Baby axys sick

I have 8 babies (6 weeks) that I keep in a plastic container.
I do 90% water changes daily.
Feeding them live brine shrimp and black worm.
I use treated room temperature water for changes.
Last night one of the larger ones started laying on its side, wouldn't swim unless convinced to move and won't eat. I separated it from the rest for safety for them all.

This morning the one I separated looks about the same ... not good ... and now a few of the other 7 are starting to act the same way.

What can I do to help them?

Thanks,
Anthony

Did you check the temperature of the water? If it's too warm then that's what may be making them act sickly.

Couch said:

Did you check the temperature of the water? If it's too warm then that's what may be making them act sickly.

Click to expand...

Yes, should have mentioned that. Water is 67 degrees F.

Anthony

Perhaps the cup isn't big enough for all of them and they are fighting each other. That could be stressful on the little guys but I'm not an experienced axolotl keeper. Luckily just about everyone else on this forum is so just be patient and you'll find a solution

67 degrees fahrenheit is a bit warm. It's good to keep your axie's water no warmer than about 61 degrees, if that. Try cooling their water down and see what happens. I hope I could help

axolover703 said:

67 degrees fahrenheit is a bit warm. It's good to keep your axie's water no warmer than about 61 degrees, if that. Try cooling their water down and see what happens. I hope I could help

Click to expand...

Worth a try for sure. I thought I read below 70 was ok.
Put them in a larger container with chilled water.

One upside down looks to have a large air bubble in his belly.
Can't see much on the others besides them looking rather ... distressed.

With another look at least one looks ... red?

Thanks,
Anthony

Any possibility you forgot to dechlorinate the water? The gills have a resemblance to chlorine toxicity. As far as the floaters, it's common and can last for weeks or months in some. I tend to cull floaters or separate if they are larger so the others don't predate on their misfortune.

回复: Re: Baby axys sick

Elise said:

Any possibility you forgot to dechlorinate the water? The gills have a resemblance to chlorine toxicity. As far as the floaters, it's common and can last for weeks or months in some. I tend to cull floaters or separate if they are larger so the others don't predate on their misfortune.

Click to expand...

I would like to say I didn't make that mistake, but can't be positive.

Did some more testing. Only spec that seemed high was ph. My first reading was off the chart high (>8). It took 12 drops of API ph down to get the reading to budge. Don't know for sure where I started. Seems really high for a tap water base reading.

Got the ph under control. No better yet. They are very lethargic, won't eat, sometimes lay on their side or back.

Open to other thoughts or ideas. I am trying to keep hopes up, but it isn't looking good.

Anthony

It's not necessary to manipulate the ph as axolotls tolerate high ph well. My water's ph spikes to 9 on occasion with no distress in any of my axolotls. I would point out that ammonia becomes very toxic in high ph, so having a cycled tank or doing large, frequent water changes is necessary. If you have traces of ammonia from your tap, consider switching to bottled water labeled specifically as spring water to see if it helps.


With your current situation, I would consider fridging all the floaters with daily water changes and mainly focus your attention on feeding the others for now. Keep them in containers with cool clean water with access to live brine shrimp as much as possible. Babies are not very resilient and tend not to bounce back as well as a juvenile might. If none have died yet, I'd say you should be optimistic with the little guys.

I am curious to know how your axolotls are doing? To me this looks like a similar fungal infection I had with my newly bred fry. If this is a fungal infection in your axolotls need to be refrigerated for about 10 to 15 minutes with some salt. Based on the behavior and the pictures I think it's a fungus which could spread to all the others.