At A Loss

[dleo4590]

Good Morning All,

I have some very sad and unfortunate news. When we woke up this morning, we saw our male Caribbean Reef Octopus, Turq, had passed away and we are trying to find out why. One thing we had noticed is when we would have the wave pumps on he would occasionally stick his tentacles in and it would give him quite the surprise and then he would leave it alone but we noticed he had done this on more than one occasion. We actually found him caught in one of the pumps so we don't know if he stuck his tentacle in and got stuck or if he died and then sucked up into it. The water is very cloudy and when we ran water params the pH was low the Nitrites, Nitrates were very elevated and the Phosphates wer slightly elevated but nothing near the other two. We're assuming that when he died sometime in the night he had been releasing matter from his decaying body into the water which had clouded it up and raised these levels but other than that we are so frustrated and don't have any real explanation as to what went down. It makes us feel helpless. What really is the upsetting thing is that we had done a water check just yesterday and other than the Nitrates being a little elevated we don't know what happened. He was fine and out exploring when we had gone to bed around 10:30 PST. He generally is out and moving around at night so everything seemed fine and then we woke up to the devastation. We actually were planning on dividing the tank to make room for a female to hopefully get them to copulate and get some babies, and we actually have one on hold, but now we don't even know what to do. We are in the process of doing a major water change as we have a couple soft corals and some seagrass in as well as some zebra snails to combat diatoms. If anyone has any suggestions for what they think might have happened we're all ears. In our time caring for octopus we've never experienced anything like this and we are not wanting anything like this to ever happen again.

 

[pkilian]

I'm very sorry to hear about Turq, it's always a shame when we lose one of our cephy friends

You will never know the true cause of the animals death, but if I had to hazard a guess I would say it was probably the pump that did him in. I have lost an octopus in this same way, and since then I have had a strict policy of no pumps or suction drains in my octopus tanks. The animals are far too curious and their little arms are far too good at getting into the input and getting sucked into the impeller blade.

The water chemistry changes and the drop in pH is almost assuredly caused by the death in the tank, especially if the animal died over night and wasn't removed until the morning. Cephs degrade very quickly once they die and can foul a tank in a matter of hours.

If you send a photo of your pump and tank setup I may be able to help come up with some octo-proof solutions if you plan on getting an 8-armed friend again in the future.

 

[sedna]

So sorry for your loss! It’s always so hard, whether you were expecting it or not- but the sudden loss is hardest! I’d agree that it sounds like curiosity about the pump. I tie a mesh bag over my power head when I have an octopus that messes with it, you can try that in the future.

After I lose an octopus, are usually wait a couple weeks or a month and do regular water changes before I start looking for another one. But if you’ve already got one on hold, I’d just keep doing water changes until your chemistry is good and then go for it!

 

[dleo4590]

I'm very sorry to hear about Turq, it's always a shame when we lose one of our cephy friends

You will never know the true cause of the animals death, but if I had to hazard a guess I would say it was probably the pump that did him in. I have lost an octopus in this same way, and since then I have had a strict policy of no pumps or suction drains in my octopus tanks. The animals are far too curious and their little arms are far too good at getting into the input and getting sucked into the impeller blade.

The water chemistry changes and the drop in pH is almost assuredly caused by the death in the tank, especially if the animal died over night and wasn't removed until the morning. Cephs degrade very quickly once they die and can foul a tank in a matter of hours.

If you send a photo of your pump and tank setup I may be able to help come up with some octo-proof solutions if you plan on getting an 8-armed friend again in the future.

Hi pikilian,

I really appreciate your response and words of encouragement. We have a 125 gallon tank with a Fluval FX6 canister filter. We've had no issues using a canister and when we first set up the tank over a year ago we had intended on putting a large moray eel and decided to go in a different direction. Sorry about the photos I literally just took them and it's 10:04 PST now. We also are moving rocks and things around so the rock formations are not the same as they were but we are still going to get the female we put a deposit down but if anyone knows of someone that sells Carribean Reefs and possibly has a male we are on the hunt for one still. We got Turq from KP Aquatics and that's where we have the female coming from but they just have the one for now.

 

[dleo4590]

So sorry for your loss! It’s always so hard, whether you were expecting it or not- but the sudden loss is hardest! I’d agree that it sounds like curiosity about the pump. I tie a mesh bag over my power head when I have an octopus that messes with it, you can try that in the future.

After I lose an octopus, are usually wait a couple weeks or a month and do regular water changes before I start looking for another one. But if you’ve already got one on hold, I’d just keep doing water changes until your chemistry is good and then go for it!

Hello sedna,
Thank you for that suggestion we did have the intake and output covered with mesh and we are going to cover the wave pumps now too so this doesn't happen again. It really is just a freak accident and I feel like it's my fault for not doing it sooner. I didn't think he would have done it after the last time since it doesn't feel pleasant I'm sure but I apprecaite your response and helpful tip!

 

[DWhatley]

One added suggestion. If you use zippered media bags and not the tie on style, it is far easier to clean the debris (and bristle worms).