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VNV Nation - Legion |
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The White Death slowly settles across the field of the Tankerium. Death is everywhere, leaving the landscape a desolate shell of its former luster. Carcasses litter the sand, each corroded in a different fashion; each telling a different story as to the demise of its former host. The survey team begins to examine the horrorshow.
It takes all the courage in the survey team to forge forward and complete their mission. Rescue is a bullet on the list, but the desolation of the field deems it unlikely. The team begins to pour over the scene and assess whether any modicum of life can be scraped out after the terror inflicted.
Suddenly, movement! Not all is lost after all. In a lonesome corner huddle three comrades, shaken by the events. Hearty men they must be to survive the caustic surroundings. The rescue bullet returns to the list and the team begins to act quickly. Exchanging as much of the burn-water as possible for fresh; vacuuming as much of the caustic powder from the surroundings as possible. The Survey Veteran acts quickly; knowingly. The Survey Journeyman listens and commits each action to memory such that he, too, may save lives in the future.
A flash of purple crosses their vision. More life! It would seem those last three had a purpose in staying alive: To protect the Prince. He is not doing well, though, having been through choking pain. He lives, yet may rest his head at any time.
The Survey Team finishes their work and hopes for the best. There is work yet to be done, but all that can be for now, has been. Time is the next step. Time and the collection of the fallen.
The Fallen shall be Praised.
Or, if you prefer the version that makes more sense, I picked up Ethan last night and we worked on the fishtank. Not all is lost, actually! Hercules the shrimp totally ate it. The Frogspawn coral also totally ate it -- its 'skeleton' will be left in the tank as a memorial. Most of the snails are gone and a few of the hermit crabs are gone, too. There's white powder everywhere; Calcium build-up where I'd rather it not be.
Prince, the Royal Gramma is still alive, although he's hiding and not coming out. A couple of the hermit crabs were huddled in a corner, but also still alive. The tank doesn't need to be started from scratch, but it does need time to clear up and soak up the lime powder that's everywhere. The best way for that to happen, essentially, is for water to soak it up.
Ethan and I swapped about half of the water in the tank. Hercules was sucked up by the siphon and fell through the drain to a watery grave. He was the hardest thing to see of it all, actually. I really liked him, but his corpse was actually cooked by the massive jump in pH. Thankfully, he would have been dead long before that happened. Everything that died in the tank should have died quickly. Everything that's left should be bred for it's genetic predisposition to be fucking hard core. There are some little crustaceans running around the tank.
The next step is to get some Nassarius Snails, which are scavengers and should feast on the fallen of the Tank, as well as to get a few more hermit crabs. With luck, Prince (the purple Royal Gramma) will survive and become healthy again. He would be stressed out due to having his gills burned by the caustic water, but he may live. I would very much like that.
Going forward, I really would like to get another harlequin shrimp. Hercules was the coolest looking little guy and I can even handle his diet of starfish. (I may get a second, smaller tank and initiate project "Infinite Food Source", but I'm not 100% on that yet...) I learned a lot about Harlequin Shrimp in the past few days and I like them.
All-in-all, the tank should survive, it's just going to take patience. I'm okay with that. I never thought I would enjoy having a cool little saltwater tank this much, but it's become an interesting hobby for me. In the grim future, I would consider a larger tank, maybe upstairs, but first I need to get a handle on the smaller tank and learn more.
The death of the tank was totally just a newbie mistake and even somewhat common. It's unfortunate, but at least something can be salvaged. I know what my mistake was and I know how not to do it again.
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jrronimo's journal
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