Please Help new axie owner struggling to reduce stress and feed

[Jgray1994]

55 Gallon Long (filled with about 45 gal of water left some space for plants to come out of the top and so nothing can jump out, no lid)
Around 15-20 plants in the tank and have some large duckweed and pathos/bamboo coming out of the top of the tank.
Sand substrate with some flat red slate
Axie is around 2 years old and is a big boy(11 inches) and there is also about 6 WCMMs and 1 large apple snail in the tank

So to start off I’ll say like a dummy I thought my tank was cycled when I added the axie but then for about two weeks my ammonia and nitrite spiked a little but for about a week or so now my parameters have been good:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10-20ish
Ph-7.2
Temp-62-64

Filtration- three different medium sized sponge filters and a HOB aqua clear with DIY baffle system.

My flow barley moves around plants and seems low except near the surface of the water because I’m using a mounted fan on the wall to keep the tank cool but have been getting a good consistent temp the usually stays between 62-64 degrees.

So the first couple weeks a struggles to get him to eat anything, either wasn’t interested or would suck it up and spit it out. Finally I got him eating pellets and small pieces of worms here and there but def not eating a lot still. My light is a hygger led that I only have on for 7 hrs a day and it never goes above 20% brightness. He has a cave hide that he’s in most of the time but he almost always seems lethargic and slightly curls his gills toward most of the time. What could be causing him to be stressed and not eat??

Being in the bad water quality for the first week or so?

The fish?

The flow?

Something else?

I’m just lost and feel like I have tried alot of different things other than tubbing/fridging which I wanted to do as a last resort.

Eating very little and hardly passing any poop but doesn’t seem bloated or have any visible injuries, gills still look pretty fluffy and color is still good, it’s just clear that something is keeping him pretty stressed and I just don’t know, thanks for any advice and will be happy to provide more info

 

[Jgray1994]

55 Gallon Long (filled with about 45 gal of water left some space for plants to come out of the top and so nothing can jump out, no lid)
Around 15-20 plants in the tank and have some large duckweed and pathos/bamboo coming out of the top of the tank.
Sand substrate with some flat red slate
Axie is around 2 years old and is a big boy(11 inches) and there is also about 6 WCMMs and 1 large apple snail in the tank

So to start off I’ll say like a dummy I thought my tank was cycled when I added the axie but then for about two weeks my ammonia and nitrite spiked a little but for about a week or so now my parameters have been good:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-10-20ish
Ph-7.2
Temp-62-64

Filtration- three different medium sized sponge filters and a HOB aqua clear with DIY baffle system.

My flow barley moves around plants and seems low except near the surface of the water because I’m using a mounted fan on the wall to keep the tank cool but have been getting a good consistent temp the usually stays between 62-64 degrees.

So the first couple weeks a struggles to get him to eat anything, either wasn’t interested or would suck it up and spit it out. Finally I got him eating pellets and small pieces of worms here and there but def not eating a lot still. My light is a hygger led that I only have on for 7 hrs a day and it never goes above 20% brightness. He has a cave hide that he’s in most of the time but he almost always seems lethargic and slightly curls his gills toward most of the time. What could be causing him to be stressed and not eat??

Being in the bad water quality for the first week or so?

The fish?

The flow?

Something else?

I’m just lost and feel like I have tried alot of different things other than tubbing/fridging which I wanted to do as a last resort.

Eating very little and hardly passing any poop but doesn’t seem bloated or have any visible injuries, gills still look pretty fluffy and color is still good, it’s just clear that something is keeping him pretty stressed and I just don’t know, thanks for any advice and will be happy to provide more info

Also I know I prolly have too many filters with 3 sponge and 1 HOB but I got nervous when my parameters spiked and tried my best too add filtration to get the cycle completed.

 

[Jgray1994]

Also used prime on a daily basis until my water parameter got where they should be to limit the ammonia/nitrite effected the axie

 

[Autistic Catholic]

What time of day are you feeding him? They are nocturnal so his lethargy and inappetence could be based on his circadian rhythm more than stress. Otherwise, he looks fine and has a good setup.

 

[Autistic Catholic]

Another question I have is whether he has snacked on any of the minnows you have in the tank. Feeder fish should be the only fish kept in a tank with axolotls and maybe a crew of cleaner shrimp too. I would get the snail out, TBH as that could be an impaction hazard. If the fish aren't important and are there for his occasional snacking, it probably won't cause problems having them in there.

 

[wolfen]

only use prime when doing a water change, let the filtration cope with the ammonia etc..
use holtfreters solution in the tank at 50% to make the water more comfortable, some plants may not cope with the slight salinity.
try using frozen foods such as bloodworm, krill, mysis etc.. to try and encourage feeding, try to feed about 30mins before lights of and leave any waste/uneaten food till the following day.
have any air-stones sit on bottom of tank to allow for thorough oxygenation.
axolotls are mostly nocturnal so he will seem lethargic/sluggish during the day.

