unresponsive octopus

[drakanorn]

about a week ago fluffy stopped coming out of the rock work for tv food or play. in one of two places in the tank for the past couple of days he has hardly left one spot. at night he will rise above that spot a few inches but now even at night he dosnt seem to move about the tank much. he has no response to my hand on the glass or even in the tank. its almost like hes blind but he can still sense light/dark. i have to rub his food against his arms to get him to eat it and his apatite is limited to the first piece of food i offer him regardless of size.

i thought he might be bored so i added some new toys to his tank including pvc pipe (boiled first with no metal of course) he showed little interest in these.

all of the parameters are normal. the temp dropped for a couple of days but its been brought up and stable for days now. if hes not blind it almost seems like hes a she and guarding eggs, but he/she is barely even full grown.

any ideas? im all out of them...

 

[Animal Mother]

Well, unfortunately size isn't a very good indication of an octos age... so it very well could be senescense setting in.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Sounds like you are doing everything you can for Fluffy. I have to agree, it does sound like senescence. The size of the octopus depends on how much it has eaten, so you can have two octopus of the same age but different sizes. You have only had Fluffy for about 2 months, right?

 

[drakanorn]

correct 2 months-ish. i knew this was coming i just didn't expect it so soon...

 

[cuttlegirl]

Sorry to hear you are going to lose your friend so soon. Continue to offer food, sometimes they hang on for a little while...

 

[Animal Mother]

And don't lose hope yet.

 

[corw314]

You are sure on your water quality? Past experience has taught me a drastic change in behavior can be an ammonia spike. Are your test kits up to date? Just a thought. Keeping fingers crossed.

 

[drakanorn]

that could be the case. i haven't replaced my test kit since i started cycling the the tank. im not sure how often test kits need to be replaced.

 

[drakanorn]

i just got back from my LFS where they tested the water and they confirmed that the water quality is high as normal no ammonia no nitrite low nitrates

 

[simple]

i really hope hes ok, i enjoyed watching all the videos of him, maybe shell still be back to normal..have you checked water temperature as well?

 

[drakanorn]

i been cheking 3-4 times a day. temps have been steady at 76-78 as is the norm for the tank.

 

[Scuba Kid]

Wouldn't hurt to do a water change just in case.

 

[drakanorn]

already have, iv done 3 or 4 small water changes since he changed his behavior.

 

[drakanorn]

well fluffys still hanging in thier and eating but i have to pester him allot to get him to take any food. so i was wondering, am i unnecessarily prolonging his life or should i keep giving him food until he rejects it all together.

 

[Animal Mother]

Keep trying. He'll decide when he has given up.