why do my new octo's keep dying?

[0ctopussy]

just last week, i recieved my first octo. he was quite healthy and moving about in the bag but when i put the bag in the water, a few minutes later, it completely calmed down and barely moved. i didn't even open the bag yet, i just let it float on top. the water is about 72-75 deg. after about an hour of slowly putting some tank water in the bag, i released it in the tank and it wasn't doing very well and a few hours later it died. this week i got another one and the exact same thing happened. does anyone know why my octo's keep dying?

 

[Nancy]

Have you checked your water parameters? Nitrites, Nitrates, Ammonia. What about pH and salinity? Are you sure you have no copper?

Are you using RO/DI water?

I think you should also check with where you purchased the octopus and tell them your experience. It's very sad to lose two little octopuses.

Nancy

 

[0ctopussy]

everything in the water is good. there's a little bit of nitrate in the water but it shouldn't make this much of an impact. i have owned this tank for a long time and never once have used copper in it so there shouldn't be any copper in it. i am using ro/di water and the salinity is good. so i have no idea y this is happening. i did contact the dealer so they gave me the second octo free of charge, but i have no idea what could've caused this.

 

[Colin]

how many times has this happend and what dealer?

 

[0ctopussy]

it's happened twice, but i think i know wut happened. i just tested my water again and the nitrate was a little high so im gonna wait a while before tryin again. does anyone know the quickest way to lower a tank's nitrate?

 

[Nancy]

High how were your nitrates? Octopuses can tolerate some nitrates, but maybe it's harder on the little ones.

Usually you do water changes to reduce nitrates. A few things on the market claim to do it, too.

Nancy

 

[0ctopussy]

the nitrates were at 80ppm, but i heard that they can tolerate between 50 and 100

 

[Nancy]

There's a lot we still don't know. Perhaps very young octos are more senstive to higher percentages of nitrates in the water.

Please list your other water parameters, too.

Thanks,

Nancy

 

[Andy Lister]

What about checking the water quality of the bag they travel in. If your water is perfect and the shop water isn't then that could have repocussions. We have problems when transporting sharks out, they massively lower the pH (down to about 4 sometimes) and a lot of people forget to check it, see that the temp and other parameters are fine and put them in and then they keel over!

Maybe check the water they were in before or come in...

Did they use a solution to calm them down as well? We use Magnesium Chloride when moving cuttles, not sure abouyt Octos tho.

Sorry I can't really help more though

~Andy

 

[0ctopussy]

i didn't check the water that they had, but i didn't think it would be that much different since octo's are really picky about their water, so i thought it would be about the same as mine. i know for a fact that they didn't put any of that drowsy stuff in the water cuz i watched him bag it himself. i am almost positive that it was the nitrates cuz i didn't expect it to be soo high and they were little octo's so it was probably too much for them