, 11:08 AM

A few months ago I found a mantis shrimp in my tank. The guy at LFS suggested I soak each piece of live rock in seltzer water for 5 minutes, then rinse with RO water before putting back in tank. Next morning I woke up to milky water, a dead lionfish, copperband butterfly fish, mandarin goby, LTA & sebae anemeone. Never did find the f'ing mantis shrimp. Good news tho; my female perc & pinkspotted watchman goby are still with me. To this day I don't let that guy wait on me at LFS...

02/15/2010, 01:17 PM	#1
Navyblue Low maintenance first Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 2,790	The survivor thread In my history of reef keeping, I have had 2 major catastrophes. I define catastrophe as having a significant portion of the livestocks ends up dead. However even then there are some that refuse to give up no matter what. I'd like to hear about your experience about your tank crashes and the survivors. Personally, I like a robust tank and would prefer to stay away from touchy species, or even the species of medium sensitivities, but still want to achieve a reasonable diversity (i.e. not a tankful of damsels). I am sure that there are those who are like me that loves a piece of ocean in our living room but do not have the dedication of towards the more difficult species. I hope those experienced and inexperienced alike would find it useful in deciding the choice of livestock of our tanks. Of course, it doesn't mean that when a species can take some abuse, then it is ok to abuse them. We ought to do our best in giving our pets the best environment that we can afford. Here are the my experiences. Cause/symptoms: Cloudy water, which I suppose is bacterial bloom which I leads to oxygen depletion. Dead: I don't quite remember, but I think all the shrimps and some fishes didn't make it. Survivor: All of the (assorted) corals, snails, banded serpent stars, 2 x ocellaris clown, four strippes damsel, tangaroa prawn goby (Ctenogobiops tangaroai) Cause/symptoms: Dead chiller. Some corals dead which started off a domino effect of death. Cloudy water. Dead: Most corals (mushrooms, tree, toadstools), sponges, cleaner shrimp, snails, one spotted foxface, bicolor angel Survivor: Devil's hand coral (lobophytum sp.) and a colony of yumas seems unaffected despite the heavy casulaties, 2 x ocellaris clown, four strippes damsel, purple tang, banded serpent stars, tiger tail cucumber Hence my hardy species recommendation list: Fishes - ocellaris clown - 4 stripped damsel - purple tang - tangaroa shrimp goby Corals - devil's hand (lobophytum sp.) - an unidentified colony of yuma Other invertebrates - banded serpent star - tiger tail cucumber

02/15/2010, 02:07 PM	#2
patsfan1130 Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Woburn, Ma Posts: 2,010	Cause/symptom - Wife (now ex of course) poured a gallon of bleach into my reef tank. All livestock dead except for my female maroon clown who I still have to this day. Her name was quickly changed to "lucky". My 14 year old daughter still calls her nemo. I purchased lucky the same year my daughter was born. She is without a doubt the best fish I have ever owned. __________________ My cat's breath smells like cat food Member of the Boston Reefers Society Current Tank Info: 75g lps, 90g sps, 120g mixed, 180 nem tank, 300g reef, 600g up & coming reef

02/15/2010, 02:12 PM	#4
Hephalump Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 244	I would have to second the Devil's Hand as being an EXTREMELY hardy coral. Mine was given to me for free during my first coral purchase about 5 years ago and has survived every mishap, rough time, and tank crash. I'd also add to the list my Rock Flower Anemone, who has also lived happily through most of my bumbling. __________________ You can change your socks, but if you don't wash your feet they will still stink. Current Tank Info: 65 gal bowfront mixed reef, Maxspect Razor 160w, Reef Octopus NW150, Aquamaxx Nano calcium reactor, vortech mp40, pair of ocellaris clowns, starry blenny.

