So things get better, then worse, then better, then worse.  Things were going well until late last week, when around June 1, the small male maroon showed up with a cloudy, distended eye.  POP EYE again!  And the appetite was nil.  What?!  I’ve been continuing to treat with the Dr. G’s antibiotic-laced frozen food…why is this even happening?
Well, by Sunday the condition had vanished; Dr. Kizer reconsidered the possibility of doing a skin-scrape on that Saturday, but I hadn’t even gotten back to her when things had cleared up.  Monday, everyone is great…eating like pigs, looking good.
So imagine my total disgust when today, I find the Lightning Maroon now with a cloudy left eye that has “gunk” growing off it.  The Lightning continues to feed, but clearly there’s no relationship with this malady and the antibiotic-laced food (either the food is not working, or the medication it is delivering isn’t relevant to the problem at hand).  Email shot off to Dr. Kizer, and I am officially angry at circumstances beyond my control.  I am strongly considering the removal of both fish to a different aquarium at this point in time, and have again agreed to possible skin-scrapes in an effort to determine what exactly these fish are fighting against.
The worst part is that the resident Foureye Butterflyfish, a much more delicate and generally disease-susceptible fish, has shown absolutely no problems of any kind during these episodes.  I should also mention that I have not seen any pre-spawning behavior now in a few days.  Perhaps the worst part is that I am past the point of reacting, and more in the mindset that it almost seems pointless to attempt to intervene.  Clearly this problem is NOT under my control, and quite possibly I may not have any viable option on how to intervene at this point in time.  Maybe a skin-scrape can change that, but it’s impossible to say at this point.  Given that fish vets aren’t exactly common anywhere, whether this can even be accomplished or not remains to be seen.