[Octopus]: Brainiac II - Callistoctopus aspilosomatis

I'm not sure where the octopus generally inhabits (trying to research and found one page saying a specimen was collected in Australia), as where the crab is said to inhabit Indonesian waters.

I really, really don't want the crab to die. I know it is more than likely inevitable, and tank mates work until they don't....but I'm just hoping. I may have to get rid of him with my corals anyway, so hopefully I can find him a nicer home than my Sump.

Or, at the least I'll have a video of a crab being torn apart.

One of my peppermint shrimp was killed a few nights ago too. I'm not sure why...but it was whole, and just dead on the flaw. Not a water quality issue since everything else is fine...I wondered if the octopus killed it and didn't eat it for some reason, as I'm not sure what else could have. Maybe another shrimp?

Good to know the octopus isn't at risk. It's really been interesting watching him become more brazen as he realizes I am not a threat.
 
Octo is most likely from the Philippines but they are common and inhabit most of Indonesia and northern AU (most critters we see from Indonesia are also found in northern AU). I don't know what kind of crab your little guy is and even with a picture I probably could not tell. A nano tank might be in order for you little guy.

Are you SURE you lost the shrimp? They shed their exoskeleton and the sheds look very convincingly like the animal. Our lobster has fooled us several times, even though we KNOW what to look for. The fact that he hides out for weeks after a shed does not help our concerns. Usually, I can see his feelers waving about after a week but this last time he has not come out from his den for almost a month (I have spotted his feelers though). Crustaceans are particularly vulnerable after a shed so the shrimp may have become dinner anyway or it may be hiding until its shell hardens. With peps, there is also the potential for one killing the other but I have been successful keeping two (but no more) together. If it had been the octo, you would not have found meat inside the shell. They will kill fish and eat only the soft underbelly but I have never seen crustaceans with remaining meat.
 
Crab is a spider decorator, or scientific name Camposcia retusa. 99% certain of that because it was bought from Petco, that are very clear and precise with their labeling. Will be sad to see him killed, but I'm not going to dedicate a tank to him - however small.

Definitely lost the shrimp. Very used to the exoskeletons, and this was not that, it was still meaty and had a crab picking at it. And I have a picture, because it was unusual :smile:
 

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So, some updates.

Last Friday, received some corals purchased from BlueZoo, and a Blue Linckia starfish. The corals were mostly mushrooms and there was one umbrella leather corals.

The leather corals was not in great shape and ended up dying.

Tuesday night, Braniac was out and pretty active, and seemed fine. About 2am, he starting getting pretty interested in the crab again. Continually touching it and wrapping it's arms around it, but then backing away and retreating. It did this at least 5 times, if not more. What was funny, was that I would come over every time it would do it, and then when I did that is when it would retreat (it wasn't out of fear as I approached slowly and the retreat was slow and after watching me). I couldn't help but wonder if he was screwing with me.

I took some good photos uploaded to my gallery showing the octopus watching and playing with the crab. So far, it survives, but this could be because I fed it shrimp hoping to stop it from eating the crab.

Wednesday, the leather coral was in very bad shape, and had to be removed from the tank. The starfish also died.

I did a water change, but I am wondering if there was some toxin or something that could have affected him, because his behaviour has become very strange.

He hasn't crawled actively in days and is always just perched out on the wall. He has also starting hanging out in daylight. In fact, I got a new reef light cor corals which is far, far brighter than what I had, and he is out under that....although in a far corner away from my sump.

When I changed the water I took out a decorative bridge I had in the tank, and while he was not in the bridge at all, a detached decomposing tentacle fell out, which had me worried. It seems old, as he wasn't missing any of his arms.

Right now at 11:!2 AM with the reef light on he is still hanging out in daylight. Just kind of curled up with tentacles dangling lifelessly. There is some tissue coming off one or two of his tentacles..looks like cobweb or something. I haven't been able to focus to show it in a photo yet.

He wasn't using the bridge as a den, so I don't think it is a lack of den keeping him out. Is he going through senescence?

Water quality is perfect, or at least ammonia, nitrates, nitrites and salinity is. pH is 8.6. Tank gets plenty of oxygen. Anything else I should be testing for?
 
Other members (but not me) have actually seen this species be active under daylight conditions but since this is a change for Braniac I suspect it is not a good sign. I can't tell a lot from the photos but this one could suggest a problem because of the lack of color and the arm position (showing possible suggestion of cork screwing).

