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Pudge not eating

Joined
Aug 6, 2003
Messages
863
Hi all,
Pudge won't take any types of food now, I gave him 4 hermits and a ghost shrimp that came with my shipment of pipefish and seahorses (different tank), frozen squid, frozen krill, and a fiddler last night. I haven't seen any eggs but I turned his shell over further so the damsels can't fit in the shell to eat the eggs.
My LFS guy said it was because of the temperature (65 - 70F) but he's the same guy who said Pudge would eat the anemones.
So does everyone think I have eggs?
 
Hi,
Hope Pudge is OK.

Could you tell us a little more - is Pudge missing an entire arm? Since yesterday?

Is Pudge still in a 20 gallon tank? What are your water parameters?

Pudge seems a little young for eggs or for refusing food. But if your water conditions are off, that could be the cause. However, the missing arm is cause for concern.

Nancy
 
Hi Nancy,
Pudge is still in the 20 gallon, my water parameters are
Salinity-1.025
PH - 8.1
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite and nitrate were above normal, so I did a 15% water change.
Pudge still has a stub for an arm, and came out an hour after I turned his lights off.
Pudge was at the LFS for at least 3 months, and I've had him/her for 4, and tommorrow I'll ask Paul (LFS guy) if he knows how old Pudge was when he arrived.
This morning Pudge was fine, when I came home (3:00) he was missing his arm. S/he is doing better, and I've added an extra conch shell for Pudge's comfort. It was from my other freshwater tank so I cycled it in the 5 gallon untill I got my pipes. Pudge left conch shell #1 to investigate conch shell #2.
Also, he was picking at the damsels brine shrimp. Could I feed him this for a while (I know it's not the best octo food)?
 
Hi Nick,
With three months at the LFS, Pudge is probably old enough to lay eggs. But the missing arm?
I'd do another water change tomorrow and continue until your nitrate and nitrite are normal.

Nancy
 
I'll be taking the damsels back later today, but could a fiddler crab do it? Pudge has had problems with them before....

Pudge has gotten a bit smaller, I don't know exactly how big though.

Also, Pudge has gotten more active since he lost his arm, what could be the cause of this? My guess would be the heater.
 
If Pudge has problems with Fiddler Crabs, I have a suggestion: you can take scissors and blunt the claws, actually make them so they can't close and pinch. This doesn't hurt the crab and the claws grow out again, but the crab is usually eaten before then. This is good if an octopus doesn't see so well anymore or has other problems (maybe for young ones, too).

Nancy
 
If there was a large crab hiding in the live rock, one of Pudge's arms might be eaten by it if he was explorig with his arms. Watched something like that happen on The Octopus Show on Nat Geo, Just that it happened to an arm shedding octopus.
 
that's right... it was Ameloctopus that did that....

can pudge get at powerheads? Any chance an arm got in?
 
I second the powerhead idea! Years ago I used undergravel filters run by powerheads, that didnt have anything covering the holes. I had this one octopus who shorted all his legs from sticking them in the powerhead. You would of thought he would have been wary after the first arm shortening! At the time, I didn't realize this was what he was doing!

Carol
 
I had a cuttle that got sucked onto an unprotected p/head... luckily it was during a water change and i was there to get it straight away! The poor thing just had a perfect circle on its mantle for a wee while
 

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