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Illness/Sickness: Extremely concerned about new axolotl

mistukitty

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Sep 30, 2016
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I've had this axolotl for less than 24 hours and I've been stressing out about it since the moment I got him. It's only a juvi, white leucistic about 12 weeks old to my knowledge and is displaying multiple behaviours that are worrying me to the point where I cannot sleep as I feel the need to watch over it. From somewhat frequent air gulping, becoming paler in colour, to curled forward gills and even random frantic swimming at the bottom edges of the tank. This rings alarm bells to me as I believe it could be ammonia at play and I'd like to give some background information about this situation. I've been researching axolotls the past few months and my parents knew I've been planning to get one soon. While I was out today getting aquatic plants, my mom secretly bought an axolotl as a birthday gift and I came home to this axolotl in a tank sitting on my desk. Excited at first, I quickly realised how unprepared I was since I didn't even have any of the basics. No water thermometer, no axie food, no water parameter kits, non-cycled tank! I rushed to the nearest LFS but they ran out of parameter kits and wouldnt be getting any until next Thursday (just my luck) but did get some axie pellets and frozen bloodworms. I've been frantically searching forums on what I should do since I know for a fact this little one is stressed out. I don't even have a proper hide for him! I brought a small unused terracotta pot to the boil, allowed it to cool completely and placed it in his tank but hes uninterested in it. Instead he sometimes prefers to hide behind the inwater filter and it scares me because I read that they can get warm. I can't see water temperature to confirm if its heat stress and to make matters worse since I feared ammonia levels too high I placed the aquatic plants in the tank with fertiliser since I read plants help keep those levels down, only to read shortly afterwards that aquarium fertiliser isn't good for amphibians and I took it out immediately! Please help me, I'm desperate here and feel so terrible for this little one. Should I fridge him? Should I place him in a clickclack with a new batch of treated tap water and do 100% water changes daily while the tank is cycling? I will be buying a test kit first thing tomorrow and will be bringing some of the tank water to have it tested in store just incase the petshop i end up going to is also out of stock. At the moment the axie is chilling at the bottom corner of the tank. I've also been noticing his back feet and tail floating while his front feet are on the ground. Am I being paranoid?
 

Wysper

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Jun 29, 2016
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First of all, if you did put plant fertilizer in the tank with him, and then even took out the plats, you should have immediately removed the Axolotl and one a complete water change, cleaning the filter and everything! Anything that goes in the water will go in EVERY part of the water in a matter of moments, if not seconds.

Please take the little one out and put him in a separate container that was not contaminated by the fertilizer. That tank will need to be thoroughly cleaned before you can put the axolotl back, even then I would be paranoid.... Sometimes it can't be cleaned out well enough.

As for the lack of hides, I wouldn't be so concerned with that as I would be with the chance poisoning from the fertilizer....
 
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