• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

It inked!!!

Hookem

Pygmy Octopus
Registered
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
7
I have had my bimac for a little over a week now. I had to do some work on my overflow and he came out to watch me. That is the first time i have seen him come out into the open. We watched each other for a minute. I stood up to get something and he inked and swam off. I stayed between two rocks peering at me for the rest of the night. Is the ink harmful? Do I need to do a water change or will the skimmer deal with it? I hope he comes out more now.

Thanks.
 
Some would say to do a water change, I however feel he is already stressed, so I would let the skimmer deal with it, also, next time you can try to net the bulk of it, before it breaks up, since it comes out pretty thick, just use your net to scoop it out, if your quick enought it will be no prob.
 
The skimmer should remove most of the problematic goo quickly...be sure to change the cup out !
If there is ever a large amount of ink, you can do a partial water change and trade out the carbon in your filter.

best,
greg
 
also the famous pantyhose net can scoop out ink quite effectively (instructions below)

J

THE PANTYHOSE NET!!! (designed by NickA5582)

Step one: Buy a net.

Step two: Buy some pantyhose (DO NOT steal your mothers :lol: J)

Step three: Cut off a leg of the pantyhose and push it in to the net.

Step four: Tie the pantyhose so it fits the net snuggly and doesn't fall off

Step five: When your octo inks, stick the net in there and scoop up the ink. Wash pantyhose net thoroughly.
 
Jean said:
also the famous pantyhose net can scoop out ink quite effectively (instructions below)

J

THE PANTYHOSE NET!!! (designed by NickA5582)

Step one: Buy a net.

Step two: Buy some pantyhose (DO NOT steal your mothers :lol: J)

Step three: Cut off a leg of the pantyhose and push it in to the net.

Step four: Tie the pantyhose so it fits the net snuggly and doesn't fall off

Step five: When your octo inks, stick the net in there and scoop up the ink. Wash pantyhose net thoroughly.

That is a good idea...OR you can simply buy the fabric that the panty-hose is constructed with, mabye just a yard...and then cut it in any desired shape to fit the net. That's only incase fabric is cheaper than the already-made and fabricated pantyhose. The fabric probably runs for at least 2 bucks a yard. lol.
 
I need to do some more research into this, but I believe ink is released in two different ways - as a smaller, blobby shape (thicker ink, can be caught in the panty hose net) or as a complete smoke screen making the whole tank black (panty hose net is useless). My bimac used the smokescreen approach. I have seen the other sort of inking with O.rubescens.

The skimmer and the carbon will remove the ink. A 10-20% water change will speed things along.

Nancy
 
Nancy said:
I need to do some more research into this, but I believe ink is released in two different ways - as a smaller, blobby shape (thicker ink, can be caught in the panty hose net) or as a complete smoke screen making the whole tank black (panty hose net is useless). My bimac used the smokescreen approach. I have seen the other sort of inking with O.rubescens.

The skimmer and the carbon will remove the ink. A 10-20% water change will speed things along.

Nancy

Hey nancy..just a quick question out of curiosity. In order to execute a 10 OR 20% water change..lets just say 10, and lets say you have a 50 gallon aquarium. 10% of 50 is 5 gallons right? How would you remove exactly 5 gallons from the tank and replace it with another 5 gallons of fresh new saltwater? I know theres water changing kits...what do they do? Do they have a vaccum which calculates how many gallons your sucking in, or would you need to accurately remove 5 gallons by using a plastic emtpy water-gallon or container? I was never aware of this.
 
People could have slightly different methods, but here's how I change 5 gallons:

Take a salt bucket and pour in 5 gallons of water (I buy 5 gallons of water at a time and the container holds just that, so I don't have any trouble with that measurement.) Mix with the salt and circulate with a pump

Take an empty salt bucket, siphon off the water from the tank so that the amount of water in both buckets is the same. (I have a 5-gallon mark on that bucket, too)

Pour or pump the new 5 gallons of salt water into the tank.

