HELP BUBBLES!!!!!!!!!

[Octomush]

I just spent a whole day and a night in the pouring rain just so I could find a bobtail squid, and I did! 1 and only one though! And it has a bubble in it! What do I do!?!?!? HELP!!!!

 

[Jean]

Is the bubble large....can the bobtail still get to the bottom of your tank??? If the bubble is small and the bobtail can still bury it may resolve itself. Other than that the methods for dealing with this may be beyond your means, not being rude here OM! but one way of dealing with bubbles is to confine the animal at depth for a few days the gas is absorbed into the tissue, then bring it up VERY slowly.

Steve may have other ideas??????

Joel ever had this problem with your cuttles???

J

 

[Octomush]

THATS WHAT I WAS AFRAID OF!! He cannot get to the bottom of the tank! Now what do I do!?!? I guess I can only wait till' Mr. O'shea comes along....

 

[Jean]

Try sending Steve a pm. He may reply faster then. Sorry not to be of more help.

J

 

[Octomush]

Thx! NP, To stop the flounders and gobys from eating him I put him in a smaller tank with lid on the bottom of the tank, and he settled in right away and sat in the sand. Hes so cute... I think I must have made him burp the bubble. But just to be on the safe side I will PM O'Shea. Thx! Oh yeah and if anyone has any advice on feeding or caring for the lil' bugger, plz help! Thx!

 

[Steve O'Shea]

Howdo OM

At some time you must have removed the squid from the water, and all of the water drained from its mantle cavity.

It will not die - it will eventually get the bubble out itself (it will thrust around in the water and look quite awkward doing it).

Don't touch it - just let it look after itself.

Make sure you do not have an airstone in the tank - one that is releasing millions of tiny bubbles that will get inside the bobtail's mantle. Get an airlift in there REAL QUICK (as described in an earlier thread for your squid tank).

Cross your fingers, toes, arms and legs, hold your tongue to the left, keep your right eye shut, go do some weeding in the garden, clean your room, and when you're done with all of that the squid should have come right.

Good luck.

To feed it, make sure you have some amphipods (~ 5mm total length), or small shrimp (about the same size). NOT TOO MANY in there, because the shrimp will end up attacking the squid (try 5 shrimp to begin with, and keep a VERY close eye on them - use your left eye). If the squid shows no interest in these food items after a couple of hours (either amphipod or shrimp) then you'll have to find something else; I would not try small fish - I'd try some other small crustacean first. Keep on trying with different food items until you see the squid pounce and eat - then get lots of that for a couple of days and slowly add them to the tank as the squid eats them. After a week, if it is still alive, you might like to try the shrimp and amphipods again (or other food items it initially rejected). A change in diet is good for them.

I have had quite a lot of bad experience with flounders and cephalopods in tanks together; the flounder mouth can expand enormously, and the little things have eaten many a small squid in the past!! Keep that horrible animal away from your squid at all times; move the flounder and goby to the small tank and keep the squid in the larger one. When moving it from one tank to another always have it in a cup or bowl of water.

Make sure you do a 1/3rd water change every day for your squid (if you haven't protein skimmers etc. handy).

 

[Octomush]

I cant get an airlift in the tank because Im not using the squid tank for this. Just my normal 75 gallon fishtank. Will he be OK without it? Thanks!

 

[Jean]

I have had quite a lot of bad experience with flounders and cephalopods in tanks together; the flounder mouth can expand enormously, and the little things have eaten many a small squid in the past!! Keep that horrible animal away from your squid at all times; move the flounder and goby to the small tank and keep the squid in the larger one. When moving it from one tank to another always have it in a cup or bowl of water.

^$#&*%*#@%$ Flounder :x ! We had a few Sepioloidea in the tank with the seahorses.....to which someone added "cute wee baby flounder" :x We ended up with FAT baby flounder and only one squid! (we started with 6!) :x :x :x :x

J

 

[Steve O'Shea]

I cant get an airlift in the tank because Im not using the squid tank for this. Just my normal 75 gallon fishtank. Will he be OK without it? Thanks!

Not really Nick; just grab a piece of pipe from somewhere, drill the holes top and bottom, and put your airline into that. If you don't then the squid will get all sorts of tiny bubbles attaching to its fins, and some in the mantle, and this will exhaust the animal as it tries to compensate as it swims erratically. You want to keep it as happy as you can.

The first sign of stress, the onset of death, will be the head will go slightly milky coloured (opaque). The surface of the cartilage in the animal's cranium is actually wrinkling (at a microscopic level), causing the light to deflect off rather than penetrate through the cartilaginous tissue (hence, it loses its transparency).

 

[Cephkid]

HOORAY!!! YAGOTTASQUIDYAGOTTASQUIDYAGOTTASQUID!!!!!!

 

[Octomush]

WOO HOO!!!! And DOH! I dont have an airline.... The squid is underneath sand right now though so he should be ok right?

 

[Steve O'Shea]

.... I dont have an airline.... ....

:|

Nick, you'll need that airline (bubbler unit + piece of pipe) or you'll have a very dead squid on your hands in no time, and that's not cool. Honestly, if you don't have an air pump and stone then you've got to get it immediately, or let the animal go until you do have it.

What is really cool is catching something and keeping it alive; catching something and watching it die because you're short of a few pieces of equipment isn't good; anyone can do this; it is basically murder - no better than sticking a spear through the head of an octopus on the beach. If you want to be the first person to keep these squid alive then you have to invest in the basic equipment.
O

 

[joel_ang]

Joel ever had this problem with your cuttles???

Well, not that I know of, none of them had bouyancy problems at anytime. The smaller ones liked hanging around the outlet from the filter where there were lotsa bubbles but there were no problems there .

OM, glad you managed to get your seploid and congrats, it sounds pretty hard to find one of those things. It would be wise to invest in getting an airline, this way there will be less problems later on and you can use it in the future when something else like this pops up

 

[Octomush]

OK! Ill try my best!

 

[Octomush]

Bad news.... My dad doesnt want to help me build one right now... And I asked him about building the squid tank soon and he said not until a way later date... My squid seems fine he buries himself in the sand and swims when disturbed... Do I really have to let him go?