Letting the tank sit..

[OCDP]

Tough weekend! Lost my pair of true perc's due to some sort of parasite.. it acted fast and hard. I am extremely bummed and discouraged. Really discouraged actually. I can't ever get away from the ick.

I am heavily contemplating throwing in the towel again as I just can't be bothered with worrying about sick fish all the time, and that's no way to keep fish. I figured clowns were good and hardy, and I figured they were healthy enough to bounce back, but I was wrong. And of course this past weekend I wasn't at home the entire time, so I wasn't able to see how quickly things went downhill.

The plan is to leave the tank sit, until I decide what to do. There's still one purple firefish in there happy and healthy... although looking a little lonely. I will continue bi-weekly water changes and continue skimming, but as far as additions or doing anything tank related, I am finished for a while. I don't have space for QT tanks, so it's really making me wonder if now is a good time to give up. Ick always finds it's way into my tank and I am completely exhausted from dealing with it. I am starting to feel really bad about all the fish losses from parasites and I am thinking this hobby very well might not be for me. Soo this was more a venting post than anything, I've got no one else to whine about my fish tank problems to :P

I have a strong feeling that even after a couple months away from the tank I won't want to add anymore fish, and I think I might just leave it with the purple firefish and be done with it, but at the same time, it's like starring into a tank filled with coral only. I actually haven't sat down in front of the tank for weeks, because of all the stress and grief, so perhaps some time away will do me and the tank some good. Hopefully I can figure out what to do.. but as of right now I'm leaning towards getting out and saving myself from killing more fish, killing my wallet and reducing the constant worry of how my fish are. So if your reading this and are in the market for a complete 20g setup, might not hurt to shoot me a PM. With me being in school too, I am short on time and that's not a good thing when keeping a reef. Thank goodness my tank is only softies and LPS and don't require much maintenance.
Thanks for reading

[Keri]

That sucks :(

I would definately let the tank sit without adding anything to it... I know it's boring but you allready know what happens when you add more fish :( Give it some time, think about it, and....staring into a tank just full of corals ain't so bad - I have a nano with just corals and it's still pretty interesting! :)

Of course you know the best thing to do it QT but barring that, yeah, see if you can wait it out - I'd give it at lreast 6 or 8 weeks and hopefully it was only something affecting the clowns and the firsfish can tough it out. (Hopefully he isn't a carrier!!)

Sorry for your loss but try not to get discouraged! This hobby can be just as rewarding as it is frustrating.

edit: in time you could think about adding inverts for movement, some of the shrimps can be quite comical and add a lot of interest to the tank without being affected by the same parasites as the fish.

[Delphinus]

Sorry to hear of your bad luck Scott. Hang in there, it'll get better. Just go slow and enjoy what you do have for now.

[fmelindy]

I think if it were me (and it has been me before!) I would get that firefish out (donor? sale? QT?) and wait 2 months before putting any more fish in. Assume that firefish does have ick and don't rely on what it looks like. That 2 months will be enough for you to take a break and discover what I think most reefers will at some point realize - there is no possibility of NOT having a tank. (at least there wasn't for me) If you get out of the hobby and sell everything I can pretty much guarantee you next year you'll have another one set up and in the mean time you will have lost your shirt on the stuff you sold. (again, just based on my own experience)

then after your 2 month break, QT everything so you don't go through this again. and keep your shin up, man, this kind of thing has happened to me A LOT. But I keep coming back to the hobby and I learn something every time.

[mark]

if your planning on waiting out the ich lifecycle, got to go completely fishless.

[JDigital]

Scot... I can totally understand where you're coming from. I lost both my Perculas (1 carpet surfer, the other got stressed out from my pygmy picking on him) and then I lost my Singapore Angel to Ick, and a Occ Clown that just didn't acclimate well... My 75 is in the middle of a complete rebuild.. and my 20, well it is PACKED and doing well (except for the bully pygmy angel). I don't QT my fish either, just a long drip acclimation. I couldn't be happier with my Nano tank to be honest and that is after 4 fish losses (3 of them being clowns!!!) Hang in there man, it will turn around for you.

[OCDP]

Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it. As bad as it sounds, it's a relief to hear I am not the only one who'se had such bad luck with fish (I was starting to feel really guilty about all the losses.. nothing more painful than flushing a fish down a toilet, one after another)

I haven't been spending much time with the tank, but I think that's just because of where I'm at in life right now, too. The firefish is still doing well, although looking somewhat lonely.

I'll continue to let the tank sit and go slow. I was thinking of trying a maroon clown next... I never really looked into them much due to their aggresive nature, but they are one heck of a beautiful fish after watching a pair in the LFS..

Anyways, thanks once again for all the kind words and support.. I'll keep on and see how things turn out. :)