I am very concerned It is day 6 with no octo activity, Last I saw her she was hunting shrimp. now she has been balled up in her den for six days!!! She doesn't even want to play with sticks.
Check your water temp and quality. I would do a large water change for good measure, regardless of what you find, since there are lots of unknown's we don't/can't check for. She is way too young to brood (yes, they will brood and lay infertile eggs even if they never mate) so recluse behavior changes suggest water problems. Hopefully there was nothing in the paint on her toy that caused a reaction but I would remove it from the tank if you haven't already.
Hmm all tests came back flawless (Nitrate, Nitrite, pH, ammonia, and calcium). Temp is 79 at night and 81 during the day, same as the conditions I found her in. I have had this tank for a very long time and I have never had a quality problem, I have a very stable ecosystem and it has a HUGE filter setup, for its size. Every once in awhile It was kinda usual for her to hide and recluse for a few days but this time seems a little long. I can see her, she is moving and breathing OK. It could be the toy, but she was fine for over a day after playing with it, unless the reaction was extremely delayed.
We have seen all octos get "moody" for a week or so and hopefully that is all you are seeing but changes in behavior are a general warning sign. I always do water change as it just does not hurt. You have a few corals in there and if one got brushed and threw a quantity of stinging cells, you would not detect it and might not notice reactions it in other critters. Usually it is my hands or forearms that notice in my other tanks, however, I no longer detect some of weaker (ricordeas in particular) ones that I could when I first started keeping marine aquariums.
Hmm, interesting I do have some stinging corals and anemones. But I have seen her touch most everything in the tank with no reaction, in the past. Even Anemones, she likes to steal their minnow.
I tried to stimulate here by shining a flashlight in her den and I saw her move around and she stuck a single leg out and touched the glass. Then later on I came in the house after diner and saw her scurry back into her den.
I'm working on a water change now. I have 30 gallons of water almost ready.
I tried to stimulate here by shining a flashlight in her den and I saw her move around and she stuck a single leg out and touched the glass. Then later on I came in the house after diner and saw her scurry back into her den.
I'm working on a water change now. I have 30 gallons of water almost ready.
I don't know that nematocysts in the water column effect octopuses but I know they effect me. I have seen an octopus react to the common brown Caribbean polyps so I know that they are sensitive to at least some of the coral defenses.
Leggs may be going through a growing phase. You might skim through Animal_Mother's Kalypso journal and see if he records anything similar. Has he been eating normally though this seclusion?
SueNami stays out from around 5:00 PM until noonish but has become very inactive and has all but stopped eating. I keep trying different tactics to get him to taste food but he has gone so far as to take the offering and carry it to the tube to push it to the other side. It would be funny except I am afraid this means we are approaching the end.
Leggs may be going through a growing phase. You might skim through Animal_Mother's Kalypso journal and see if he records anything similar. Has he been eating normally though this seclusion?
SueNami stays out from around 5:00 PM until noonish but has become very inactive and has all but stopped eating. I keep trying different tactics to get him to taste food but he has gone so far as to take the offering and carry it to the tube to push it to the other side. It would be funny except I am afraid this means we are approaching the end.
Thank god! I woke up this morning and she was waiting for me. She ate a minnow and played alittle tug-o-war. I swear her mantle is 1/2 of an inch bigger. I snapped a pic but I'll post it after work
So, I was playing with Legs tonight, we played tug-o-war with a stick, then hide and seek with the flash light, she hides then i shine her with the flash light and she comes out then will go hide somewhere else. she seemed to be in a good mood so I removed the lid, and had some physical contact with her. usually she comes to the surface and will feel my hand with one arm for awhile then she will retreat to her den, tonight as soon as I removed the lid she was darn near jumping on me and tried to lock on to my hand. It scared me which scared her and she jumped back. but then was intent on getting out, I had to wrestle her and put the lid back on quick. She has never tried to latch on to me before, was I close to an Octo bite, is she plotting against me.
oh yeah more pics post octo attack
oh yeah more pics post octo attack
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That's exactly what she did!!! It appears i too have an attack ceph
So she continues to be a little too playful with me but i guess thats a octo that doesn't play, but I can tell I'm going to be dealing with an octo bite soon....
Some new notable behavior, she decided to build a new den. She moved around some rocks by her old den, not sure why, but she moved three rocks that each weighed about 5 lbs, but all she did was rotate them about 15 degrees each, then she seemed satisfied with her rock castle and moved across the tank and proceeded to push some sand around and then dug a whole under a live rock and made a new very hidden den. She spent the night in it and was back in her old spot by morning.
Some new notable behavior, she decided to build a new den. She moved around some rocks by her old den, not sure why, but she moved three rocks that each weighed about 5 lbs, but all she did was rotate them about 15 degrees each, then she seemed satisfied with her rock castle and moved across the tank and proceeded to push some sand around and then dug a whole under a live rock and made a new very hidden den. She spent the night in it and was back in her old spot by morning.
I suspect they move when they feel their house needs cleaning. The only specific reference I have observed that created this thought was an action I watched with Ms.Broody (mercatoris). From the day she was released from the breeder next, she denned in the barnacle of her birth. One day she moved to a lower barnacle in the same cluster but only long enough for a serpent to enter the den, clean it up and leave. At the exit of the "maid" she returned to and remained in the original den.
SueNami has moved to the left side of his tank to sleep. I made a point to really disturb the sand area on the right side where he has been denning and found a large quantity of "dust". Since MY cleaning he has not returned to sleeping on the original side though.
As you may have observed in our bites thread, octos can and do occassionally bite and sometimes it hurts or breaks skin. However, as frisky as Kalypso was, Animal Mother never experienced a bite so it will be interesting to see what happens with Legs. I am not sure OhToo would have tried biting me if I had not been trying to remove him - the actions taken because of the fear of being bitten (more because of his infection than concern about being bitten) my have caused the bite.
SueNami has moved to the left side of his tank to sleep. I made a point to really disturb the sand area on the right side where he has been denning and found a large quantity of "dust". Since MY cleaning he has not returned to sleeping on the original side though.
As you may have observed in our bites thread, octos can and do occassionally bite and sometimes it hurts or breaks skin. However, as frisky as Kalypso was, Animal Mother never experienced a bite so it will be interesting to see what happens with Legs. I am not sure OhToo would have tried biting me if I had not been trying to remove him - the actions taken because of the fear of being bitten (more because of his infection than concern about being bitten) my have caused the bite.
Shhhh, dont remind me of that thread....
....its not Legs that I scared of its just that I am prone to getting bitten by aquatic life. If it has gills I have a scar from it 
Since we've been keeping track of our octopuses (starting in 2002), we've had very few octopus bites reported.
The first reported bite victim was my husband, very gently bitten by Ollie, a bimac, probably about 6 months old. At the time, it was thought that bimacs didn't bite, so Bill thought nothing of it when Ollie gently floated down on his hand as he was cleaning the tank. She bit him just a bit, most likely out of curiosity. She never tried again. After that we knew to avoid having your octopus float down on your hand and envelop it!
Nancy
The first reported bite victim was my husband, very gently bitten by Ollie, a bimac, probably about 6 months old. At the time, it was thought that bimacs didn't bite, so Bill thought nothing of it when Ollie gently floated down on his hand as he was cleaning the tank. She bit him just a bit, most likely out of curiosity. She never tried again. After that we knew to avoid having your octopus float down on your hand and envelop it!
Nancy
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