[aquasalt]

Thanks Bamaguy, I have seen your tank and it is really coming along as well! Unfortunately no worthy lights here as of yet! I think I'm going to hold out for 8x54W Teks.

I'm afraid I have some bad news. I came home from work last night to discover Spike, our maroon, was not doing so well. He was barely managing to swim and in fact the current had him pinned up against the glass. I noticed he seemed lethargic the past month and would eat like a mad man one feeding, and then other times showed no interest in food whatsoever.

Well, he got weaker and weaker last evening so I went in to put him out of his misery. Amazingly, as I went in with the net his friend, the Hippo Tang, quickly came up to him (despite the net!) and "kissed" him goodbye. Weirdest thing ever!

We had Spike the maroon with us since the very beginning and he's always been strong, so I was very surprised last night. I checked water chemistry as best as I could:

pH = 8.2
Nitrite = 0
Ammonia = between 0 and 0.25 (really difficult to gauge so I am erring on the high side)
Nitrate = 0 to 5 (idem)
SG = 1.021
Temp = 76.4

All other inhabitants seem to be just fine.