December 10, 2000
Hello All,
The exams rumbling on the distant horizon I mentioned last time have turned out to be much more imminent than I thought. I am ill prepared for the deluge approaching next week. At least I have come to my senses and given some others the opportunity to work on the set for the school play. Nola was working on the set all day so that I would have time to study, but I of course found some other things to keep me busy. Everyone needs study breaks every now and then.
Today one of my new cichlids gave me a real scare, or perhaps it was the other way around. I decided to change about ten percent of the water in the aquarium that you see pictured below and after I added the fresh water my new male Lamprologus brichardi, affectionately dubbed "Lambert" started twitching. His symptoms quickly progressed and soon his fins were plastered along side his body, he was sitting on the bottom, and he was having periodic spastic contractions. Unfortunately, I haven't learned to do differential diagnoses just yet (particularly on fish). However, I did remember learning about ion imbalances last block and it seemed to me that was what we were dealing with. So, I quickly added some more cichlid lake salt to the tank and said a prayer. As soon as I did that, the fish perked right up, swam up on rocks and he has been fine ever since. It seems that I have learned something useful in the first two years of medical school after all. Whether that is how to diagnose hypotonic fish, or how to pray when things are beyond our control I will leave for you to decide.
Oh, and for those who are worried (Mom) I actually did get a bit of studying in after I was done playing veterinarian.
Take care, Brent Reading
If you look very carefully you can see the infamous Lambert just above the rocks. His friend Brigitta is hiding below.
