The moment Zhang Zian opened the door, Wang Qian, Li Kun, and Jiang Feifei arrived. They shouted in unison, "Don't move!"
The group of kids was shocked. Electrician Wu's grandson shivered and pulled his hand out of the fish tank.
"You … Who are you? What are you doing? Who gave you the key? Thieves? Are you thieves? Let me tell you, we're not afraid. The adults are in the house! "One of the chubby kids shouted.
The other little brats also chimed in, "If you guys don't leave, we'll call for help!"
Zhang Zian ignored them. He looked past them at the fish tank.
Maybe the kids took turns to reach in and muddy the water, but the fish tank was muddy. It was like looking at flowers in the fog or the moon in the water. He could only vaguely make out the outline of the reef.
When the kids saw that Zhang Zian and the others were not leaving, some of them wanted to cry, some wanted to call for help, and some didn't know what to do.
Fortunately, the two old men, Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao, climbed up the stairs, and the kids immediately had a backbone. They surrounded them and complained.
"Grandpa! Thieves broke into our house! Call the police! "
"Grandpa Wu … Woo …"
"Grandpa Zhao, I'm scared … I want my mom!"
The house was in chaos. The neighbor next door heard the noise and went out to check on the situation, but Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao apologized and persuaded them to go back.
When Electrician Wu and Welder Zhao saw that the kids were unharmed, they finally calmed down. They were old, so they went up to the sixth floor without stopping. They were out of breath for a long time, and they looked at the noisy kids with a mixture of love and hate.
Welder Zhao usually went up to the sixth floor, so he had better stamina than Electrician Wu. He was the first to catch his breath and asked, "How … is it? That thing in the water … Is there any movement? "
Zhang Zian had already approached the fish tank with caution.
He quickly glanced at the window and said, "Bobbit worms are usually nocturnal. It's daytime now, and the sun is strong. It should be hiding in its hiding place to rest. Under normal circumstances, it won't come out … But now that it's been disturbed by the kids, I'm not sure if it'll …"
In just a short while, the sand and dust stirred up in the vat had gradually settled, and visibility had recovered a little.
Before Zhang Zian could finish his sentence, a dark brown shadow rolled up the sand and jumped out from the reef like a spring. It bit a small fish that was passing by and quickly retreated.
Almost all the adults present were stunned when they saw this scene.
"Grandpa, what is that?"
A few children also saw it and asked in a trembling voice.
Zhang Zian was the closest to the fish tank, so he could see it the clearest. That thing had five tentacles on its head, and its arthropod-like body was smooth and shiny. Its strong mouth was like a pair of steel pincers, and its biting force was extremely fierce. What else could it be if not a bobbit worm?
After witnessing it with his own eyes, Welder Zhao's forced calmness disappeared. His back felt numb and numb, as if it had been electrocuted. He didn't even need to touch it to know that it was full of cold sweat.
"Holy sh * t!"
Electrician Wu cursed. He picked up the bench next to him and was about to throw it at him.
"Old Wu! Don't! My fish tank! "
Welder Zhao was so distressed that he quickly pulled Electrician Wu back.
It took him a few days to find five pieces of glass of appropriate size to cut and glue the big fish tank together. He didn't know how many mistakes were made during the process, so he didn't want to smash it.
Zhang Zian also stopped Electrician Wu because the bobbit worm had already retreated into the reef. Even if he smashed the fish tank, it wouldn't help. Instead, it would allow the worm to escape from the fish tank. Then, it would run around the house and bite whoever it caught. What should he do?
Electrician Wu was so angry that his lips were trembling. He wanted to tear the worm into pieces.
"Old Zhao! Explain it to me! How did you get this weird worm in? " He pointed at Welder Zhao's nose and scolded him. The friendship that had been floating for decades was about to capsize.
"This … How would I know? If I knew, would I have put it in? "Welder Zhao was also complaining. Even if he wanted to raise his children, he couldn't let them have close contact with such a dangerous animal.
He was telling the truth, but Electrician Wu was too angry to think straight.
Zhang Zian had already guessed the truth of the matter. He explained on behalf of Welder Zhao, "Master Wu, don't worry. Nothing happened, right? Calm down first. I already know what's going on. "
"Ah? What happened? "Welder Zhao also wanted to know.
"The problem lies in the reef that you brought back from the beach." Zhang Zian stared at the reef and said, "It's not a problem to bring the reef back as a live rock, but did you disinfect the reef before you put it in the tank?"
"Disinfect?" Welder Zhao thought about it. "I saw that the reef was quite clean, so I just connected the water pipe to the faucet and rinsed the reef."
"No, that's the problem. Whether it's a reef or a live rock, you have to rinse and disinfect it thoroughly after you bring it back. It's best to rinse it a few times, or else there might be some unexpected living organisms or their eggs hidden in the pores and brought into your tank," Zhang Zian explained. "Clam worms and bobbit worms are stowaways that sneak in like this."
Then, he added, "Of course, some veteran aquarium players like surprises. They deliberately don't wash the live rocks, especially the live rocks from abroad. They wait to see what kind of stowaways will grow out of the pores after a while. There might be some unexpected rare creatures, but you … Obviously, you're not such a veteran, right? And even if you're a veteran, they only dare to do so after sufficient preparation. "
The bobbit worm was similar to the ugly duckling coral. They were both stowaways that attached themselves to the live rocks. This kind of thing was not uncommon in the aquarium biosphere.
The standard procedure was to carefully wash the live rocks before they were put into the tank, but some veterans deliberately did the opposite and tried to gamble.
Zhang Zian spending money to buy the ugly coral was also a kind of gamble.
A small gamble was good for the mood, but a big gamble was bad for the body. Just like the saying went, "If you win, you'll be a young model in the clubhouse, and if you lose, you'll have to work in the sea!"
In normal aquariums, because they were afraid that customers would not know this procedure, they would often disinfect the live rocks in advance before selling them to customers.
However, Welder Zhao had gone to the beach to dig the reefs himself, so he did not know that they needed to be disinfected. Coincidentally, there was a young bobbit worm hidden in one of the reefs, so something happened.
The bobbit worm was well versed in the strategy of "dig deep, accumulate food, and don't show off." It had been keeping a low profile in the tank, feeding on small fish, shrimps, and clam worms, growing bigger and bigger. The key was that its body could be hidden in the bottom sand and reefs, and it was nocturnal, so it would not be discovered.
So, the next problem was how to kill it.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
