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new Octo & some odd things

Joined
Aug 27, 2003
Messages
10
Ok .. I've had my new Octo for 4 days now. He's been rather lethargic, staying in one place all day & not always in hiding. He hasn't eaten anything yet ( been trying feeder goldfish).

There's 2 other things;
One, he seems to have difficulty removing himself from the glass after he suctions onto it.

Two, there is some white stringy material coming off of his tenticles.

Any thoughts?

Thanx
 
Hmmm...what are your water quality readings? Sloughing of the skin usually means that there is something really bothering the ceph...too low a ph, perhaps?
I would recommend thawed out frozen krill, available at your lfs, as a good introduction food item...put a piece on a chopstick or such, and wait for the octo to grab on!
good luck!
Greg
 
umm, the stringy material comming off of the octopus either means that it is slowly diteriarating or is a male octopus and seems to be releasing sperm from one of it;s tentacles? Mabye it's a puberty thing, lol. Im not sure, just trying 2 help.
And the best bets for you're octopus to eat is mabye some brine chrimp, crawfish, and other small crusteciens.
 
Armstrong said:
And the best bets for you're octopus to eat is mabye some brine chrimp, crawfish, and other small crusteciens.

Armstrong, i think it he might be better off not feeding his octo to much brine shrimp especially if it is sick. Just because the brine shrimp lack all that good stuff that octos need to grow big and strong :wink: .
 
persistant ph problems

I have always had trouble getting my tanks ph correct. Right now it's at about 7.9.

I have tried all the various buffing products with no results. I know that a r/o unit would probably solve the problem but I'm trying to avoid buying one of those right now. Nobody in my area sells r/o water either.

Is there anyway of using any of the ph up type products safetly?

Any suggestions?
 
I wouln't recommend that you feed it goldfish as they might have been treated with copper-based medications which are harmful to octos. Are the stringy stuff still coming off or was it for a short time only?
 
Congrats of your new octo!!! Have you checked all the water parameters? Also make sure you remove any uneaten food. Sometimes just adding a bubble filter with carbon helps also. Increases the air in the water and can help with water quality.

Carol
 
water stuff

The filtration & airation on the tank are over-kill. The ammonia leel was a bit high but I did a partial water change yesterday that took care of that. The only water parameter that concerns me isthe ph.
 
Rockthis11 said:
Armstrong said:
And the best bets for you're octopus to eat is mabye some brine chrimp, crawfish, and other small crusteciens.

Armstrong, i think it he might be better off not feeding his octo to much brine shrimp especially if it is sick. Just because the brine shrimp lack all that good stuff that octos need to grow big and strong :wink: .

Oh yeah! Like crabs and other animals that have more meat are better for Octopus. Right?
 
Re: water stuff

doggiedude said:
The filtration & airation on the tank are over-kill. The ammonia leel was a bit high but I did a partial water change yesterday that took care of that. The only water parameter that concerns me isthe ph.

Then it HAS to be the pH.
For more info on keeping you're pH over 8.0 look at my topic about pH Levels right under Ceph Care q & a.
 
Brine shrimp are not suitable for cephs not because they have little meat, but because they lack nutritional value. I wouldn't recommend that you use brine shrimp unless they are enriched.

I don't think that the pH is much of a problem at 7.9. Has he been coming out of the water? If it has, it is a sign of poor water quality(sadly I didn't take note of that with my last octo)
 
update

I have been using Kent marine's Superbuffer for the last few days & the tank is still not up to a proper Ph (maybe 8 now).

As of tommorow he will have been with me for a week. He has been somewhat active & has not tried getting out of the water.

The major problem I still seem to have is that he has not eaten anything since I got him. I gave up on the feeder goldfish. I went to a local Sea food store today & got some fresh scallops & shrimp. I tried putting a scallop on a stick and hand feeding it to him, but no luck. I left a scallop & a shrimp in the tank when I went to work today. We shall see if he goes for any of it.

Thanx for all the help
Andy
 
Greetings,

The thing that threw a flag for me in this thread was the statement that Aeration and Filtration were overkill- yet you had an ammonia level that was "a bit high" Is your tank cycled properly? The biggest filter in the world won't do squat if it's not colonized by the appropriate bacterium. A tank that is cycled with a merely adequate filter will never register an ammonia reading- or nitrite and nitrate. Have you tested nitrite and nitrate?

It lines up too: your octo's behavior sounds like environmental stress: that screwy pH plus the fluctuations of ammonia and nitrite and nitrate are taking their toll. Right now I think you should hold off feeding the octo and get that tank stable. The pH might be increased with some over-the counter buffers, but the best way to keep the right pH is with a proper calcium based substrate- I used sugar sized crushed coral sand and my ph never sways from 8.2

Good luck, Jimbo
 
I'm not quite sure what the problem is with the Ammonia level. However, I can make a good educated guess. The tank was previously used as a quarintine tank (no copper was ever used in it), the tank was up and cycled just fine for several months. Unfortunatly, I had the bottom of the tank covered with some pretty corse substrate which I heard was not good for Octopi. When the LFS called me and told me that my Octavious would be in the next day I was worried that he would need the fine sand bottom so I added sand overtop of the current substrate. That MAY have damaged the ammonia eating bacteria. Stress Zyme was added to the tank after the sand had settled and the water was changed.
 

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