Sedona - O.mycropyrus

[Joe-Ceph]

Would the red lights from Christmas tree lighting work for now or is it to bright/not the right spectrum?

It would probably seem dim, but not completely invisible. If so, then he would probably notice them if they suddenly switched on, or if they were moving (like if you came walking up to the tank carrying them). I suggest that you mount your red light and turn it on before dark, so that it will be like a star in the sky, and he'll get used to it. If you're lucky, it will produce enough light for you to see him, but not for him to see you (seeing him).

If you feel confident about the species ID, you might want to start a thread about your "California Lilliput Octopus" in the "Rare and Exotics" section. I think it is considered the smallest octopus species in the world, and there are probably some tonmo folks, especially scientist types, that would be very interested, and maybe have so useful suggestions for you. It would be easy for them to not be following journal threads, so they might not know you've got a special octopus.

 

[SabrinaR]

If you feel confident about the species ID, you might want to start a thread about your "California Lilliput Octopus" in the "Rare and Exotics" section. I think it is considered the smallest octopus species in the world, and there are probably some tonmo folks, especially scientist types, that would be very interested, and maybe have so useful suggestions for you. It would be easy for them to not be following journal threads, so they might not know you've got a special octopus.

I do feel confident about the ID. He’s a small little guy and I am amazed every time I see him just how small he is. His eyes though bug eyed looks no bigger than the large head of a sewing pin. I just sat there and watched him as he watched me.

I have noticed behavior wise he’s not completely afraid of me... that is, we sort of have a boundary. He will stay on the glass and watch me watch him as long as I don’t move, touch the tank, or in anyway try to get a better look ie flash light or change position. So, once he’s out he will stay out unless I bug him. Either that or he is trying not to move so that maybe I wont notice him. I believe it is probably more the latter than the former but a girl can hope lol. I have also noticed that he doesn’t seem completely nocturnal. I have seen him come out with the blue moon lights on and I have seen him stay out (again as long as I don’t bug him) with the blue lights on as well.

I would say his mantel is as big as an oblong cherry tomato if you can imagine. I am sitting here typing this and it STILL blows my mind.

 

[DWhatley]

I don't think the Christmas lights will give you enough light to see anything. The 11watt you found on eBay would likely be better and will fit in a normal socket. With our nocturnals, I light on side of the tank and as you can see in Cassy's new red light video, they enter the lighted side on their own but can retreat to the dark if they choose. With the mercs, the whole tank was illuminated but there was darkness in the live rock. Sleazy, the last merc I kept, rarely (never that we saw) ventured from her den but she was always visible, coming out to the very front at night with the red light on. Sometimes it seems that ambient light (or lack of it) is more important than light directly lighting the tank.

 

[SabrinaR]

Sedona's mantel has been damaged

So I checked on Sedona tonight and I noticed some damage to her mantel. I dont know how it happened and I am not really sure what to do about it.

I know that I can treat food with meds but I dont know what it is that shes eating so how can I treat her food?

In this first imagine you can see the white spot on her mantel... its actually quite large compared to her and her size. Its about the size of a dime.

This second pic I was able to put a measuring tape next to her on the tank to give a better understanding of her size.

If anyone has any ideas as to how to help her I am all ears.



On a side note... more emotional note... I am really sad that this has happened to her. I feel awful. Did a crab get her? Did I somehow miss one? I take these things so personal because I know that these animals depend 100% on me for their survival and it hurts when something bad happens to them.

 

[DWhatley]

Do you know it is new? Do you know it is damage? I can't tell anything from the photo but the Norman picture shows the mantle tip as being very white. On Cassy's arm slit (no clue how it go there but it was at least an inch long) the upper layer of skin was pulling away from the arm like you see in many dead squid photos. The damage appeared to heal in less than two days or I just have not see the arm in the correct position. I don't know of anything you can do if it is damaged. Don't put anything in the water. It is true that some antibiotic would get into the water if she ate antibiotic laced food but putting anti-biotics in the tank won't be enough to be helpful and will be very harmful.

 

[SabrinaR]

I do know that its new and it sure looked like damage. When I first saw the area there was this piece of skin that hung down from the white spot. At first I thought the skin was an arm pressed up against the glass but when I looked closer I realized what it really was.

Basically the mantel looks like the top layer of an onion after being peeled at the tip with the inside layer exposed.

