[Octopus]: Ellen after Harlie

[Bill Walton]

We received a new dwarf octopus after Harlie passed on, Ellen. Ellen is much skittish and hides as soon as she is disturbed. Another difference is Ellen inks very easily. Harlie only inked once when she arrived, Ellen has already inked three times. Today we found what seems to be a small crustation.

, about 1/8 long. They are attached to the back wall by what might be a string of some sort. We crashed about 10 of them today.

 

[Bill Walton]

Ellen was under a rock and when we lift up the rock she holds onto the substrate. Finally after about 5 minutes, she lets the substrate loose and hides.

 

[Bill Walton]

If anyone can tell what kind of octopus

Ellen is, please let me know.

 

[Bill Walton]

Ellen inks when she is disturbed, so I thought I show how one stretch of ink looks. It seems thick enough to hold together in salt water, it does not form a cloud, but streaks

The ink is not like a cloud, but streaks of black.

 

[Bill Walton]

This picture shows the parasite that lives on Ellen. It looks crushes, when attached to the aquarium back it seems to be attached with a string and requires concentrated scrapping to get it completely lose.
There are several on the eye and arms. The are spreading to the aquarium back and rocks.

 

[Bill Walton]

Here is one more picture to help with the identification. the white lines on the mantel can change in intensity and size. The two mantel "horns" and the two mantel white spots seem to be part of the anatomy. Ellen often swims with two of the arms curled up as in the picture

 

[Deleted member 14033]

Look up octopus mercatoris. I can't comment on parasites unfortunately.

 

[tonmo]

octopus mercatoris

I was gonna say the same (fwiw)

This picture shows the parasite that lives on Ellen. It looks crushes, when attached to the aquarium back it seems to be attached with a string and requires concentrated scrapping to get it completely lose.
There are several on the eye and arms. The are spreading to the aquarium back and rocks.

It's hard to see (pic is very small), but it sounds like a very big problem; these things seems to go south very quickly -- but, how are things looking here after the weekend?

 

[Deleted member 14033]

Is the octopus eating well?

 

[Bill Walton]

Yes, Ellen catches a Fiddler crab every other day.
I don't know what chemical would be safe to try to kill the parishes.
I was wondering if it is possible to hold her and physically remove the 1/8 inch "crustaceans".
I know this would be difficult, but is there an octopus doctor in the house!

 

[Deleted member 14033]

Yes, Ellen catches a Fiddler crab every other day.
I don't know what chemical would be safe to try to kill the parishes.
I was wondering if it is possible to hold her and physically remove the 1/8 inch "crustaceans".
I know this would be difficult, but is there an octopus doctor in the house!

For now. As long as it is eating, I would not resort to medication. If it really starts to spread then do some research.

 

[Thales]

Can you get some better photos of what you think are parasites?

 

[Bill Walton]

I'll try, using another camera.

 

[Bill Walton]

The Red Sea 350 is now cycled and we added the first 5 fish. If all goes well, in two or three weeks we will be ready for an octopus.

 

[davelin315]

I would be careful trying to keep an octopus in that tank, rimless with an easy to escape from overflow seems to be a huge escape risk. Also, fish with octos is usually a bad idea and a newly cycled tank is going to be very unstable for months.