Steven Nelson
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2018
- Messages
- 15
- Reaction score
- 26
- Location
- Aurora
- What state or country do you live in
- Colorado
I bought a blue laser after a resurgence of mojanos that I’d thought long gone thanks to my matted file fish. I’d been plagued with them for years, having to routinely dive into the tank with syringes full of hot kalc paste.
Immediately upon moving in, my little file fish got busy, wiping them out in the span of a few weeks. He grew fat and happy, but after several years of appearing to be contented, one night he committed suicide by carpet.
Not long after this tragedy, little mojanos started popping up on a rock they’d previously been known to frequent.
I have a health condition now, and I’m not fit for spending more than a minute of reaching into the reef. Another file fish was recruited, but showed zero interest in the mojano. A second was added, and began consorting with the first, both now being freeloaders and slackers.
I ordered the least sketchy-looking laser on Ebay, and waited as the pseudoanemonids continued breeding like vermin, threatening to overgrow everything in a widening swath.
It came without batteries yesterday, so it was today before I fired it up. The CR123a batteries caused sticker shock at Lowe’s, but a set of rechargeables are on the way.
It’s very bright and gave me the instant sense of holding a Jedi light saber.
The first thing I had to do was test it on myself, of course.
I aimed it at the palm of my hand and after the 3 second warmup immediately felt a sharp, focused heat that made me aware that it will, in fact, cause injury if misused.
So to the reef tank I went, and watched with a demonic glee as the laser struck the body of the first, nasty little polyp and torched it with a brilliant blaze of blue light.
I noted though, that after the initial reaction, it took some time for the polyp to be eradicated, and even then, some material remained. I found that this is a tedious process that requires a steady hand and extra batteries. The distortions of circulating water, and the thickness of the glass made holding a steady, focused beam challenging. Having tremors made it a *****.
After a session that lasted about an hour, which is a half hour greater than my stamina, I left off. Most of the visible polyps had been killed (the smaller ones), or badly damaged. It’s evident that I will need to repeat this process, and for the larger, tougher mojanos I may still need to load up a spike of deadly white powder. From Jedi Knight to Dr. Death is a precipitous decline. Whatever it takes. Mojano are more tenacious than aiptasia. It’s hard to believe that any part of them can survive, given my Stupid Hand Experiment and the length of time the little jerks were irradiated, but within an hour, singed little tentacles had begun to emerge like little zombie hands, reaching from the grave.
It’s easier for me to sit or sometimes stand with a light saber, waging war by slow incineration, than to go diving in with arms gloved like Dr. Pol. I remain hopeful that my deadbeat file fish might come to like cooked mojano, and then go paleo. Either way these little motherfeckers are unlikely to be eradicated, and I anticipate the war grinding on into the future. I’m glad to have a new, high tech weapon in the arsenal. They are spineless (literally) guerrillas, sneaking around in tunnels and under rocks.
One day I will pass into the next dimension and I hope to train a new Jedi to channel the force. Until then, I’ll slog on in my lonely campaign against these insurgent clones. May the force (7v=3.5v CR123a x 2) be with me.
Immediately upon moving in, my little file fish got busy, wiping them out in the span of a few weeks. He grew fat and happy, but after several years of appearing to be contented, one night he committed suicide by carpet.
Not long after this tragedy, little mojanos started popping up on a rock they’d previously been known to frequent.
I have a health condition now, and I’m not fit for spending more than a minute of reaching into the reef. Another file fish was recruited, but showed zero interest in the mojano. A second was added, and began consorting with the first, both now being freeloaders and slackers.
I ordered the least sketchy-looking laser on Ebay, and waited as the pseudoanemonids continued breeding like vermin, threatening to overgrow everything in a widening swath.
It came without batteries yesterday, so it was today before I fired it up. The CR123a batteries caused sticker shock at Lowe’s, but a set of rechargeables are on the way.
It’s very bright and gave me the instant sense of holding a Jedi light saber.
The first thing I had to do was test it on myself, of course.
I aimed it at the palm of my hand and after the 3 second warmup immediately felt a sharp, focused heat that made me aware that it will, in fact, cause injury if misused.
So to the reef tank I went, and watched with a demonic glee as the laser struck the body of the first, nasty little polyp and torched it with a brilliant blaze of blue light.
I noted though, that after the initial reaction, it took some time for the polyp to be eradicated, and even then, some material remained. I found that this is a tedious process that requires a steady hand and extra batteries. The distortions of circulating water, and the thickness of the glass made holding a steady, focused beam challenging. Having tremors made it a *****.
After a session that lasted about an hour, which is a half hour greater than my stamina, I left off. Most of the visible polyps had been killed (the smaller ones), or badly damaged. It’s evident that I will need to repeat this process, and for the larger, tougher mojanos I may still need to load up a spike of deadly white powder. From Jedi Knight to Dr. Death is a precipitous decline. Whatever it takes. Mojano are more tenacious than aiptasia. It’s hard to believe that any part of them can survive, given my Stupid Hand Experiment and the length of time the little jerks were irradiated, but within an hour, singed little tentacles had begun to emerge like little zombie hands, reaching from the grave.
It’s easier for me to sit or sometimes stand with a light saber, waging war by slow incineration, than to go diving in with arms gloved like Dr. Pol. I remain hopeful that my deadbeat file fish might come to like cooked mojano, and then go paleo. Either way these little motherfeckers are unlikely to be eradicated, and I anticipate the war grinding on into the future. I’m glad to have a new, high tech weapon in the arsenal. They are spineless (literally) guerrillas, sneaking around in tunnels and under rocks.
One day I will pass into the next dimension and I hope to train a new Jedi to channel the force. Until then, I’ll slog on in my lonely campaign against these insurgent clones. May the force (7v=3.5v CR123a x 2) be with me.
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