Worried new owners of an Axolotl

N

nicki

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My daughter recently turned up with a tank and an Axolotl - we didnt even know what it was. We are very new to the whole thing, can someone explain what cycling the water is, what sort of filter we should have etc etc. Any tips would be great, she recently cleaned the whole tank out and the poor thing hasnt moved much since. The tank holds about 10 gallons of water, although it is quite full - should it be, she has one plant in it, some very pink gravel and the tank has a light in the lid. He doesnt look happy, is about 7 inches long and his feet have gone rather pale. Help please.
 
There are some recent threads on tank cycling, though you'll notice from them that I was crucified! Anyway Ive learnt now.
Google for Aquarum +Cyle and you'll get loads of info back.
This link was good:
http://www.bestfish.com/newtank3.html
Basically its where the water becomes toxic owing to the fact that youve added an animal to it and it wees & poos in the water and your filtration is not effective (yet) enough to remove the toxins. Ammonia levels go high first then reduce (this is really toxic) then the Nitrite levels go high (again toxic, but not as bad as Ammonia). Then Nitrate peaks (least harmful). It takes several weeks to do this.
You need to learn quickly.
As a suggestion, because its not possible to get these toxins down quickly, and because there is a possibility the Axy will die, may I suggest you contact a local fish supplier to sell you a low powered filter + pump and maybe some filter material that already includes the bacteria, and some cycled water. I hope that is a good suggestion (I cant see why not) - others will be along soon to give you their advice
 
If the gravel is small, it could be ingested and lead to problems down the line. a 10 gallon tank is somewhat small, but if you stay on top of water quality, it could be adequate. The full on light is not good for your axolotl. Axolotls prefer dark, cold water. Give 'him' some places to hide, away from the light and away from people.
 
in my tank i have a tunnel thingie, a big bell thingie and some big rocks piled up on top of each other cuz i noticed that s/he likes to climb around on things. i used to have those big river stones on the bottom but changed to sand cuz it was easier to look after cuz the bits and pieces dont get hidden so easily. most people use a turkey baster to get out the food and poops, i find it works super good. i have a corner filter but it doesnt really do much except airate and catch some tiny bits that float around (just make sure it doesnt move the water around too much cuz this stresses the axies), but i keep the tank clean with the baster anyhow. like brett said about the cycling. i didnt no of this when i started and the ammonia peaked and really hurt his gills. made him very very unhappy. so i took him out and kept him in a bowl for a week or so doing daily water changes and nows hes fine. also the bigger the tank the happier it will be. oh and avoid sharp things in there cuz they have little fits from time to time and go zooming around like idiots. read up about the salt baths incase he gets fungus or something like that. hope this helped!!! im sorta new to this too so i no how ya feel. just thought id share what i learned (the hard way hehe) good luck!
 
I am like Nikki--my kids and husband came home with one these things. I was horrified-for two seconds-then fell in love. Do these things shed? I have noticed that every few days "Fire Ball" has what appears to be white skin hanging from him and some floating in the tank. This happend in his carrying tank as well as his new one. He has a new tank w/ large gravel and a PVC pipe cave. Also, I read somewhere that the axies may or may not develop into newts/salamanders. Is this true? Thanks
 
THe flaking skin may be a fungus, although salamanders do "shed" after a fashion. The fungus will look like white fluffy stuff, whereas shedding skin will appear to be a thin membrane, almost clear, and will be one piece. Once shed, that will be the end of it. For a long while. Morphing to a salamander, although possible, is extremely rare (maybe 1 in 1000 or more). I wouldn't worry about it, unless it actually happens.
 
Thank you Brian. Sometimes with Fish the treatment can be worse than the sickness. Is there a danger to treating this possible fungus? I wonder because the white isn't fluffy, but neither is it in one piece and clear.
 
Not if you're careful. There are a lot of threads about fungal treatments in the Sick Axie section. Folow their advice, and you should be fine. Could you post your tank conditions as well (tempurature, water chemistry, etc.) so we can figure out why your axolotl has fungus? It's usually a symptom of another problem, so just treating it is only a bandaid solution.
 
