been slacking on updates...how is that algae outbreak coming?
It has been a while... The Algae is under just about gone.
I have a clean up crew that consists of mostly Mexican Turbo snails, and that Red Thorny Star now. They have been doing a great job on the Algae for sure.
Hey Mike, I just noticed the red knobby star post... I don't have the knobby, but I have an orangish red linkia and its pretty cool + stands out but doesn't take away from the rest of the tank either.... and is safe as far as I can tell.
Thanks Chris, so far I have not noticed him near any of the few corals in the tank, which is a good thing.
These past 7 days have been a real trip for me, and the tank. Last Saturday I made the difficult decision to have Centauri (pictured above) put down, her hips and bladder were failing her, and I couldn't stand to see her in pain. A few hours after getting back from the vet I found a local breeder of German Shepherds about 2 hours drive away from me, with 2 female and 2 male pups up for adoption. Well, we came home with a new PUPPY! Sasha is now 11 weeks old, and is doing very well with her potty training.
Emotional roller coaster to say the least... Probably the hardest thing I have ever done was putting Tauri down.
Sunday morning last week we were playing with Sasha, and looking forward to having a couple days to spend with the kids and the new puppy. About 10:30 Stacey (my wife) gets a call from who she thinks is her Dad... It wasn't. It was Sgt. Ferris from the Byron County GA police department. Stacey's Dad had been in an accident, he is a Semi Truck driver, so we were anticipating the worst. Stacey handed the phone to me, as she was in tears speaking to the Sgt. Turns out Gary had no pulse, and was not breathing at the scene, as luck would have it, a Flight Nurse witnessed the accident, and pulled Gary from the big rig and started CPR. According to the police report, EMS arrived on scene 4 minutes after the 911 call went out. The EMS had to shock Gary TWICE to establish a good pulse, they took him to the closest medical facility, which was in Peach County, a small facility according to the nurse we spoke too.
After a couple of CT scans, and being placed on a ventilator, they transferred him to Medical Center of Central Georgia. We waited for a few hours to hear from MCCG, after the transfer, and the news was not good. Gary was in a Semi-Comatose state. We packed a bag, called my sister to take care of our 2 kids and new puppy, and started or GA on Sunday night, about 9 pm. I drove until 1:30 am, and we stopped at a rest area for a 3 hour nap, then hit the road again. We arrived at MCCG at 2 pm on Monday, where Gary was in CCU (Critical Care Unit) and was "not responsive". They had done an MRI, and were waiting for the results when we got there. Seeing my Father in Law in the state he was in, was not easy, the vent, the food tube, and all the probes and IV's, it was a sight I won't forget.
Tuesday the MRI results came in from the MRI as "normal", which was encouraging, but Gary was still not responsive. On Wednesday, we saw a Neurologist. This Doctor was AWESOME! He explained the results were "normal" for a 90 year old man, not for a 63 year old one. Gary was an Alcoholic, it was who he was, was never going to change. The results of his drinking were the atrophy of his brain, and a weakened capacity for healing. The neurologist did many tests, but at the end, the news was poor, Gary was in a vegetative state, and had no central nervous system function at all. Doc said there was a less then 1% chance Gary would ever wake up, that he could remain on life support in this state forever.
My wife talked it over with her family and it was a unanimous decision that Gary would not WANT to exist in this state, as it was not LIFE. Gary's brother and sister made it to MCCG about 5:30PM Friday, after a time a Priest was called, and Gary was given the last rites, and at 8PM his life support was removed. Gary was moved to a pallative care unit about 9:30PM. As of a few hours ago, he was still there, breathing on his own, his body fighting to live, even though there is no brain activity other then the basic signals to tell the heart to beat, and lungs to breathe.
We are now planning a funeral... to say that we have had a tough week, is a bit of an understatement. I do appreciate the support of all my friends and "reef family" trough this difficult time, AND bearing with me as I typed out a short novel here, to vent.
There was some fish tank drama in the middle of the week, I will get all caught up with that in the next post though.
The other corals in my tank came from a GORGEOUS T5 lit tank, and they are not so happy. (Well the trumpet, and frogspawn are doing just fine.)
