Just got my first zebra/mimic octo need help ASAP

[SaltWaterLife]

Ok I've been doing saltwater for almost ten years I have a 120 gallon reef tank 180 shark tank and a120 gallon tank for my octo he's all alone except for a few crabs and live rock I noticed today that he is some way some how missing two tentitcals is this bad for him will they grow back I'm very concerned please let me know what you think. Thanks Jeremy

 

[DeepBlueWonders]

Did you purchase him in this condition, or did it happen in your tank?
Im not an octo keeper, I'm with the cuttles, but I think I remember reading somewhere that the legs do grow back. Also I imagine that there is a very high rate of infection...I'll let an actual octo keeper take over from here, though.

 

[CaptFish]

It is common to see them missing arms. It he came to you like that then he probly lost them in battle, or being captured. If they did not come missing them it could be Autophagy, which means he ate them. This can be cause by any number of things including stress, bad water conditions or because the animal is senescent

 

[DWhatley]

Photos are always helpful for both ID and injury. Often an octopus is sold under a generic name that does not help with species identification.

Animals in the Abdopus complex can throw their arms if trapped and possibly if stressed but most arm damage is done by hardware or other animals. The first thing to look for at this point is an unsafe object in the tank. Open impellers or impellers up dark shafts are frequently the problem.

Octopuses do have the regenerative ability to grow back their arms through out their lives. The biggest concern with any injury in an aquarium is the possibility of infection. Watch for swelling around the injury and, IME, treating with an antibiotic as soon as you notice any swelling has the best chance of helping them fight the problem. There are several antibiotics that can be used, I have use Tetracycline, primarily because you can acquire it legally, without a prescription for fish and because it has worked in non-senescent animals for me in the past. If you do not see swelling, don't treat. You should notice a fine string growing from the tip of the arms in roughly a week. This will be the beginnings of a new arm extension.

If you do not find the reason for the dismemberment, then the default feeling is that the animal is stressed. This is thought to often be lethal so getting a good water sample test and ensuring he has plenty of places to hide are the primary first things to address.

 

[SaltWaterLife]

Well it's a zebra octo and there is any swelling I've noticed he has plenty of places to hide and gets red feeder crabs for food which is what my supplier was feeding him water conditions are great I'm running a canister filter uv filter and protein skimmer along with good power head for airiation and he was not like this from purchase other than that acts just fine will even let me hand feed him the crabs I will post pictures soon
Thanks jeremy

 

[SaltWaterLife]

That was supposed to be isn't

 

[DeepBlueWonders]

Well it's a zebra octo and there is any swelling I've noticed he has plenty of places to hide and gets red feeder crabs for food which is what my supplier was feeding him water conditions are great I'm running a canister filter uv filter and protein skimmer along with good power head for airiation and he was not like this from purchase other than that acts just fine will even let me hand feed him the crabs I will post pictures soon
Thanks jeremy

What are your tank parameters?

 

[SaltWaterLife]

I would have to run another check to give you exact numbers but there was nothing to be worried about or I would have already been doing water changes

 

[DeepBlueWonders]

I would have to run another check to give you exact numbers but there was nothing to be worried about or I would have already been doing water changes

Current actual parameters would be very helpful.

 

[neurobadger]

Are its stripes black or brown? Pictures are good.

If it seems to permanently have stripes, it is either a Thaumoctopus mimicus, the mimic octopus, or Wunderpus photogenicus, the 'wunderpus' octopus.

Do not buy one of these again.

We know very little about their numbers, they come from Indonesia so are going to be battered when they get to your door, they are not known to show their mimic behavior in captivity (and I wouldn't encourage mimicking behavior anyway - that might require stressing the creature), and are most certainly fostering the illegal pet trade.

Thinking about this, I am developing objections to keeping any species that's had to fly that long a way in anything but specially prepared packaging, after hearing some horror stories around here at Woods Hole about organisms that have been shipped in. I heard about a professor who got 10 of 120 zebrafish. The other ones died in shipping.