I learned a painful lesson this week. I moved from Medford to Hammonton & my tank crashed and melted in the heat. I overextended myself with the tank move & against my better judgment, moved it and the livestock with my brother-in-law’s help. The rock, corals and fish went into tubs and were taken to the new house while we went back for the tank & stand. Everything after that point went south. Plumbing pieces got left behind, my saltwater pre-mixing pump & heater had gotten unplugged… Anything that could have went wrong did.
The worst of it was when I realized that instead of the sunroom, he had unloaded the livestock tubs into our enclosed pool room! The temps in there soared in the insane heat last week. With the sliding doors & skylights closed, I’d say it was easily 120-130 degrees in there. When I finally had the tank ready to set up & he told me where he had put everything, I went into panic mode! When I opened the door to the pool room the smell hit me. I knew it was all gone. Everything was pretty much cooked. All the fish, my mated pair of blood shrimp, snails, worms, all corals… everything was dead. The only thing I have left is my LTA. His foot was attached to the bottom glass of the tank when we took the livestock out so he was moved in the tank. Lucky for him.
This is my first real loss. My tanks have always survived storms, power outages, moves. & I’ve never lost livestock like this. My daughter was so sad that her “Dory” was killed. We have had her since she was about 2” long. My wife actually had tears in her eyes when I told her I had lost the fish. She isn’t a fish person, but had grown to love my tank & the fish. I am trying to be positive about it all & plan to rebuild. Hopefully better than ever, but for now… I’m devastated.
The worst of it was when I realized that instead of the sunroom, he had unloaded the livestock tubs into our enclosed pool room! The temps in there soared in the insane heat last week. With the sliding doors & skylights closed, I’d say it was easily 120-130 degrees in there. When I finally had the tank ready to set up & he told me where he had put everything, I went into panic mode! When I opened the door to the pool room the smell hit me. I knew it was all gone. Everything was pretty much cooked. All the fish, my mated pair of blood shrimp, snails, worms, all corals… everything was dead. The only thing I have left is my LTA. His foot was attached to the bottom glass of the tank when we took the livestock out so he was moved in the tank. Lucky for him.
This is my first real loss. My tanks have always survived storms, power outages, moves. & I’ve never lost livestock like this. My daughter was so sad that her “Dory” was killed. We have had her since she was about 2” long. My wife actually had tears in her eyes when I told her I had lost the fish. She isn’t a fish person, but had grown to love my tank & the fish. I am trying to be positive about it all & plan to rebuild. Hopefully better than ever, but for now… I’m devastated.
