The next morning, Sunday the 15th I came home to find 3 more Bartlett Anthias were MIA. Everyone else was accounted for. I continued testing water and dosing as necessary. Most peculiar, was a note my wife presented me from my mother containing the name of “Mike the Fish Guy†and his phone number. Unbeknownst to me my wife had discussed my situation with her mother-in-law, and mom being mom, began her own search for help. What the hell, I dialed up Mike and we chatted for about a half hour. Mike reaffirmed the belief that this was a water quality driven, stress induced, infection. He suggested that I stop adding medication, turn my skimmer back on and work on repairing my water quality in an attempt to allow the fish a chance to build their immune systems back up. He added that there was realistically little else that I could do at this stage of the game except hope for the best.
By that evening pH was just barely hitting 8.0, but I the kh had shot up to over 12. Still scratching my head over the unusually low pH I added more supersaturated kalk,wasser.
Then, just when things couldn’t get any crazier, my lovely wife handed me yet another note from my mother. This one contained the name and number of Dr. Robert Hildreth DVM. It seems… mom… not one to rest until every stone is unturned, had called the local vet hospital who subsequently referred her to Dr. Lance Adams down at my old stomping grounds at the Long Beach Aquarium. Dr. Adams retuned her call and gave her the referral of Dr. Hildreth whom he advised was a mobile vet that specialized in aquatic animals. He also passed on the message that no matter what, don’t give up. I dialed Dr. Hildreth post haste.
Dr. Hildreth answered the phone right off. Over the next hour and a half we chatted about all things aquatic. I quickly learned he has 30 years of fish keeping experience and currently keeps a 1,000-gallon tank filled with some rather large and rare Angels. He also was a guest speaker at MACNA when it was hosted out here in L.A. But more than that, he was, for lack of a better description, exactly what I needed at the moment. He was not only the voice of reason, but he offered the soundest advice I had received to date. And while Dr. Hildreth’s prognosis was frank and without promise, it was not without hope. He did an incredible job at repairing my emotional well-being. In a nutshell he told me that, in his opinion the worst of it was more then likely behind me, and that barring my ability to remove the fish from the display, I had already done pretty much everything possible to save my remaining fish. Those that were going to die were going to die and there was little I could do about it. However, he suggested that I go ahead and turn the UV back on as that would go a long way towards reducing the free-swimming protozoa levels. He also agreed that my main concern was to focus my efforts on saving the Clarion at all costs, and while I would be justified to have him come out for a house call, he felt that he would be able to offer little more beyond what I had already done. The fact that the Clarion was eating was a good sign and as long as he continued to do so, he felt he stood a better chance in the display than he would if I tried to remove him to a quarantine tank. We parted on a positive note and he said to be sure to stay in touch with updates or further question if needed.
On Monday 6/16 I came home to find the Regal Angel dead on the sand bed and the remaining anthias nowhere to be found. By this point I was resigning myself to the fact I would soon also lose the Clarion. I was also seriously considering the realization that this might be the final straw to drive me from the hobby. I slept little that afternoon and later that evening I made one final trip to the LFS and obtained several new test kits. There had to be something behind the conflicting test numbers.
But by Tuesday 6/17 my Clarion, along with my adult yellow tang were still eating. Although the yellow tang was not looking all that great, and was spending little time out in the open, he did come out to eat, which offered a smidgen of hope. The Clarion still looked the same but was eating at nearly every opportunity. And not just eating, but actively cleaning the yellow tang as well. Let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot of things in my years, but I will never forget standing there frozen in wonderment at the sight of a yellow tang completely horizontal and motionless on the sand bed being actively cleaned by a Clarion Angel who looked just barely better than the guy he was tending to. It was… nothing short of amazing.
And the days matched on…
