Hello,
I have an octopus what I believe to be a vulgaris. Have had him for about two months now and he went from being shy and showing signs of what appeared to be senescence to thriving. He went from being out during day and scared all the time to sleeping all day hidden, then coming out at night, very active, eating, playing, being a bully to other tank mates, etc.
However, recently he lost several legs overnight. While their is a possibility others in the tank may have bit them, they seem way too clean to be enemy bites. One is ALL the way up to his head. Two days in a row he came out minus a full leg. He is STILL behaving the same, thank god. He is still all over the tank at night, bullying his tank mate - a lionfish - he hates when he is sleeping on the corners. ALWAYS has to "Kick" him off. The night before I saw he lost the legs, we swear we saw his leg in his mouth. It was definitely in there, he even adjusted several times almost looking like he was putting it in further. He was up against the glass which is how we saw. While we couldn't saw for sure, he was NOT acting normal at all.
So he's missing, 2 full legs, the others are all half or a tiny bit more. He doesn't seem to be in pain because he comes out at night and is all over the tank as usual. No odd behavior. But on the second night when we noticed an additional leg had been severed, we saw something wrong with his eye. His eye we thought was gone until we were able to take a picture. I take pictures of him often, a few every night, just to make sure I can see everything is ok, since he only comes out at night.
We asked our LFS if they knew what it was, and they said they had NO idea whatsoever. We are concerned because of the leg loss and now something with his eye. I've fought against all these guys in the tank but I have to admit it's been very peaceful. I know some will judge and I don't disagree, but really they are all "predators" but they are all also more "pacifists." That is their personalities. It's a 75 gallon tank, plenty of live rock, they are all fed everyday, water always good.
I hope I've given enough details to draw a picture of the situation so someone can maybe shed some light on what we can do to help him!!!!!!! The tank is good but if needed I can ask my boyfriend to provide specifics.
I'm new so I appreciate any help, I hope I didn't babble on too much, and thank you in advance. Pictures enclosed, including one before he lost the legs - hes "standing" on the sand in that one.
I have an octopus what I believe to be a vulgaris. Have had him for about two months now and he went from being shy and showing signs of what appeared to be senescence to thriving. He went from being out during day and scared all the time to sleeping all day hidden, then coming out at night, very active, eating, playing, being a bully to other tank mates, etc.
However, recently he lost several legs overnight. While their is a possibility others in the tank may have bit them, they seem way too clean to be enemy bites. One is ALL the way up to his head. Two days in a row he came out minus a full leg. He is STILL behaving the same, thank god. He is still all over the tank at night, bullying his tank mate - a lionfish - he hates when he is sleeping on the corners. ALWAYS has to "Kick" him off. The night before I saw he lost the legs, we swear we saw his leg in his mouth. It was definitely in there, he even adjusted several times almost looking like he was putting it in further. He was up against the glass which is how we saw. While we couldn't saw for sure, he was NOT acting normal at all.
So he's missing, 2 full legs, the others are all half or a tiny bit more. He doesn't seem to be in pain because he comes out at night and is all over the tank as usual. No odd behavior. But on the second night when we noticed an additional leg had been severed, we saw something wrong with his eye. His eye we thought was gone until we were able to take a picture. I take pictures of him often, a few every night, just to make sure I can see everything is ok, since he only comes out at night.
We asked our LFS if they knew what it was, and they said they had NO idea whatsoever. We are concerned because of the leg loss and now something with his eye. I've fought against all these guys in the tank but I have to admit it's been very peaceful. I know some will judge and I don't disagree, but really they are all "predators" but they are all also more "pacifists." That is their personalities. It's a 75 gallon tank, plenty of live rock, they are all fed everyday, water always good.
I hope I've given enough details to draw a picture of the situation so someone can maybe shed some light on what we can do to help him!!!!!!! The tank is good but if needed I can ask my boyfriend to provide specifics.
I'm new so I appreciate any help, I hope I didn't babble on too much, and thank you in advance. Pictures enclosed, including one before he lost the legs - hes "standing" on the sand in that one.