COOLING AXIES

I have three axies that I inherited from my son. They are in a 4 foot tank and since January we have been using a techo 200 chiller to keep the water temp. at about 15-16 degrees. The problem is the chiller is in for repairs which will take two weeks to fix. {They have to send to W. Aust} so with the weather getting hotter the tank is now up to 20 degrees.

What can I do besides a fan and ice bricks to bring temp. down?
We used these techniques last summer and they were not successful.

I don't want to loose the axies as I have become quite attached to them.

I know if you have a sick axie you can put it in the fridge, would this harm a healthy axie or not.

I don't know what to do. They have been used to a temp. of 15-16 for nearly 11 months so to get to 20 must be distressing for them.

Hope someone can help.

Most manage to get the tank temp down at least a couple of degrees when they have a fan blowing on the top of the water. I know you said you tried this last summer and it wasn't too successful but trying it again has to be better than nothing?

why don´t you just put them on the fridge until you got your cooler back

Aaaah, a fellow Aussie. The weather is terrible here! I'm having the same trouble with my two, they keep floating to the top of the tank. I'm just putting a few bottles of frozen water in there to keep the temperature down. Good luck!

(Message edited by emily on January 03, 2006)

ok, but u must make sure to have spare bottles of frozen water, for when they melt because axolotls are stressed by heat fluctuations(heat changing from cool to hot in a short amount of time). right now the water temp here is 25 degrees i have a fan blowing and now its 23.3 and has been like that for a while now. pina the axolotls will tolerate 20 degrees its when it gets around 24-25 they will start to become stressed.

i use frozen bottles as well, with some computer fans attatched to side, and i tie the frozen bottles under the fans and cover the top of the tank with a towel, its kept the temp down from 24 degrees to about 20-21 degrees... i'm just hoping it keeps cool over summer too... got bout 6 two litre bottles to rotate one at a time!!!!!!

Where do you het a cooler from? I rang my local pet shop and they told me that the one thing I could do was put ice in the tank. They also told me that there is no such thing as a cooler. So if someone could let me know where i could get one that would be great. I have 4 axolotls and they are starting to refuse food and I believe it is due the heat my temp is at about 26 - 29 degrees.

Hi Deanne
check out the "chillers and condensation" thread in this section there are a cpl of shops there and info on them.
another instance of a petshop giving bodgy info again ! ur better off putting ice bottles in "not ice" and if u do make sure u have some spare bottles as stated above, obviously there to lazy to source a chiller for u as they are readily available on the net in Australia.
it would help if we knew where u lived IE: the country.
u really need to get ur temp down or put them in the fridge until u do, ur axie tank shouldnt really be over about 24c...

Be sure to dechlorinate any ice things. And don't totally fill your water bottles because water expands when frozen. Another board member's roommates topped off with sink water and the bottle split, poisoning the tank water.

I live Syndney, AUS. I have tried the ice bottles but the temp goes up over night when I am sleeping and then I work all day to get it back down.

I live on the central coast NSW and i have the same problem that my tank can get to 20 degrees i put ice in the tank and it only goes down 1 degree so the fan sounds good to me.

You can try putting a few pounds of ice in a plastic bag and then floating it. You need at least 1/5 ice for all of your total volume to really keep a tank cool.