Concerned

K

kate

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Pedro has not eaten for about a week. he usually loves earth worms but lately he has been turning his nose up at them - even when i wiggle them in front of his face for ages. what else can i try to feed him (fussy thing!). he doesn't like pellets. someone suggested brine shrimp as they are small and they swim around. anyone tried these?

his newest trick is this morning he was swimming around the tank with his head out of the water. he then tried to get out of the tank through the small gap between the lid and the side of the tank. (i've now blocked the gap)

he had a heater in his tank set at 17 degrees (it is very cold where he is kept). is it possible that he is too hot?

Why isn't he eating?
why is he trying to escape his tank?

any help would be really appreciated
 
have you tested your water, the ammonia, nitrites and nitrate? Is that ok? If u don't have test kits, take a sample of your water to the petshop/aquarium and post the no.s here. Also, how cold is it without the heater, as axies prefer colder temps (as long as it is not below 5deg celcius!). They can still eat at about 9/10deg celcius.
 
Does he have a filter that runs very vigorously? They hate flowing water and it can make them get sick.
 
will test water and let you know.

as for the filter it is not too hard. i have a spray bar which he likes to sit underneath for most of the day ( i supose it is like a massage or something).

thanks
 
today pedro is active. i think he has stopped sticking his head out of the water and trying to escape but he still will not eat. i brought him some meal worms (thinking he may just be over earthworms)and he still will not even snap at them. he lifts his head up like he usually does when i feed him but will not eat. what can i do to get him to eat? its been over a week now and he just turns his nose up at everything. i'm worried about my baby, and the kids (he is a class pet) keep asking why he hasn't eaten.

if anyone has any suggestions i would really appreciate it.

cheers
 
Have u tested the water yet?

(Message edited by kapo on May 19, 2006)
 
do you have gravel in your tank?. that could be a likely cause of the problem. i would advise that you take the heater out because its not really needed. how often do you feed him and how old is he?.
 
As Kapo says your axies behaviour usually indicates poor water quality.
 
brine shrimp would most likely be too small. perhaps adult daphnia might work if your axie is still smaller (round 15cm or so).

a few extra water changes with nice clean water probably wouldnt hurt. when they try to escape it is usually because of an irritant, either ammonia etc or something like fly spray that got into the tank. is it possible one of the kids have sprayed or dropped something into the tank?
 
tested the water. (had to get a test kit)
PH - 6
Ammonia - 0
Nirite - 0
Nitrate - 5 (is this too high???)

pedro is still not eating. any suggestions?
 
5ppm of nitrate is super!!! normally up to 40ppm is acceptable but i prefer below 20. everything else seems fine but perhaps the ph needs looking into.
do you have room in your filter to add a stocking with brid grit (the stuff they eat) in there? that will slowly and safely up your ph (and kh and gh). a few bits of crushed coral/small pieces can also be added to the filter (not put into axies reach as it is sharp)

it may be a possibilty that you are getting ph swings and this is upsetting him? low ph often goes along with low kh and gh, kh is what keeps your water stable. might be worth getting your LFS to test it for ya (no use buying one if you dont have a problem with it is there?)
 
is kh hardness? we have test kit for it at home (for the fish aquarium.)

spent ages today dangling different types of food in from of his face. he would sort of "stand" on his hind legs and nudge it but would not eat. its very strange he actually is really active. he spent the whole morning swimming around his tank. it was really nice to watch.

i have river pebbles as substrate and i moved them today and it was pretty dirty underneath (seems i didnt get all the mess with the turkey baster) so i have put pedro into my small tank and took all of the rocks out, scooped most of the mess out and am letting the filter run overnight. i also took the filter apart and washed it. there was also a small amount of gravel (seriously like a tablespoon) left over from when first put pedro into the tank (i took the gravel out after 1 day when i learnt better!!!) could he have swallowed a bit of this?
 
sorry brid grit??? so do i put worms in the filter???

ok i get it now. a little slow.... bird grit.. Hehe
blush.gif


(Message edited by katis on May 24, 2006)
 
The bird grit is definately a good idea. I had pH problems with my tank till I read that on here and now its a steady 7.8. It never changes.
Also, removing the substrate and washing the filter may interrupt the tank's cycle a bit unless you washed the filter in tank water so I would keep an eye on the levels (mabey every few days) for a little while to make sure its all still good. He may possibly have swallowed the gravel if it was accessible or even when it was in there at the beginning (I think it stays in their system for awhile). If he has, he should pass it eventually.
 
filter was washed out with tank water. did a 30% water change but kept the rest in. where abouts do i put the bird grit? (is it bird seed?). my filter is only small. do i take something out of it? there is a little sack inside that has little rocks or beads in it.

dont know how accessable the gravel was... as i said it was only a teeny bit.

anyone else having problems with getting their axie to eat???

i really appreciate everyones help. thanks a million
 
your test kit is the hardness one. GH is general hardness and KH is the carbonate hardness which is the one you want to test for. if you can test the KH and post the numbers that will be cool.

unless you have kh probs dont worry bout the bird grit. you know the stuff they eat? its like crushed up shells pretty much. you just chuck that into an old stocking, rinse it and pop it into your filter. it depends on how big your tank is to how much you wana put in.

the 'sack' concerns me. take it out and have a look at it, is the 'rocks' black stuff? if so it may be carbon and you wana dump that for good. its only good for removing meds really and can mask problems you need to fix. if it is carbon just chuck your shell grit in there.

you dont need to put it in your filter though, its just the easiest place, you can put it in the back corners or something but make sure its in something. it is pretty sharp and if you axie ate it it might be painful for him.

it probably isnt very likely he has eaten some if it wasnt easily accessable to him, if it was it might be a possibility
 
thanks.

we have a GH KH test kit. will test the water tomorrow and let you know.

i think the stuff in the sack was black. i rinsed it out and a lot of black stuff came out... i just assumed it was stuff the filter had sucked up (y'know.. poo, uneaten food etc..)so if i check it out tomorrow aND it is black (carbon) what should i replace it with?

as for the gravel... there wasn't much, literally about a tablespoon of it. i hope he hasnt eaten any. if he has how do i get him to pass it? (i really just want my baby to eat. even the kids in my class are starting to worry... he is the most interesting class pet any of them have had!!!)
 
If you are having KH problems just replace the carbon with the bird grit. If not you could mabey put another sponge in there or something.
 
GREAT NEWS!!!!!

Today Pedro ate a worm!!!! after i put him back into his tank i thought i'd try and see how he goes eating and if not i'd just leave the worm in the tank and see if he ate it over night, but he snapped it up straight away!!! lets hope it continues...

i've turned the heater off and today the water was at about 12 degrees. is this too cold? should i put the heater back on???
 
That's not too cold, they prefer colder temps. The heater isn't needed. As long as your temp doesn't drop below 5deg celcius.
 
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