One sad story
 

Well I know it has been said over and over again the importance of taking care of your tank but I did not listen ( or care at the time) and I paid for it. After Reefwerkz closed I was so busy with other things that I failed to pay any attention to my tank except to clean the glass and top up the fresh water supply. I also failed to do any water changes in the mean time as well. The sad thing is because of my time with Reefwerkz I had alot of very sweet coral lots of SPS and LPS, well not and more. My calcuim levels dropped and the water went to crap killing my SPS which in turn poluted the water some more. Oh yah my skimmer was not working because it got too dirty and I got too lazy to clean it. Well a snow ball effect happened and I lost my anenomes,all my SPS, all my LPS, and 75 percent of my softies. All that I have left is some zooes, and alot of work getting my tank back in shape. Moral of the story, Take care of your tank!!!!

sorry to hear about that Russ:(

sad but true
 

I know from my own experience it doesnt take too long for a tank to go south.
Doesn't make it any easier but so long as we learn from our mistakes we won't be destined to repeat them. Except marriages.:biggrin:

Yep it sucks!! All the dead sps and lps filled half a pail with skelatons

Ahhhh dude that sucks!! Good luck on the rebound!

I pm'd you:)

Ouch Russ! I would offer to give you frags of all the cool stuff I got from Reefwerkz, but yeah....so instead I offer you my condolences!

Don't worry dude, I got your back when the time comes to restock! :mrgreen:

Oh man!! I just sent you a pm........and then I see this thread. You know how to get ahold of me when the time comes.

H....O......L......Y....Shat :sad:

Aww, no. I think I'll go do a water change.

Sorry to hear.

That sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry for your losses :sad:

Wow that totally sucks, wish I was closer to help you out with restocking :neutral: Good luck with getting it all sorted.

sorry to hear, what a loss, :(

Yah I think that that was one of my biggest mistakes. Calcium levels would not have gone that low, that fast if I had. I have to be honest i almost packed it in at that point, but I am not a quiter and no fish tank will get the best of me!!!

I hope your corals were all captive grown. It's a waste of good corals regardless, but to steal something from the wild and (admittedly) be too lazy to care for them is awfully irresponsible. :(

Sorry.
Sorry to hear that everyone is so sympathetic to this tragic loss of life.
This reefer has openly admitted that his total neglect caused the loss of so many reef animals, not a simple mistake of overdosing something, or accidental breakage causing loss of water. Then he goes on to say that no "fish tank" can get the best of him.....after all the blood sweat and tears we have all put into our "reef tanks" I find it hard to believe that all of you feel merely sympathy for this loss.
I dont want to come across as some kind of jerk...but the wife and I are members of PETA, and any loss of animal life due to neglect is unacceptable.

My thoughts exactly. If it was me who had neglected my tank like that I would be too embarassed to come onto a forum and tell people about it, let alone look for sympathy.

Did you ever get that copper test done on your water Russ? I really doubt a lack of water changes is the only reason.

[quote=Myka;296324]Where was it in the post that he was asking for sympathy? I am pretty sure it was posted to remind people to keep up on there tank maintenance. Life happens to everyone. And people make mistakes and we all learn from them as i am sure Russ has as we'll.

It was the feeling I got from his original post and his followups since. Everyone offering their sympathies doesn't help either...

Its funny....the wife and I where discussing if this reply was a good idea or not...
I(we) just find it rather silly that everyone is so quick to OFFER sympathy(never did I state he was seeking sympathy) and new livestock to someone who openly admitted his neglect was the cause of such a loss in life....ie..I didnt feed my cat for 3 weeks...he died, anyone have a kitten for sale?
Anyone?
Didnt think so.
I guess my point of all this is...if for some reason you are unable to care for your animals...there is always a fellow reefer out there willing to take things off your hands so no life is lost....Am I wrong?

Okay now i agree with you to a point. Yes it was a mistake that he obviously regrets. And yes it was preventable or maybe not.

What i don't agree with is the fact that people feel that it is okay to say that he should be embarrassed to tell people. Isn't that the reason that we all come to these boards? To learn from other people even if it is from there mistakes. Not you and Not I can say we have never made a mistake in this hobby that has cost some kind of death.
Okay he made a mistake her told everyone(i might add instead of lying about it) now lets move on.

Can you honestly tell me you have never lost a coral or fish?
Now you are going to tell me that it was not preventable right:)

Okay we'll considering you are a memeber of PETA( which i might add i agree with alot of the issues they are involved with) Then in all reality there mandate per say is that any animal is not to be used for entertainment purposes among other things.. We'll what is our tanks? Purely for our enjoyment and entertainment. And considering we are taking fish out of the ocean which is how big and placeing them into glass boxes then in all reality that would be what??? So you can not tell me that all the deaths of fish and corals in the aquarium industry is not preventable and that you and I and everyone that has any kind of aquarium are not are contributing to that.

Not trying to condemn anything but people need to look at there own actions before they start biting someones head off

Hmmm
 

I didn't see him asking for sympathy either. Just a reefer who said he messed up. I dont know of anybody in this "hobby" who hasnt made a mistake or two that may have caused the premature death of one of our "livestock". To chastize or belittle a person when they come into a public forum like this is wrong. He wasn't asking for sympathy or for replacement stock, Just admitting he screwed up. When I see reefer's chastizing him for this I am reminded of a famous quote. "Can't we all just get along" No matter what group or association you belong to, this isnt the place to point fingers and say "your bad" or irresponsible. :neutral:

Wow you guys are missing the point of my responses....of course we have all had deaths...i have, you have.
Thats not the point....the point of MY REPONSES was that he completely neglected the care of the animals....something he confessed on his own....that is what caused the deaths...not an honest mistake....or just an unanswered death.
And for the record...I never pointed a finger....I stated my suprise at all the reefers out there who felt sympathetic for this persons negligence...thats all.