 

[Jgray1994]

What time of day are you feeding him? They are nocturnal so his lethargy and inappetence could be based on his circadian rhythm more than stress. Otherwise, he looks fine and has a good setup.

I’ve tried different times of day but when I can get him to eat it’s always a few hours after the lights have cut off in the evening, do you think 7 hrs of light is a good amount to keep plants healthy but not stress him out? Thanks

 

[Jgray1994]

only use prime when doing a water change, let the filtration cope with the ammonia etc..
use holtfreters solution in the tank at 50% to make the water more comfortable, some plants may not cope with the slight salinity.
try using frozen foods such as bloodworm, krill, mysis etc.. to try and encourage feeding, try to feed about 30mins before lights of and leave any waste/uneaten food till the following day.
have any air-stones sit on bottom of tank to allow for thorough oxygenation.
axolotls are mostly nocturnal so he will seem lethargic/sluggish during the day.

Thanks I’ll try more frozen foods, will the salinity kill my apple snail? And what do you mean by 50%?

 

[Jgray1994]

Another question I have is whether he has snacked on any of the minnows you have in the tank. Feeder fish should be the only fish kept in a tank with axolotls and maybe a crew of cleaner shrimp too. I would get the snail out, TBH as that could be an impaction hazard. If the fish aren't important and are there for his occasional snacking, it probably won't cause problems having them in there.

He hasn’t had interest in food very much so he hasn’t been able to snack on the minnows but have tried here and there to nip towards them and the apple snail is HUGE which is the only reason I put it in there because it’s way bigger than the axies head

 

[Autistic Catholic]

I’ve tried different times of day but when I can get him to eat it’s always a few hours after the lights have cut off in the evening, do you think 7 hrs of light is a good amount to keep plants healthy but not stress him out? Thanks

7 HRS doesn't seem like it should be problematic. Try leaving food on a feeding dish overnight as wolfen suggested and removing the leftovers in the morning. It sounds like it's just his natural circadian rhythm.

 

[Jgray1994]

7 HRS doesn't seem like it should be problematic. Try leaving food on a feeding dish overnight as wolfen suggested and removing the leftovers in the morning. It sounds like it's just his natural circadian rhythm.

Okay I’ll try that thanks, I usually remove the food after like 20 mins because I thought it would cause ammonia to spike leaving it in there

 

[wolfen]

apple snails and axolotl are a bad mix, see .. Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters
normal holtfreters at 100% is 3.5g salt, 0.1g calcium chlorine, 0.05g potassium chloride, 0.2g bicarbonate of soda, per 1 litre water, so 50% holtfreters is half the amounts per 1 litre of water.
for info on holtfreters and modified solutions ... Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity https://ambystoma.uky.edu/genetic-s...Issues-1-12/archive/Issue 3/09-16brothers.pdf
as for lights 7hrs is fine especially since he has a hide to go in if need be.
ammonia will spike once the food starts to break down, so solid foods such as worms, bloodworms etc.. will last quite a few hours in the water, where as foods such as pellets will break down and pollute the water faster.

 

[Jgray1994]

apple snails and axolotl are a bad mix, see .. Caudata Culture Articles - Species Mixing Disasters
normal holtfreters at 100% is 3.5g salt, 0.1g calcium chlorine, 0.05g potassium chloride, 0.2g bicarbonate of soda, per 1 litre water, so 50% holtfreters is half the amounts per 1 litre of water.
for info on holtfreters and modified solutions ... Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity https://ambystoma.uky.edu/genetic-stock-center/newsletters/Older_archive/Issues-1-12/archive/Issue 3/09-16brothers.pdf
as for lights 7hrs is fine especially since he has a hide to go in if need be.
ammonia will spike once the food starts to break down, so solid foods such as worms, bloodworms etc.. will last quite a few hours in the water, where as foods such as pellets will break down and pollute the water faster.

Okay thank you for the good info I will give the solution a try and see if it eases his stress thanks, what about my filtration? Is three sponges and a HOB excessive/bad?

 

[wolfen]

you can have too little filtration, but too much? I don't think provided you're sensible that there can be too much, by now on a 55 gallon most people would be thinking of using a external and if it was a marine tank there would be a sump fitted, so as to whether you have too much filtration then no, I would be tempted to fill the hob with just bio-media and let the sponge filters deal with any debris in the water.

 

[Jgray1994]

Thanks for the advice I use mainly just bio in my HOB besides one sponge in there and I guess I worded that wrong on the filtration, I really meant do you think from having the 4 filters would it cause too much flow for the axie, just not sure on how to tell how much flow is too much

 

[wolfen]

air-sponge filters don't produce much pressure to cause a lot of water movement, with hob filters they are gravity flow rather than pressure so any movement tends to be localised (bit like having a fire hose used vs the same amount of water in a water fall)