Malachite green-oops ArHHHHHH

Hi All
I have on the advice on a pet shop owner been treating my axolotl with malachite green (in low doses) for about 2 weeks. I have stopped using it now and have cycled my water. Does anyone now how malachite green affects them? Is there anything else I should do?

[Andy Baker]

I think its toxic to them. I recall reading somewhere that it severely damages their liver.

Is there anything wrong with your axie?

Yea on his other post his axie was attempting to get out of the horrible water, it was probably hurting him.

How were you treating with the malachite green? I'd save something like that for a "last resort" and only use it in something like a short bath (1-2% concentration). I'd have given mercurochrome a try first.

Anyway, calm down--it's true that m.g. can be very harmful, but if your axolotl is not dead yet it's probably not going to hurt him as long as there is no more exposure. It's also not like malachite green is unheard of in treating amphibians--just the doses are much different than that in fish. It's used very successfully and routinely in the treatment of frogs, for example.

Incidentally, how is the axolotl's infection or whatever it was you were treating?

She has started to peel again, should I give her a salt bath?

She's probably peeling due to the toxins irritating her skin. Giving a salt bath might aggravate this more. Keep an eye on it, and keep the water as clean as possible, and if she doesn't stop peeling after a few days, then try light salt baths (not full strength).

Where is she right now? Still in the tank?

Sometimes you have the feeling that you want to _do_ something, rather than just sit and wait to see what happens next. Since your water is pretty much all new (if I remember correctly) one thing that you can try is to do partial water changes each day--this keeps the water clean. It probably isn't necessary, but if you have a feeling like I described, it's something you can do at least

She is in the tank. Its strange since she has peeled she seem alot better, she just ate two big chunks of beef heart and her lings are not curling forward too.

Hey Chris,

are you feeding your Axolotl Beef heart as a Stable?

Check out this link to information about good diets for your Axies.

http://axolotls.org/feeding.htm

If you are feeding her beef heart as a stable, this can lead to health problems later.

Earthworms, Axolotl pellets, or any of the stables mentioned in the link are best.




Beef heart should normally be fed as a treat.

Proper nutrition comes before the chocolate cake dessert

Hey Rheann No I have been varying her food,, but mainly I have been feeding her beef heart. My worms tend to escape, if they miss them, and burrough under the substrate!

Have you tried hand feeding? Chop sticks or those long tong things that they sell at petshops for feeding also work.

I usually use chop sticks, and sometimes my hand lol.

Most of the time I just drop the worm in and they find it on their own. They love to hunt

Your worms seriously get away by burying themselves under the substrate? What kind of worms, or all kinds?

Just earth worms - got big pebbles as a substrate. The axie can't move them and can't get to them! Heh also do need to wash your hands before sticking your hand into the tan?

Rheann--do you know anyone you has some documentation about why not to feed them beef heart? I never have used it myself since it's tough to culture yourself Due to ease of culture and use, nutrition, etc, I believe crickets to be one of the best staples. I'm curious where this idea of mammalian tissue being bad for axolotls started.

Large enough salamanders in the wild do eat mammalian tissue (small mice) and I cannot think of a biological reason offhand that makes the tissue significantly different enough to make it "bad"--as long as the beef heart isn't loaded with fat, for example.

The axolotl colony until recently fed exclusively beef heart. It was my impression they stopped due to the ease of using and keeping the pellets, not because of health related issues.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I was just curious if anyone had any supporting literature or if this was just more or less a rumor.


(Message edited by lactose on November 07, 2005)

I think most beef heart available is pretty fatty, or at least you're not exactly sure how fatty it is. If you could get fresh strips, I think it would be a healthy part of a well balanced axolotl diet.

you use crickets as a staple? Isn't this bad? I thought crickets were considered a snack?

Joan--you're probably right. Every time I see "beef heart" mentioned in the literature, it's always preceded by the word "lean"--which might not be so easy to find. What's more, if I'm going to be shelling out money for lean beef, it's going in me, not axolotls . I can't think of a reason besides fat that it would be bad--if anyone does please let me know; I'm curious.

Jordan--yes, crickets are one of the best staple foods, nutritionally speaking. While it's true axolotls cannot digest the chitin (just like we can't digest fiber), crickets on the whole are very nutritious. In the summer months I culture earthworms for treats; I can't quite bring myself to have them in the house. I've toyed with the idea of culturing blackworms indoor in an aquarium, but haven't had the time or energy to set it up.

So whats a more nutritious staple, earthworms, pellets, or crickets? Rank them in most nutritious to least please.

[justin slate]

Snip: "I think most beef heart available is pretty fatty, or at least you're not exactly sure how fatty it is"

I would tend to disagree with this statement. It would be counterproductive for heart (large muscle) to be fatty, so I doubt that it is so. There may be a sheath of fat around it, but the heart its self is not fatty.
j