You will very often see 6-6.4 PH in shipping water, especially when it is cool/cold. The guys in FL don't need to buffer their water and that is about the only thing that would prevent the sever shipping drop. On the other hand, shipping when the weather is cool is far better on the animals than when it is hot and what you are seeing is normal and why it takes so long to acclimate them.
Good size on the octo, Tom did good
. After I talked to him and mentioned the website, he did join and add us as a link for more information so hopefully he will check in on us occassionally.
One of the interesting things about missing arms is to watch them grow back. I have guestimated about an inch a month but it would be nice if others would try to estimate new growth to see if this is a good general guess. I watched a video on a GPO in an aquarium last night and the aquarium guide mentioned that the GPO had difficulty regenerating its arms in captivity. I had never heard this before and wonder if it is really the case or if they expect faster regeneration in the wild than what we see in an aquarium (or if the GPO is more sensative to a captive environment).
Anxiously awaiting pictures