I am surprised that the leather was a problem but linkia rarely survive. The prevailing thought is in the handling before it reaches the home aquarium but I don't think anyone really knows. More often than not they disintegrate (more so than others but it is common with stars from Indonesia). The only stars I have had that have lived for a year or more have been the less attractive Caribbean varieties. My best luck is with serpents so I tend to avoid starfish altogether and stick with the animals that I find survive for multiple years.
 
If it was only that he was out during daylight I would welcome that as a new behaviour, but it's the fact that he has been just keeping still in one place all the time, and then the activity with his tentacles started. I am wondering if he could have caught some kind of disease or something from one of the corals?

I uploaded a photo showing his tentacles:

[photo="medium"]3247[/photo]

Also caught it on video:


I turned the light off once I realized he was going to be out all day and that something was wrong. Getting ready to do another water change hoping that will improve things.
 
Not looking good. Here is a link to Puddles natural senescent end that you can use for comparison. Nothing (with the possible exception of the linkia deterioration) you have mentioned should have been harmful but we really don't know a lot about what effects them.

There are a few gill parasites that hobbyists would not be able to detect but little else (outside of water quality) is known to make them ill. I lost Zilch (nautilus) just after adding some gorgonian and still wonder if the epoxy hastened his demise. He had an infection on his hood so I will never be sure but strongly do not feel that the corals themselves had an impact. We still have much to learn. It is part of the challenge and much of the frustration of keeping saltwater tanks.
 
Yes, that video is unfortunately very similar. How very sad :frown:

Not accepting the end just yet, but it seems pretty likely. The linkia was out of the tank pretty quickly once I was sure it was actually dead, and I did a 50% water change. I think it has something to do with the umbrella leather coral...that thing turned foul after it died and no doubt polluted the water...

I just wonder if he possibly got infected somehow...given the way his tentacles are falling apart I wonder..

Well, I will do everything I can to save him or make his end peaceful. We didn't get to bond to the level of hand interaction, but it's been an amazing experience up to this point. Sad it is (potentially) ending so soon. The crab continues to survive :\

I hate seeing him slowly deteriorate...seem like he is suffering badly :frown:

Another reason I think it might be the coral is because his symptoms didn't start until I put it in the main tank on Wednesday night. Tuesday he was out as normal.
 
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Well, 2AM now and I just did a 30% water change and made sure everything was clean, and he does seem to be doing better.

He was so lethargic and is at least moving a bit more now, although his tentacles still look very damaged..kind of burned looking.

I will upload some more photos and videos later. For now I am just hoping he can maybe survive. Offered him shrimp, but he didn't take it.

I put my crab in the sump just to be safe so nothing can harm him if he is vulnerable.

Hoping when I wake up I see no trace of him until the night time.
 
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Well, he is still alive, and in better shape then he was but still looking bad.

Still, any improvement is good and gives hope. His mind, as far as I can tell, still seemed fine, he just seemed weak and injured.

I know these animals have great healing properties, so hoping with the perfect water he has plenty chance to heal and comes back.

I'm going to be awake the next week so hoping everything goes smoothly and I come back to find him doing well.
 
Brainiac II is no longer with us.

I was hoping he was going to make it because he had stopped being out in the daylight, was moving more, and had stopped doing strange stuff with hsi tentacles.

They still looked bad but other than that he seemed ok, better than he was.

Saw him hanging out on a wall earlier on, didn't see him most of the night and saw him in the morning being eaten by crabs.

He is still mostly whole and I am attempting to preserve him.

I am 99% the gooey, dying coral killed him. The timing is just too close, and it makes sense if it could have released a toxin or something while it was dying.

As careful as I was, I wasn't careful enough :frown:
 
:sad: - I am sorry @Pennyworth - that's a rough turnabout. Thank you for sharing him with us!
Thank's Tony.

It was very sad...I wanted one for so long and to actually see their intelligence and personality first hand....

It was amazing just how shy he was and the entire process of him warming up and getting to trust me, then to see him suffer like that...aye.

I will upload some more videos and photos I have of him being sick, since it may be beneficial and help to learn more about what to avoid in keeping these delicate creatures.

I really do believe it was the coral dying that affected him....what I would like to know more about is just why that happened. The coral was not dangerous or anything, but for his tentacles to degrade the way they did, so suddenly, something had to have affected him like that...

However, it was my pleasure to share what I could with the community. It was only possible for me to have had this experience due to the help and support of this community, and so a thank you to all and especially you sir, for running this site :smile:
 

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