02/16/2010, 11:23 AM	#8
jbird69 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: The beautiful State of Jefferson Posts: 2,751	My corcea clam is my most notable survivor. Hes been thru some serious stuff. Bought him as a newby with only PC lighting. Had a catastrophic cyano invasion while I was in Mexico for 2 weeks that killed almost everything. When I got home, my tank looked like a big red brick. LOL I still have that clam today. __________________ Broke Back Mountain is not a movie, its the pile of dead ninjas in Chuck Norris' back yard

02/16/2010, 11:31 AM	#9
ChadTheSpike Reef Engineer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,526 Blog Entries: 1	Cause/Symptom: A major icestorm that hit upstate NY and destroyed several power stations and crippled transportation for 6 days, did I mention temperature was in the teens? Two days into it, I lost my generator and battery backups, temperature in my dozenish tanks fell into the mid 40s. Dead: Almost a complete loss of all livestock (an SPS reef, several mixed reefs, several fowlr and FO systems, multiple culture systems) Survivors: my reidi seahorses who passed this year at the age of ~7. See! Seahorses are not the most delicate things after all!! BTW, patsfan... I can relate to that story all too well... ex wife and bleach included. __________________ ~Chad "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Current Tank Info: 195 gallons of fun

02/16/2010, 11:01 AM	#7
Navyblue Low maintenance first Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 2,790	Thanks guys for sharing, please keep them coming.

02/16/2010, 03:08 PM	#10
ChadTheSpike Reef Engineer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,526 Blog Entries: 1	bump for a fun thread __________________ ~Chad "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Current Tank Info: 195 gallons of fun

02/16/2010, 04:56 PM	#11
ritter6788 Say no to clove polyps Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Marshall, TX Posts: 1,374	My green sinularia has survived power outages, chemical problems, 15 watt normal output lighting, my noob mistakes, and all my stupidity. It's as tall as my 75 gallon tank now and been fragged about 3 times. It was a 1 inch frag when I got it 3 years ago.

02/16/2010, 05:05 PM	#12
blennymower Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 1,477	I'm assuming the ex-wives poured the bleach knowing it would kill everything? If that was the reason... man, I can't find the words to describe how evil that it is! __________________ Check out my tank. Current Tank Info: 30G Nano Rimless

02/16/2010, 05:10 PM	#13
patsfan1130 Premium Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Woburn, Ma Posts: 2,010	You would be correct __________________ My cat's breath smells like cat food Member of the Boston Reefers Society Current Tank Info: 75g lps, 90g sps, 120g mixed, 180 nem tank, 300g reef, 600g up & coming reef

02/16/2010, 05:13 PM	#14
ChadTheSpike Reef Engineer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,526 Blog Entries: 1	I socond that sad statement On a positive note, my now girlfriend often asks to go to the LFS with me __________________ ~Chad "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Current Tank Info: 195 gallons of fun

02/16/2010, 06:52 PM	#16
ChadTheSpike Reef Engineer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,526 Blog Entries: 1	heh, it was justifiable divorce with no alimony and no looking back. __________________ ~Chad "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Current Tank Info: 195 gallons of fun

02/16/2010, 06:55 PM	#17
bluetang66 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Ga. Posts: 160	I've learned the hard way twice about quarantining new livestock, i'm hardheaded i know but I do have a nice leather coral that has been with me since the beginning. It's getting pretty big and I can't bring myself to frag it, guess i figure it deserves it after all it has went thru.

02/16/2010, 08:59 PM	#19
Indymann99 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 2,447	This was back in 1987. high school graduation trip to Hawaii that got extended by a week (wooo hooo 5 more days of diving off Kona)... bad side was my friend who was feeding my FO tank also had a family vac... short story is tank went into survival of the fittest for the last week... tank inhabitants Volitan Lion pearlscale butterfly yellow tang Domino damsel Niger trigger snowflake moray Survivors Snowflake moray (no big surprize.. he routinely went 2 weeks between eating) Niger trigger Domino damsel __________________ 120g DT 100lbs LR / 200 lbs LS, 45g fuge, VectraM1 Return, Herbie drain, 4x RW-8, 2x AI Hydra 26 w AWM, ASM G2, Apex controller, Apex BoB w floats ATO

02/16/2010, 09:29 PM	#20
elFloyd Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Cumming, GA Posts: 421	Cause/Symptom: CO2 regulator failed... tank pH dropped to 6.36 within 20 minutes. This happened at 5:30 am and I discovered it at 8:00 am. All fish on the bottom belly up. Dead: Powder Brown Tang, Flame Angle, 6-Line Wrasse, Long Nose Butterfly, Firefish, stag horn coral. verdict still our on pokerstar monti (turned bluish white but still has come polyp extension. Survivors: Pair of Clowns, Royal Gamma, Walker Gobie, Manderine,GTBA, Zoas, Scolys, mushrooms, Garf Bonzi, Milli Peppermint Shrimp, Cleaner Shrimp.

