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signs of sickness

squall7733

O. vulgaris
Registered
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
98
Im probly just being paranoid but I'm worried my little octo isnt doing as well as he should be.

He's about 2 months old now, He's active and not showing any signs of being slugish.. He's still eating about 10 clams a day(he's kind of big), and I'm starting him on shrimp when they arrive in the middle of this week.

I've notice that around his eyes , they appear to be white. Hard to explain without pictures. Its his sleeping time now so I'll get some in the morning. Havnt tested it too much but those spots dont seem to camoflouge the same as the rest of his body. I'm probly being paranoid though, his behavior is fine. There was a slight increase in amonia when some of my piping got clocked with my macro algea... and then die off and amonia increase, but its passed now. All my levels are fine at the moment, I was wondering if anyone has had experience with this before, since they are so squishy I was thinking his skin might have been damaged from the amonia bloom. I plan to improve his diet as soon as I get the shrimps, other then that anything I can do :P
 
One of my octos, I think it was Ink, had these white patches you speak of. We had thought she injured herself in some way. Eventually they healed but the pigment remained a little different from the uninjured skin. Ammonia is not good for octo's so I am wondering if the sores, are possably from the spike. Their skin is very delicate and can be affected by water quality. Did you do a water change when you noticed the spike?

Keeping fingers crossed!

Carol
 
Yes I did a 15% water change, and now I'm thinking about doing another.

The "whiteness" has partialy spread down his body now, im hoping it stops there, my water quality seems fine I dont know whats doing it :/

Is there a technical name for this "Disease" ?
 
I think I was starving the little guy...Well now I hope it was the case, I fed him some oyster meat today and he took it very quickly, still eating it I think. Maybe If I fatten him up he'll get healthier :P
 
You mentioned feeding in another thread.

Feed him as much as he will eat - what do you have to feed him with? Any live food like shrimp or crabs would be good. After that, thawed frozen shrimp would be good. You might feed him more than once a day, too.

I'm glad he's taking food, that's a good sign.

Nancy
 
I've been offering him oyster meat these last few days, live shrimp comming in tomorow... Just fed him about 30 min ago and I think he's still eating, I'll try to see if he will take some more in a couple hours. I think the sours have stopped but it does look like its covered his entire body now... Poor little guy :frown: I did a massive water change the other night just to be make sure, I hope its enough.
 
I don't know what the trouble with your poor octopus is - maybe a skin condition? Jean, who usually answers this sort of question is still on holiday.

Glad the water change helped - get hiim eating shrimp or crabs by tomorrow. These are the normal octo foods.

You might need to continue to do a partial water change each day.

I hope it turns out all right.

Nancy
 
What species is your octopus??? If it is one of the dwarfs it could be old age. I've noticed on ours that as they get older their skin doesn't heal as well from scrapes etc.

If a Bimac or other (so you know the age!) then it sounds to me like a combination of ammonia spike and not enough to eat.

So, you need to be really vigilant on your ammonia (ammonia can burn human skin never mind an octopus's) and he needs fed every day which means debris needs to be removed every day or ammonia will spike!

As Nancy has suggested do partial water changes every day until the ammonia is under control (test it often!) At this stage it wouldn't hurt to test the water for ammonia and nitrates etc every day till it stabilizes.

Hope this helps!

Jean
 

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