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Diseases Affecting A. fangsiao
Like many other species of cephalopods, A. fangsiao is not safe from infection. As of 2021, there is not much information on the protozoan parasites that infect this species among other species of cephalopods native to the Pacific Ocean. It is known that is that these parasites belong to the genus Aggregata and are responsible for the infections that have led to the death of many A. fangsiao in a culture facility in China. Infection in A. fangsiao was also found from the genus Octopicola.

Aggregata Infection
Evidence of the parasite's infection on the A. fangsiao specimens include numerous white cysts scattered throughout the body of each octopus. These cysts, called sporocysts, are smooth to the touch, measuring 17.69–20.72 μm by 15.97–20.00 μm. While the oocysts themselves are circular in shape measuring 249.75–501.75 μm and 116.84–350.87 μm in size. Oocysts represent one of the stages in their lifecycle. When histological surveys were done, the cysts had severely affected the integrity of the internal organs, and often the intestinal issue was greatly affected by oocysts filled with sporocysts. Out of the 220 octopuses collected at the site, 95 of them were infected with Aggregata--representing 43% of the investigated specimens in the facility.

Octopicola huanghaiensis infection
Recently discovered, the species Octopicola huanghaiensis is the first of its genus to infect A. fangsiao. However, its genus, Octopicola, is known to commonly infect octopuses.

Abnormalities within Infection rates
Another experiment looked at the rate of infection of females versus males. The results were not as expected, 64% of the fatalities were female while the remaining 36% were males. The sample of the collected deceased A. fangsiao was 1,303; these data were collected between March 16th to April 2nd of 2017 in the Yellow Sea. These data showed that the death rate of females was higher than males during their breeding season. Upon further examination of the dead female specimens the researchers found that 16% had edema, 37% had broken skin, and 4% had broken arms.