Octopus for a 30 gallon?

[Animal Mother]

Ok, I'm confused. I was told that Mercs got to be softball sized.....now you're all saying quarter to half dollar sized....Is the quarter to half dollar not inluding the tentacles?

Mantle size of 2cm, that's about the size of a quarter.

 

[Jean]

Jean,
What type of antibiotic is safe for the octos?

I keep a small supply of meds for the seahorses (mostly used for quarentine but I have had an occassional scrap to tend to) and have some clue on using them but I haven't seen anything written up for the octos for treating (or attempting to) infection (aside from vibrio which seems to be untreatable in all fish) or skin lessions. I don't think there was anything I could have done for JoeJoe but it did make me think to ask what meds are considered octo safe.

Thanks,

Tetracycline. But they go so fast sometimes there just isn't time to save them I use TCL as a calcite marker (~0.5g/L seawater) for aging. I'm not sure if this would be therapuetic or not.

Cheers

J

 

[DWhatley]

Jean,

Do you also use it on the seahorses? I have used Neomycin Sulfate and a topical cream of 1pct silver sulfadiazine but I can't say much positive about the results. I have an Abdoninalis that has what appears to be a sore on her head and would like to try something else.

 

[Jean]

I've never tried it, we usually use neomycin as it seems to work. We've had some success with topical betadine (good old iodine!!!!!!!!).

Where'd you get your abnominalis???? (I'm guessing it's Southern Aussie as they're not farmed in NZ!)

J

 

[DWhatley]

Jean,
We found a US distributer (very small operation) through:
http://www.seahorse-australia.com.au/shop/seahorses/seahorses.html

Frank imports cold water critters (and some warmer water ones) onece or twice a year. We got our first pair in August 2005. They never ate very well and I would isolate them within their tank occassionally to keep them surrounded with food. We lost the male after about a year and a half (not sure why) and the female remains smallish. When we lost our male we ordered 3 more and had to wait for Frank to receive his shipment. These three look a lot more like the robust abdoninalis we expected. I know they considered the bleekeri as separate species and now not but there is a huge difference in the look and size of my newest three and my original and I don't think Gwen is a Brevi.

We swapped tanks around before getting the new ones (original was 4' tall but very narrow) and Gwen seems to be eating much better. We don't know if it was just harder to find food or if the addition of the more robust animals are the reason for her better appetitie. She has always had a rather weak snick but I don't think it has to do with illness or parasites (she has had several dips over time with no permenant positive results).

So far none of them have mated but the males keep strutting and showing off to each other (who needs girls?). One fills his pouch so much that he has a hard time swimming through the live rock and looks like he is trying to carry a beach ball ;>). Cute little guys but I wish I could find more background critters that can take the cold water.

I assume you don't put much in with yours since you mentioned the old fashioned sterilization techniques we used before live rock ;>). Is there a reason boiling/freezing/microwaving can't be used instead of Clorox? I have a very old shell that has been out of the water for a long time that I would like to try in my octo tank but I am not sure what to do to make it safe.

 

[flamingo]

I already sterilize everything to begin with. I bleach everything 1-2 days and rinse out it repeatedly and let it dry. I don't freeze it etc. like mentioned because of the lessons were having in biology- states that even though it may kill most bacteria it doesn't kill all. Gram negative bacteria etc can be harder to kill off, some bacteria strains can lay dormant and will survive being dried, boiled and the like.

I redid my 30 gallon because of what it had- put my new horse in it- but like said I wan't going to use it anyways.

And yes, hi Scuba! I'm very much into cephs .