It starts innocently enough. You’ve had a fish-only marine tank up and running for quite some time and would like to try your hand at reefkeeping—so one aquarium becomes two. Maybe then you realize that you need to rehome a fish that has outgrown its aquarium or is bullying its tankmates. You can’t bear to part with the specimen, so two tanks become three. Next, you catch the fish-breeding or coral-fragging bug and set up yet another system for that purpose—and three tanks become four. Before you know it, you can’t look at an empty container in your home without imagining what type of sea life it could hold!
这种情况代表了一种折磨海洋水族馆业余爱好者的特别阴险疾病的典型进展-Multiple盐水水族馆综合征或MSA。
Who is at risk?
MSA的唯一已知危险因素是参与海洋水族馆业余爱好，其风险程度与参与时间直接成正比。自然盐水环境中的人体定期浸没，例如潜水或在珊瑚礁周围浮潜，也可能是一个诱人的因素。有趣的是，受感染者的配偶或伴侣通常表现出令人惊讶的对该疾病的免疫力。
MSA如何传播？
可疑的研究表明，MSA具有高度的传染性，通常通过直接接触已经感染的业余爱好者的房屋或渔房。参观特别令人印象深刻的公共水族馆甚至当地的鱼类商店也可以将传染病传播给易感人士。家族史 - 更确切地说，与MSA具有至少一个一级亲戚（父母或兄弟姐妹），也可能发挥作用。
Symptoms of MSAS
在最早的阶段，MSA很容易被忽视，并且很难与正常的业余爱好行为区分开。然而，不加治疗，很快就会导致多种令人担忧的症状和合并症，包括：
- 一种独特的淡淡气味，弥漫在受害者的家庭和衣服上。
- Persistent pruning of the fingers.
- 随着新储罐在每个角落，每个墙壁和每个级别的表面上方都弹跳，稳定，无法驱动的居住空间丧失。
- 将孩子们从卧室转移到地下室爬网空间，为更多的坦克腾出空间，声称“他们会在那里更快乐！”
- 表现出反射性或欺骗性的行为，例如，与拉丁语中的其他MSA患者进行交流（“ Allyay Iyay Eednay Isyay Oneyay Onyay Oremay Anktay！”），以掩盖亲人的严重性。
- Simmering domestic discord as limited financial resources are diverted from “non-essential” expenditures—cable TV, carry-out food, kids’ tuition, etc.—to “essential” expenditures, like fish food, protein skimmers, powerheads, heaters, lights…and more tanks.
- General malaise, disorientation, or irritability whenever the sufferer is removed from the multi-aquarium environment.
Can MSAS be treated?
There’s no known cure for MSAS and, thus far, no satisfactory treatment has been developed. MSAS immunotherapy—gradually exposing sufferers to incrementally increasing numbers of marine aquariums in an effort to desensitize them—backfired horribly, and aversion therapy had no discernible effect on MSAS sufferers apart from an inexplicable compulsion to watch Stanley Kubrick films. Some experts (on the courtship behavior of fruit flies) suggest MSAS may be a self-limiting disease that is best left to run its course.
Until more is understood about this sinister condition, hobbyists are advised to be on their guard in multiple-aquarium environments or even when talking to hobbyists infected with MSAS. But above all, they should keep repeating to themselves, “They’re just aquariums! They’re not love!”