I think this is off topic a little but a old friend of mine was (is I would assume) a member of PETA and she once told me they do not believe in keeping any animals as pets...period. Is this not true?

It's not that PETA love animals or believes in their continued existence as free beings. It's that PETA hates people.

I agree PETA Hates people. First off I don't need peoples pity. Second Yes I was trying to give people a reminder to take care of thier tank and do the proper mateinance. And finally I would like to offer an apology to Myka and Canunkgod420 I am sorry That I am not as perfect as you and that I that I can't offer every waking hour of my life to hug my pets, trees or what ever you hug to take care of it in such a perfect way that you do. I would also like to say that I am surprised that PETA members automaticly trash someone when they read a post like my first one. Just for the record I love my tank, anyone in Edmonton who knows me knows I love this hobby, so Thank you for judging me.

No I have not I think I will. If it does turn out to be copper in the water supply that would suck. At least the tree huggers couldn't blame me than.

My tank went from looking good to looking like crap so fast I hardly had time to dish my coral off to others. Which I did by the way so thanks for judging before you know all the facts. Oh yah just so you know I do feed my fish.

Ai, ai, ai... I've slacked on my maintenance in the past; got away with it. Russ did, and didn't. We all got a little object lesson. I think the offers of sympathy and restocking are because Russ has been a helpful and supportive guy in the past, and because many people recognize that the lapse was ... well, understandable, if not excusable. No need to be surprised by our support for him. Everyone deserves a second chance.

Everyone gets their hackles up when PETA is mentioned. It is usually best not to mention a group like them...and I won't be talking about my views regarding PETA.

I am not perfect. I do NOT spend every waking hour of my life hugging my pets, and I don't have any trees (how'd trees get into this anyway?? lol). I do however only have a small amount of pets that I easily have the time to care for (this is why I have small tanks). Whatever may (or may not) be going on in your life, I bet I could easily match or surpass it (sometimes life throws you potholes, sometimes life washes the road right out from under you), and I still don't have any troubles looking after my pets.

I will freely admit that I did the EXACT same thing you did. I neglected my tank to the point of everything dying...when I was 12. I still feel guilty, and that was a loooong time ago. Don't you?

[ comment removed by Canreef staff .. please respect the user agreement ]
I commented on the sympathetic members on here....you want to be lazy(self proclaimed) then be lazy, try to do it with something that doesnt depend on you for survival.
As far as PETA goes....if you believe that they hate people, then you deserve to be hated...just cause I believe in some of there missions....doesnt make me a people hater or tree hugger or anything like that.....any catholics out there that have pre-marital sex? Oh I see...you dont have to follow that to a tee...but you think I do what PETA says word for word?
Come on people...
Oh by the way Rusty...your ignorance shines through when you say your sorry that your not perfect like me for taking care of your tank...I dont have a perfect tank....I also dont spend all my waking time taking care of my tank....I have 3 kids, a fulltime job, 2 dogs, and 2 cats and yet somehow I can find 10 minutes a day to help my tank critters survive, rather happily I might add.

If you don't know all the facts maybe keeping your mouth shut would be the better thing to do. I hardly think that slacking on water changes would cause such a catastrophic loss to his tank. Neglect to your tank would be not feeding, never turning lights on (I know most people use timers.) etc etc. Water changes do not fall in that category IMHO. You may also not know that Russ has been struggling with his tank since he moved to a new place umpteen months ago. He has always suspected that the water source could be the problem, so more water changes could or may have caused his tank to fail earlier.

And as for the PETA comment, who cares. This is just another charity in which you give them money and someone down the pipeline gets rich. You may feel warm and fuzzy inside about what you have done. In reality your probably just paying for some celebrity to show up at some stupid gala thingy for publicity. If you really want to help the animals go volunteer at your local animal shelter.

I think we all need to take a "DEEP BREATH"

Why do we not just all agree to disagree. Everyones point has been made and just drop it. This thread was not started by Russ as an open invitation to belittle and bash him. It was opened as a reminder to do your tank maintence.

So like everyone has heard in there life"If you have nothing nice to say then say nothing at all"

And Lando i agree 100%. I stated that there are how many people who NEVER do water changes...There has got to be something more wrong (like the copper someone mentioned) than a water change:)

you know its funny....all I did was coment on the other responses from other people.....he adimitted that the tank went south due to his own negligence.....why is everyone giving me a hard time about it? Read his initial post.
So now you think me supporting PETA is a waste of time and money?
I also donate money to BC's childrens hospital, is that a scam too? My wife supports a child in Honduras....should she get on a plane and go help him in person.....I dont think so. Of course there are always risks with donating money to any charity...but we do what we can to help.
P.S My daughter and I did help at the local dog pound until they closed down a 38 year old facility because new home owners around the shelter complained about the barking.

:sad: Unbelievable.

Thanks f*nemo. I think all involved should follow this advice.

I think this thread should be locked, it's getting...well you can see...

This thread is an advisory of the perils of not maintaining your tank, it is NOT a PETA thread. Thank you.