02/16/2010, 10:44 PM	#21
BigRedSpecial Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: St. John's, Newfoundland Posts: 405	Incident One Cause: Noobism. misread some aiptasia advice and ended up dosing the tank with vinegar. Caused a bacterial bloom (and subsequent oxygen depletion) and dropped pH down to ~6.5 in a few minutes. Link to the original disaster thread Losses: several snails, cleaner shrimp, blood shrimp. Unique encrusting LPS hitchhiker. Survivors: clown goby, stomatella snails, soft coral Incident Two Cause: Dinoflagellates outbreak. Losses: Bicolor blenny, ALL snails, majority of hermits, emerald crabs, bristleworms. Keyna tree. Verdict still out on palythoas. Survivors: percula clowns, yellow chromis, blood shrimp. zoas, GSP, Pipe organ, mushrooms, clove polyps. __________________ My progression: 10g/T8 NO to PC; 20h/PC to T5; 45 corner/55 sump/kessil

02/17/2010, 01:50 AM	#22
aleaksreef713 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 37	Cause: Hurricane IKE Dead: Over 5K in fish and coral It wasnt me, but a friend of mine had a 72 gallon filled and doing really good, well he went outta town before the hurricane hit and didnt come back til 3 days after. Well he didnt think he lost power, as soon as he got back he noticed the tank lights were off. He got really discouraged about the whole situation and didnt mess with his tank for 3 weeks, it smelled like death and the whole 9. Only survivor: Toadstool leather. Now I know what he did was dumb, but to me there was no excuse for it.... __________________ ALEAKS REEF LOVER HOUSTON Current Tank Info: 90P RR ADA, 36" Current USA 2x150's xm 20k w/ 4 T5's,Bubble King Mini 160, Oceanic 1/6th horsepower chiller, 1260 eheim submerg pump, 5 gallon auto top off built in with sump and refugium, mp40w vortech powerhead

02/17/2010, 02:03 AM	#23
dwd5813 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: 813 Posts: 2,827	i'll play catastrophe: 2/3 of my tank evaporated while i was away for a trip that got extended. i had originally planned on being away for 2 weeks, the exact amount of time that my top off lasted. i asked my cousin's wife to come over halfway through the second week and top off the top off tank with rodi that i had made and had resting next to the tank in gallon jugs, just to be on the safe side. she did this, but then when my trip ended up turning into a longer one, she stopped taking my calls and/or returning calls when i left messages. i was a bit concerned at that point. then i hear from my aunt that i might as well figure on my fish being dead after she talked to my cousin in law. anyway, when i finally did get home, my hob filter, 3 nanostreams, and 2/3 of my heater were out of the water, and what little there was left was full of padina and dead snails, with a dead blenny dissolved/eaten somewhere in the mix. it took me a couple months to get back into position to restart, and at one point i started listing equipment for sale (none of which actually sold [in retrospect i'm happy about that]) but as i type there is salt dissolving in the tank. i rinsed the crap out my sand, and have been recuring the rock in a brute for the past couple months. this weekend i'm going to get the rest of the rock in there, and start monitoring parameters for signs of cycling. __________________ order some golf shoes, otherwise we'll never get out of this place alive. what can i say? in dog beers, i have only had one. - dublo8 Current Tank Info: 40B aiptasia farm

02/23/2010, 10:07 AM	#24
Navyblue Low maintenance first Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 2,790	Bump.

02/23/2010, 11:08 AM	#25
SwampyBill Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: St. Pete, FL. Posts: 2,369	A few months ago I found a mantis shrimp in my tank. The guy at LFS suggested I soak each piece of live rock in seltzer water for 5 minutes, then rinse with RO water before putting back in tank. Next morning I woke up to milky water, a dead lionfish, copperband butterfly fish, mandarin goby, LTA & sebae anemeone. Never did find the f'ing mantis shrimp. Good news tho; my female perc & pinkspotted watchman goby are still with me. To this day I don't let that guy wait on me at LFS...