If the arms (squid and cuttlefish have 8 arms and two tentacles, octopuses have 8 arms. The distinction is not always made in other animals but with cephs there is a physical and functional difference) are cleanly severed at the base, I suspect she threw them rather than ate them. My one experience with definite eating left very ragged edges and from others, the gnawing starts at the tips. We have seen aculeatus do throw arms for no known reason in aquariums and continue to survive but this is a much more delicate and lesser known animal.
I would recommend that you slowly bring your salt to 1.026 SG at 77 degrees (I assume you mean 1.024 SG as the other measurement, PPT should read 35 for seawater). Often the recommendation for fish is as low as 1.022 to help with parasites but inverts need full ocean salt. The slight difference may not cause her skin to be "itchy" but I do notice a difference in my octos if the salt content gets low. Since it appear she has thrown the arms and not chewed them this is not likely to be a factor.
Since she went directly for the power head, I wonder if flow is an issue. Often we see octopuses hang out around areas of higher flow and I have noted it most often when they are approaching senescence. I have never heard a definitive reason for this but think it may have something to do with their skin (at least two of my larger animals have used the Koralias to aid in sucker shedding) or breathing (strictly conjecture and may be way off base). What kind of power heads do you have? Can you distribute the "suck" and still allow them to push water? I keep Koralia's in with my animals and put a fairly large holed zippered mesh media bag over the whole affair. This is not particularly good for the Koralias (one more thing that has to be cleaned) but keeps small arms out of harms way. With larger animals I have not found the filter bags necessary but have been in the habit of keeping them in place anyway. This would be much harder to accomplish for a more traditional power head but a sponge around the intake might do the same thing (it will also likely wear out the unit faster if it is not designed to be restricted).
Checking your PH is also recommended, even if all you do initially is test it with a strip (I know, I know strips are not very accurate but will at least tell you if PH is way off AND they are good for matching during acclimation ).
I would recommend that you slowly bring your salt to 1.026 SG at 77 degrees (I assume you mean 1.024 SG as the other measurement, PPT should read 35 for seawater). Often the recommendation for fish is as low as 1.022 to help with parasites but inverts need full ocean salt. The slight difference may not cause her skin to be "itchy" but I do notice a difference in my octos if the salt content gets low. Since it appear she has thrown the arms and not chewed them this is not likely to be a factor.
Since she went directly for the power head, I wonder if flow is an issue. Often we see octopuses hang out around areas of higher flow and I have noted it most often when they are approaching senescence. I have never heard a definitive reason for this but think it may have something to do with their skin (at least two of my larger animals have used the Koralias to aid in sucker shedding) or breathing (strictly conjecture and may be way off base). What kind of power heads do you have? Can you distribute the "suck" and still allow them to push water? I keep Koralia's in with my animals and put a fairly large holed zippered mesh media bag over the whole affair. This is not particularly good for the Koralias (one more thing that has to be cleaned) but keeps small arms out of harms way. With larger animals I have not found the filter bags necessary but have been in the habit of keeping them in place anyway. This would be much harder to accomplish for a more traditional power head but a sponge around the intake might do the same thing (it will also likely wear out the unit faster if it is not designed to be restricted).
Checking your PH is also recommended, even if all you do initially is test it with a strip (I know, I know strips are not very accurate but will at least tell you if PH is way off AND they are good for matching during acclimation ).