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octopus behaving strangely

Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
68
My octopus has been acting very strange lately. First of all he has not eaten in 5 days. He always wanders around like he normally does when he wants food but when I offer to him he has no interest in it. The second thing is that the very tip of three of his arms are missing. It's only about a half a centimeter but I'm worried it might be autophagy. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Ben
 
How long have you had your octopus? The ammonia should be at zero. Is he trying to climb out of the water by staying at the top of the tank? I would do a waterchange if you haven't already. Good luck!

Carol
 
I would definatly do a water change. Tests are not always accurate, and it may be too late by the time your octo does try to climb out.
 
Yeah I will do a water change tomorrow. I'm concerned about the fact that he is missing the tips of his arms though. I suppose I should wait and see. Does this sound like autophagy to anyone who has dealt with it before?

Thanks for all the advice.
Ben
 
bmatson said:
Yeah I will do a water change tomorrow. I'm concerned about the fact that he is missing the tips of his arms though. I suppose I should wait and see. Does this sound like autophagy to anyone who has dealt with it before?

Thanks for all the advice.
Ben

It doesn't sound like autophagy..............but it does sound like either a water problem or senility. In autophagy they tend to bite the arms off at the base.

Do a water change ASAP. IF things don't improve it may be old age......sorry

J
 
Autophagy is literally self eating! The octopus eats it's own arms. Its incurable and highly contagious (to octopus....haven't heard of any instance of octopus keepers eating their own arms and I don't think my nails count!!) and always fatal.

J
 
Mermaid said:
What is autophagy?

be warned, don't do a Google search on autophagy unless you have a strong stomach!!! I did a few years ago and it can be pretty grim, its not just octopuses that do it.
 
Jean said:
Autophagy is literally self eating! The octopus eats it's own arms. Its incurable and highly contagious (to octopus....haven't heard of any instance of octopus keepers eating their own arms and I don't think my nails count!!) and always fatal.

J

Okay, wait a minute here?
This Autophagy thing is a bit odd.
Am i understanding this correctly?
Not only will an octo eat it's self, but the act of eating it's self is
contagious to other octo's?
 

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