Nancy
 
Something else you may want to consider:
Since I have to do frequent water changes, I just keep a 50 gallon garbage container (rubbermaid, about 7 bucks) filled with premixed saltwater on hand out in the garage...that way, I don't have to mix up the solution every time, just drain out some from the sump or tank, walk out the garage, and fill the bucket up.
I usually keep about 30g on hand at any time, be sure to keep the lid on it too !

greg
 
i realy dont think that it matters is you do exactly five gallons, you could do six, or seven, i think the only thing that realy matters is that you fill the tank back up with the amount of water that you took out, and if you tank is sumpless then you should just mark the water level before you take out the water in the first place. then you just fill it up unil it reaches that mark.
 
Those are good ideas nancy and I was wondering if there even was a bucket that filled exactly 5 gallons of water. And you siphon water out AND in the aquarium when doing water changes right? So I can purchase a water-changing vaccum/siphon? That makes things a lot easier.

For keeping already-made salt water handy icase of a water change...I thought new salt water had to be aged a day before the water change? Unless it means..."at least" a day before water change. Whats the best idea? As for filtering the newly made salt-water in the bucket, would you be using the filter you already have for your tank? Or are their filters specially available for circulating and dissolving new salt?

One more questions...how would you apply the salt to the RO/DI water and have it applied were the salinity levels will stay at around 1.026? Are there directions on the salt buckets or salt packages that let you know how much to apply?

I'll be saving all my questions for future references.
 
Armstrong, i need cuttle is right, it doesn't have to be such an exact number of gallons. Yes, the LFSs in this area sell five gallon water jugs and you can get 5 gallon empty salt buckets from them as well.

The use of large garbage containers (like Greg has) is common, and some buy the containers with wheels, so they can be rolled to the tank. You don't need a filter, just a small powerhead to mix the saltwater and keep it moving. And salt water has to be aged at least a day, you can keep it (covered) until you're ready to use it.

Yes, I think the salt mixtures tell you how much to mix - I've been doing this with the same salt for so long that I just know how much. It's around 2 1/2 cups for 5 gallons for the brand that I use.

Even if you can't keep an octo, perhaps you could keep a small salt water tank where you'd learn about all these things on a small scale.

Nancy
 
Ok, thanks. Now im more certain. I just keep forgetting that the info for this site for keeping cephs is just basically not "EXACT", but pointing towards the safest paths. The experiences iv had mostly, were a lot of freshwater creatures in the past starting when I was only 7 to like...probably a few years ago. Freshwater for me is now very, very easy and ever since I stopped with those, iv been studying saltwater after tapping into being interesting in captivating octopuses. Saltwater IS very different from fresh water in both...chemistry and care levels. Im aware that water changes are extremely important to mantain water parameters and having good filters is a must as well as managing salinity levels. My uncle (who lives with me), kept this very small shark like a few years ago. I helped him take care of it because he was always in and out of the house so im glad that im not completely in the dark. However, his tank and water and an octo's differ a lot...and with an octo, were talking just a bigger volume of water.
 
Armstrong said:
Saltwater IS very different from fresh water in both...chemistry and care levels. Im aware that water changes are extremely important to mantain water parameters and having good filters is a must as well as managing salinity levels

The chemistry really isn't as different as most people think. Freshwater fish produce ammonia just like saltwater fish and you need bacteria to process it. The big maintenance difference is keeping the salinity adjusted--which only requires adding RO/DI every couple days to account for evaporation. I think the saltwater chemistry is easier in some ways:for example, keeping the right pH is a lot easier in a saltwater tank because using a carbonate sand will buffer the pH.

I think the big difference is a lot of freshwater hobbyists are a little aloof to chemistry, perhaps because a fw tank usually isn't as much of an investment. I had a housemate who kept FW tanks at the same time I set up my SW. I don't think he ever bothered to cycle any of his tanks before adding his stock.

Dan
 
Well not to sound dumb as my name says but can't you go out and buy a long clear tube and stick it in the salt water have the tube facing down at a lower level and suck once on it so the water starts to flow and take out your amount.

Just a thought........
 

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