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Question about death...

cr3w66

Cuttlefish
Registered
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
27
Hi all,
After 3 months of successfully housing and keeping my octo happy, I awoke this morning to find him lying on the bottom, dead. :angel:

My question is this: I've seen octos die from water quality issues and most seem to go white and ball up, then die. "Tat" was his usually brown/red color and arms were free flowing. Could this still have been a water quality issue, or old age? He seemed to be acting normal and ate yesterday. Any ideas?
Thanks
 
If the octopus ate normally and was not losing skin color and texture, death was not likely due to senescence. More likely water quality (ammonia spike), inking that you didn't detect, disease or injury. Unfortunately, with an octopus you can't call CSI to get an answer.

Roy
 
yes, of course - ammonia at 0, Nitrates at 5ppm. I can't seem to get those down, but they had been at that level since I before I got him.... Everything else tested fine as well.
 
How big was this octopus? Some of the octopus that come into the home aquarium are already quite old and may already have infections or signs of senescence. While there are some clear signs that senescence is taking place, there may be underlying symptoms that we are still missing. Then again, it may have just had a heart attack. Since your water quality seems to be fine, I would lean towards some sort of virus or fatal organ failure.

We cannot protect them from anyone.

Greg
 
His mantle was about 2.5-3 in in length and arms about 10-12 in from tip to tip - I know he was not that young when I got him (based on size), but I was thinking that Briarieus got a bit bigger than that, and was hoping he was not too old.

Thanks for all your inputs! I appreciate it.
 

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