O. Briareus

sorry to hear she's not looking good. :fingerscrossed: but the pictures look pretty grim...
 
I know. Part of me feels like I should just put her out of her misery. She hasnt moved all day. Its like watching a dog whose been hit by a car. Its awful. Then theres a part of me that says well, maybe a good water change would do it. But I dont know that that would cause anything but more stress. Advice?
 
I was in a similar situation although mine displayed the death light grey color and cork screwed arms, an aweful sight. I was given a suggestion I will pass on to you. You can place it in a small container and place in the freezer. I should be over in a short while. I didn't have to, mine died shortly thereafter. I'd only go to this extreme if death is imminent. How is it's color looking, could you take another photo?
 
I've had a couple that did not survive acclimation and I feel your pain. Sometimes you can't even second guess what "went wrong" and that is frustrating.

A note on clams/oysters/mussels/scallops. As you discovered, they can make a major pollution mess if not removed immediately after they die. I keep grocery store clams in my octo tanks but let them sit in a bowl of clean saltwater for 2 days to be sure they flush out their systems (they almost always survive). Then I will only put one or two in a tank and keep any extras in a 10 gallon. The grocery clams are not usually eaten by the octos but help with water control and the larger octos will move them into their dens to use a doors sometimes. I have had two hummelincki that would work them open and eat exactly 1 and not disturb the rest. Scallops also seem to fair well but should still be quarantined for a day or two with your own water and only added one or two at a time. Oysters and especially mussels need to be stored in a separate system as they often don't acclimate. Only put them in the tank one at a time and watch for them to die. It is really best to offer them on a half shell and remove anything not eaten after the intended dinner hour. I have found that thorny seastars have worked very well as part of my clean-up crew and will help a lot with anything like this that gets lost in the tank. Keeping a small 10 gallon with no bottom substrate an external filter is really handy for stuff like this. I have two set up and keep rubble rock (and sometimes new rock) in them but never clean them or do much maintenance.

If you are not running a skimmer, I would highly recommend considering adding one, particularly since you are using ocean water. Not only will it help take out protein issues related to the current deaths but it will help with inking and the natural pollutants that filtering does not remove.

Chin up:wink:
 
I believe I will try again. Actually I will be leaving this tank empty except for snails and cleaner crew, but I'm gonna make sure I have everything perfect before I order another one. It was perfect and then it wasnt thats just the way it happens sometimes. But I think next time I will try one thats a little bit smaller than briareus, that way I wont feel so worried about the space issue.
 
Its coming along nicely actually... I found out a lot about my tank and water from this whole situation. Basically, my water has so much chorlamine in it and my ph is so high that my ro/di unit cant take out the ammonia. I will be using only ocean water from now on until I get my filter figured out. I bought some food grade containers which should help with getting the water.

I decided to take thid time to upgrade my over flow and sump. The sump should be ready by thursday or friday and the over flow by the end of next week.
 

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