autophagy questions

[joefish84]

ok so my baby bimac died yesterday and im trying to figure out if it was the worst... too bad i didnt get any pictures.

anyway none of the arms were bitten off at the bases just 2 or so were missing tips or had bites taken out of them in several spots. ive been reading where jean states that in autophagy they bite off the entire arms at the base to lose the infected arm. in my case the thought even crossed my mind that the missing tips were caused by the octo sticking its arms through the slits in the cage and the tiny blenny picking them off then maybe the stress from that causing him to stop eating and proceed to eat his own arms.

any suggestions would help because i would hate to have to go through the decontamination process descibed by jean...

another question was... if it is autophagy is it contagious to just octos or to other cephs as well?

 

[Nancy]

Could the blenny be responsible for all the bites? or something else in your tank?

Nancy

 

[joefish84]

the blenny i think could possibly be responsible for the missing arm tips maybe but there were definite chunks missing from one of the arms in random places.

 

[Jean]

Joe,

It sounds like Blennie damage or similar, in the experience we've had with autophagy disease (and from reading papers) it seems that they always bite the arms off at the base.

As for it transferring to other cephs I don't know (although it would seem likely that it could) perhaps someone who keeps other kinds of cephs would know. Certainly I've seen nothing in the Literature about it in cuttles or squid.

You're right it's quite a task to deconaminate the tank and gear but it's ESSENTIAL!!!

J

 

[joefish84]

well heres my plan... im gonna hope for the best that i can and go with the idea that it was caused by the blenny and stress... ive got my friend looking for a new octo for me over the next few weeks (or cuttle) and if nothing happens to this one then great... if something does happen then break down time but instead of sterilizing the system ill probably change it all together and sell it. then get a 75, 65, 40, and some other tank and link them together so i can keep all sorts of stuff not just octos or cuttles! but im hoping for the best cause it would cost quite a bit to break the tank down and get a new system up and running not to mention all the time involved (ive got alot of free time but not that much)...