Last night the power went out for about 3 to 4 hours. I didn't think anything of it as the tanks started fine. Today, I fed Gimpy, and he was still out pacing like he wanted more food. Squirting water up at the hood, knocking the magnet off everytime I fixed it. I finally checked my ammonia and it had risen to .50. I really believe Gimp was trying to tell me the water was going bad. This is the second time he has done everything is his power to get my attention. After I did a 1/2 waterchange, he settled down to normal behavior and now has retired to his den to rest.

I think it is so important for octo owners to be aware of what is considered the norm for thier particular pet so should their behavior be off even a little bit that gives the heads up something could be in the early stages of going wrong with the tank.

Thank heaven's !!!!! Good thing you have a smart octo!

And good thing your octo has a smart owner!

Yes to both previous posts!

Octo owners must always be prepared for emergencies!

Nancy

i agree it is great when octo owners are as smart as their octos

It's awsome that he associates you with maintaining the tank parameters, not just acting stressed but activly getting your attention to fix it. Is an octos size related to intelligence? I ask because I will most likely be getting a pygmy club octo, which is pretty small ( up to 8 cm arms)

i agree it is great when octo owners are as smart as their octos

was that a compliment to gimpy or a dig at carol? :smile:

complement for both :grin:

At a 50% water change, is there any risk of breaking the tank cycle? I thought this was a very risky idea... However I understand the curciumstances, would it be better to use products like Coral-Vital LSB, or Bacta-Vital and a smaller percent of water change? Im not knocking you, just wondering for myself, if I ever run into the same problem.

Interesting question. I have always run my tanks with Eheims which I donot touch if I need to do a major waterchange. I have also always done an extreme waterchange in the face of life threatening conditions. I would be interested to hear what everyone else thinks about this. I do know I would not touch my Eheim also at the same time as a major waterchange. Maybe this is why I haven't (knock on wood) ever had a major problem from correcting a problem drastically.

At a 50% water change, is there any risk of breaking the tank cycle? I thought this was a very risky idea... However I understand the curciumstances, would it be better to use products like Coral-Vital LSB, or Bacta-Vital and a smaller percent of water change? Im not knocking you, just wondering for myself, if I ever run into the same problem.


I'm under the impression a 50% water change is a pretty common emergency practice. Most of the nitrogen cycle bacteria live in the filter media, LR, tank walls, etc, so a big water change shouldn't have much effect on the system's nitrogen processing capacity. I think the biggest worry is that the new water has different concentrations that might shock all the critters. I would be more inclined to do a water change like this than add a chemical.

Dan

A water change to fix water parameters has to be large, 50% is a good amount, - if you only do a 25% change, there is still 75% of the problem left in the tank.

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_brightbill_wc.html

this is talking about how water changes are not as good as a lot of people perceive them to be, a least with small changes.


It doesnt mention about breaking the cycle tho...