"Wha, me attitude?" Not Ossie, the Octo

Cuttlegirl and Carol, thanks for your concern and suggestions for Ossie.

Life has been crazy here. It looks like I'm going to have to sue my upstairs neighbor for damages because it's been close to four weeks and she's done nothing. Therefore, the larger tank is sitting on my floor looking forlorn and lonely without critters in it.

As for Ossie, she's still stuck in the small 5.5 gallon tank. She hasn't been venturing out lately (but it could be the glow of the TV) so neither of us has seen much of her except tentacles darting out of her den.

We were afraid that she was getting bored, so we got her favorite food (tiny red crabs that look like crabs and aren't hermits) which are expensive as all out (compared to ghost shrimp) and then as a last minute gift, we got a green chromis for her to play with.

Since I had been worried about her eating habits, we were watching for remains very carefully. Sure enough, one of the two crabs we got was eaten on the first night.

And that night, we saw tentacles come flickering out of her den to experience Flit (the green chromis). Flit chose (we thought stupidly but it may end up being a good choice) the back of her den as her hiding spot. Flit was a VERY nervous nellie her first night, but since then has settled into a seemingly calm existence. She is still sleeping behind Ossie's den but we haven't really observed how they are together yet.

Here's the neat thing: the second crab was left alone.

Why is it neat? Well, we've come to two conclusions about why the crab was left alone. First off, Ossie has a tendency to leave ONE species of something in her tank - the exception being ghost shrimp. We have some blue legged hermits in her tank but she prefers the red legged type. However, when we got her six of those, she promptly ate all of them but one. She did the same thing with the cerith snails and the Astrea snails. Left one of each.

The other reason we've come up with is, I was moving some of the rocks around to get at the empty crab shell, when the surviving red crab fell off the rock I was moving. Well, the survivor apparently didn't survive the fall (of 6 inches!) because it didn't flip itself over and when I did notice it moving a few minutes later, it was because a bristle worm was trying to move it!

Could Ossie have known that it was a dying crab and chosen not to eat it?

Anyway, after she ate the red crab, the next night she went after the conch snail FINALLY, after 6 weeks.

Here's my problem: the water stinks of snail carcass (unmistakable odor) and I cannot find the carcass. We are doing daily water changes until the carcass disintegrates or the smell goes away (whichever comes first), but what else can be done? I don't think I want to disturb her den to go searching there.

Any suggestions would be welcome!

Oh and Carol, yeah, after capturing Ossie that one time with a really good photo, we have stopped using the flash altogether and only use movie mode where we are able to get somewhat clearer pictures.
 
Try to find the snail carcass!!! It is going to wreak havoc on your tiny system!!! I know what you mean about the smell, yuck. One time I was carrying a dead nemertean worm that was about 5 feet long in a glass container (first stupid mistake) and I dropped in the faculty hallway... Let's just say the professors weren't particularly happy with the aroma...

Anyway, back to your topic, glad to hear Ossie still has you two spoiling her :biggrin2:
 
D'oh!

So we've been checking the water the last three days since we found the empty conch shell but no remnants and I've smelled the icky smell. For the past day, W. has been opening up the tank, taking a deep whiff and saying, "Doesn't smell that bad." And she's the one with the sense of smell in the family.

I've been cracking open the feeder slot and taking a deep whiff and making a face at the odor. Tonight, we opted for another water change since I smelled it again and when she opened up the tank, she was right - it didn't smell that bad!

Apparently, I had dripped some snail juice or blood or something onto the masking tape that covers the feeder slot and THAT was what I had been smelling.

We're rearranging the live rock tonight to give her a place to re-explore. While we were doing that, all of a sudden, tentacles dart out the back of the den and a ghost shrimp gives up the ghost. I guess dinner must go on.

Oh, and somehow Flit the green chromis managed to scare W. tonight by swimming right at her while her face was close to the surface of the water. I couldn't stop laughing for a minute or two.
 
cuttlegirl said:
One time I was carrying a dead nemertean worm that was about 5 feet long in a glass container (first stupid mistake) and I dropped in the faculty hallway... Let's just say the professors weren't particularly happy with the aroma...

Hmm, what were your grades that semester? :lol:
 

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