Babies not eating...

[melfly]

I would keep an eye on them. Do you have a cool place in your home to keep them? The cold will hopefully de-stress them. Are the all doin the head tail flick. And have they always done it? What are they eatin right now? Mel

[JaiElBee]

Daphnia that have bred so we have tiny ones... They all have pink/orange tummys so I'm guessing they are managing to eat alright.

They are currently on a window ledge... Window open. We aren't allowed to actually put them in the fridge. Haha.

The head/tail thing is only something we've noticed recently, within the last week. That was about when we decided to separate them because of their differing sizes, some looking big enough to eat the others.

We are definitely keeping an eye on them, just going to stop moving them about as much as we have been and see if that helps.

[melfly]

Is it really bright on the window ledge? Axolotls dont like too much light. Do you have some floating plants in to provide some cover. Mel

[JaiElBee]

It shouldn't be too bright for them there, it's at the back of the house away from any direct sunlight.

We have java moss in there to help with nitrates, quite a lot of it so they can hide if they need to.

I haven't interfered with them at all since yesterday evening, so I'll check on them later on today. (Currently at college).

We have another two tanks in a different window and they seem to have calmed down somewhat, the death rate in those two is dropping where as in the third it still seems to be going up.

I'm thinking it may well be something completely out of our control.

[melfly]

Me too actually. The head tail flick could mean some kind of genetic deformaty. Are their spines straight? Mel

[JaiElBee]

Yeah, their spines seem to be ok... They can swim normally and stay straight just occasionally they are choosing not to.

I'm also partially wondering if it's something alone the lines of the flicked up tail when stressed but worse.

They do it when their tank gets tapped or they get disturbed by another Axolotl swimming past.

I've been out and bought a water testing kit today I'm kind of hoping that I'll be able to find an anomally in one batch so that we definitely know what's causing it.

Thanks for your help.

Edit: Ok, so I tested the water in with the two tanks of babies, one has 1 Axolotl in and the other still his around 20.

In the solitary tank:
pH = 5.0
Ammonia = 0.6 mg/L
Nitrite = 0 mg/L
Nitrate = 5 mg/L

In the more occupied tank:
pH = 5.0
Ammonia = 2.4 mg/L
Nitrite = 0.3 mg/L
Nitrate = 50 mg/L

No idea what that all means...

No deaths in either tank for about 24 hours now.

[shoegal]

So sorry to hear about your recent challenges. I am in the process of raising about 60 axie babies, and although things have been going well so far (5 days), I am a bit anxious about the future.

[Jennewt]

Your ammonia level are seriously dangerous! I would say you need to either greatly increase the size of the containers and/or amount of water changes OR get some of these babies off your hands ASAP.

I would recommend separating them into more separate containers and do larger water changes. Don't let any dead brine shrimp sit in the tanks. Good luck!!!

[JaiElBee]

We separated them all out, the remaining few are in their own tanks.

Here's my little pride and joy - http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...i/S7302614.jpg

Thanks for all your help. =)