 

[Joe-Ceph]

I'm sorry to hear that she might be injured. I think you're just going to have to trust her natural healing processes to help her get better, but maybe you can do something to make her neighborhood safer for her. If you ever put any food animals in there that are large enough to hurt her (and what isn't) then I would suspect that one of them is still in there, and was responsible for the damage. I've heard of things coming in on live rock (bristle worms?) so you might have some exotic critter. it might be a good idea to prepare a smaller and/or more appropriate tank for her that you know is free of dangerous animals, and then catch Sedona and put her in the new tank. An alternative would be to trap the crab or whatever that might have hurt her, but that is harder, given that you don't know what it is, and that there might be more than one. It might be feasible to take the live rock out, one piece at a time, and verify that there are no crabs or bristle worms (or anything else) on or in it. Then, when the tank is empty except for sand, Sedona, and the mugger, you could easily net it.

I suppose it is also possible that there are rocks in the tank that Sedona could have pulled down on herself, but had trouble getting out from under after they fell on her, causing the damage. That's a long shot, but I wanted to mention it so you could consider the possibility.

 

[SabrinaR]

Do you know it is new? Do you know it is damage? I can't tell anything from the photo but the Norman picture shows the mantle tip as being very white. On Cassy's arm slit (no clue how it go there but it was at least an inch long) the upper layer of skin was pulling away from the arm like you see in many dead squid photos. The damage appeared to heal in less than two days or I just have not see the arm in the correct position. I don't know of anything you can do if it is damaged. Don't put anything in the water. It is true that some antibiotic would get into the water if she ate antibiotic laced food but putting anti-biotics in the tank won't be enough to be helpful and will be very harmful.

I figured I would have to wait it out and hope she heals on her own. I will keep everyone posted.

My order of shrimp wont be coming in today (placed on back order) so I ordered some mysis, brine, and shore shrimp from Paul (shore shrimp are for Isis). That will be here one Thursday. I did get my order of pods in yesterday and I put them in the tank. I had hoped that I could maybe feed the shrimp food soaked in the meds but I guess thats a bad idea.

I'm sorry to hear that she might be injured. I think you're just going to have to trust her natural healing processes to help her get better, but maybe you can do something to make her neighborhood safer for her. If you ever put any food animals in there that are large enough to hurt her (and what isn't) then I would suspect that one of them is still in there, and was responsible for the damage. I've heard of things coming in on live rock (bristle worms?) so you might have some exotic critter. it might be a good idea to prepare a smaller and/or more appropriate tank for her that you know is free of dangerous animals, and then catch Sedona and put her in the new tank. An alternative would be to trap the crab or whatever that might have hurt her, but that is harder, given that you don't know what it is, and that there might be more than one. It might be feasible to take the live rock out, one piece at a time, and verify that there are no crabs or bristle worms (or anything else) on or in it. Then, when the tank is empty except for sand, Sedona, and the mugger, you could easily net it.

I suppose it is also possible that there are rocks in the tank that Sedona could have pulled down on herself, but had trouble getting out from under after they fell on her, causing the damage. That's a long shot, but I wanted to mention it so you could consider the possibility.

Its possible a rock fell on her, its possible that crabs are still in there and got to her... though because of the size and damage done I would think that it would be far more damage then a crab could have done. Either way short of taking every thing out and inspecting like you said I will have no way of knowing. And even then I may never know.

I hope she has been eating well. Eating being the only somewhat sure way to make sure shes heathy/will heal I hope she eats like a pig lol.

 

[SabrinaR]

I got a few dwarf hermit crabs yesterday and apparently Sedona likes them a great deal. I checked to make sure all were alive when I put them in the tank. Today I was looking around and noticed 3 of the hermits are no longer in their shells. This makes me very happy. At least the injury doesnt seem to be holding him back.

 

[SabrinaR]

Sedona passed away last night. I was hoping she would recover from the damage she suffered but it was to much for her. I will post death pictures in a while.

 

[SabrinaR]

In this first picture you can see the damage. All of the white places are damage and it looked like the skin of her mantel started to peal off.

 

[SabrinaR]

I have no idea what I am going to do with the food I ordered for her.

 

[CaptFish]

I am very sorry to hear that. I lost ichi the very same way. I noticed damage to his mantle, and then he died shortly after. I am positive it was a crab that pinched him.

RIP Sedona

 

[cuttlegirl]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes octopus will rub or bump their mantles against the glass, causing an abrasion. It also possible that she was senescent and her skin was deteriorating.

 

[SabrinaR]

I am very sorry to hear that. I lost ichi the very same way. I noticed damage to his mantle, and then he died shortly after. I am positive it was a crab that pinched him.

RIP Sedona

Thank you Capt. He made me very happy/half crazy and I enjoyed keeping her very much. It is such a shame that they live such short lives.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Sometimes octopus will rub or bump their mantles against the glass, causing an abrasion. It also possible that she was senescent and her skin was deteriorating.

I hadnt thought of that... because he was so small/and I spent more than half the time thinking she was a bimac I forgot completely that he might have been fully grow/close to senescent.

Its possible that the damage was obtained because she was close to senescent maybe a crab was able to get to her because of it.