What would Cause?

[Stevie]

Hello all! I am having some issues with my octopus. She can not open one eye as far as the other, and is not eating.... I just did a 50% water change to try and make water quality better, the water quality has been tested and is fine, and I do not see eggs. Any ideas?

 

[monty]

Hello all! I am having some issues with my octopus. She can not open one eye as far as the other, and is not eating.... I just did a 50% water change to try and make water quality better, the water quality has been tested and is fine, and I do not see eggs. Any ideas?

The symptoms sound rather like the batch of octos that seemed to all have some sort of problem from one supplier recently. From the list of octos, I'm reminded that you got Alexandra at your LFS, but they could have obtained it from the same supplier. It looks like you never narrowed down the species, but it would be helpful if you looked at pics of the Octopus filosus a.k.a. Octopus hummelincki (two names for the same species) since the symptoms you're describing seem to have only shown up in that species.

O filosus from saltwaterfish.com: problem trend?

is the thread where I tried to do some amateur epidemiology, and it has some links to a few discussions of possible treatments and attempts to address this sort of thing with antibiotics, but unfortunately that thread shows that the prognosis with those symptoms is not so good. It seems like it might be some sort of bacterial infection, but that's really just a guess. Of course, your octo may have something else going on. You might want to look into antibiotics, there are a number of people with a lot of experience at using them on cephs, gjbarord in particular seems to know a lot from his NRCC and pro aquarist work.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Could you tell us a little about your tank? How big is it? How long have you had the tank running? What kind of filtration do you have on the tank?

 

[Stevie]

help..

I have had her for 2 months now, and based on the fact that they seem to have died shortly after purchase, I am guessing that this is not the case... My tank is a 29 gallon Biocube, it has standard filtration, and an added pump to keep the water moving. I do 2 water changes a week, and have the water tested weekly, in fact, I had it tested again today, and no one seems to see any problems. This is a new development with her, she does not seem to be eating, but there are crabs and snails that she could be snacking on and I just do not notice. She also has been quite active up until this week. Any help? And thank you everyone for trying to troubleshoot with me you have been a big help!

 

[DWhatley]

Alexandra,
If you can get her to eat treated food (I have used shore shrimp for both my octopus and seahorses) you may want to try Tetracycline injected into the food to see if you can fight off the problem. There is a brand for fish that does not need a perscription and you can get needles at any pharmacy. The antibiotic may or may not help with the eye but should help control additional infection. The high activity levels of your little one followed by inactivity not eating, however, is suggestive of old age. If this is the case and if she follows the pattern of my Mercs, she will start preferring the tank walls and smooth surfaces rather than the rougher live rock and eventually will start staying out in the open even during the day. At the point she no longer seeks daytime shelter there is little time left.

Good luck with her and please record her behavior, what you try and the outcome as it helps us all understand our little wards a bit better.

 

[Stevie]

If this is the case then the outcome looks bad. She has in fact started staying out during the day, and has periods of rest, and activity throughout the day. She built a wall of shells and dug out sand so she is sitting on the tank bottom, with her shells around her. I really hope that this is not the case, but I will keep it posted.... wish me luck!