The temp is currently 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Is this okay. We have only had him a week. My husband bought him from a flee market and the info sheet he brought with him was laughable. Sooooo I spent the next few days trying to figure out was this creature was and what to do with him. So he had been kept in untreated water, fed hard fish pellets, and handled by kids. Now he has a nice aqarium with large gravel he cannot swallow and a PVC pipe cave. I did treat the water this last time with AquaSafe water conditioner which is what I had on hand for use in my fish aquariums. Is that okay? We just fed him a worm which I cut in half for him. He didn't seem too interested at first but when I went to check on him I only see 1 of the halves now. He looked like he had the hiccups and went to the surface and sneezed?--thats what it looked like.
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I don't want him to die especially not before my step-son gets to see him again. I need to learn all I can as fast as I can while the rest of life continues. I could kill my husband for so thoughtlessly doing this now without any research!
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Thanks for your help? Did I tell you all you need to know? BTW we don't have a filter but have done water changes twice.

(Message edited by tory on February 21, 2005)
 
Looks like 68 F is about ideal from what I can tell when I look at the conversion table I have. It is best to try and maintain the temp as it is and try not to let it go up and down rapidly as this will stress the axolotl.
Do not handle your axolotl unless it is absolutely necessary.
I also use water treatment that I use for my goldfish tank and have had no problems with that it sounds like you are using something similar.
I feed my axie every second day a combination of earthworms, dried tubiflex worm, brine shrimp, bloodworm and axolotl pellets. If she is having earthworm I would feed her two of those and a couple of pellets.
Sounds like your axie is going to the surface for air? they go up to the surface of the tank and gulp mine does it every couple of hours or so, I believe it is normal.
You should definitely invest in a good filter, one that doesn't create too much water pressure as this stresses them as well, I use a fluval 2 plus and a small airstone set to low.
Once you have a filter it is only necessary to do water changes once every one to two weeks I change about 25% of the water every two weeks.
You should buy a testing kit and check you PH, ammonia and nitrate levels. (Ammonia and nitrate should be zero and PH around neutrel (7)).
Please correct me if any of that is wrong!!.
Good Luck.
 
Filter is a must. You can pick them up cheap at fish stores. Without it, I'd be doing daily water changes of about 10%. Still need water chemistry, though. You can get test kits from your fish store, or good stores will do tests on water samples for free, as long as you don't abuse the service. If you know anyone who keeps fish, ask if they have test kits (and if they don't, ask them why not!) Particularly, we'd be looking for Amonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate. Of course, now that you have described the conditions it was living in before, the fungus is probably due to it's poor living conditions before you got it. Still, it's best to eliminate as many variables as possible.
 
Current water quality is good. I have all the testing stuff because of my fish--i am a beginner there as well but know much more than I do about this beastie. I will look into a small filter today. He ate half of the worm I gave him yesterday and is now "guarding" the other half. btw, How deep should the water be? Thanks again for the help. I am sure these questions have been asked/answered before. I did some quick searches but I a little busy with school at the moment. Like I said, my husband has bad timing.
 
Hi Tory...yep, that was super thoughtless of your nearest and dearest to bring you home an animal with only a sketchy idea of how to care for it - however, you've come to the right place! There's nowhere else quite like caudata.org for friendly and helpful advice, and the care sheets are spot on.

Axolotls don't particularly need deep water...but do need space to whizz around (the 0.05% of the time that they're not busy lurking!) So if you've only got a small tank I'd probably fill it, but if it's a large one you don't need to top it up all the way

As for the worm - anything s/he's not eaten by the next day should be taken out. Uneaten food rapidly goes off and can really foul the water - not what you want. Better to take it out and offer a fresh one

(Message edited by charlie on February 21, 2005)
 
Best to keep your axies at 22-15 degrees... can use undergravel filter... hey isn't there a site here that shows suitable filters for caudates? I forgot the name. That page is excellent because it has recommendations. Also a good idea to put in smooth stones/rocks so the axies can sit on them (just for looks if you're displaying them). Don't use rough rocks as it can hurt your axie's sensitive skin.
 
Thank you so much for the feedback. Looks like we are doing alright then. Rocks are smooth, chemistry is good--just need that filter. I just changed the water. Vanessa, if you recall that site with the suggestions on filter that would be great. I am afraid of buying one with too much water turbulence. I looked for the Fluval 2 I read mentioned above but didn't find it.
 
Nikki, I would advise that you put some more plants in your tank or some sort of cave to give your axolotl some cover. Also, I wouldn't advise doing a total clean out of a new tank and even with an established one you need to keep the old water and filter media to maintain the bacteria colony. Well, thats my advise and congrats on your new axie.
 
I got the Fluval 2 and Fire Ball seems to be loving it. He hasn't been this active since we got him. I was worried at first as it was awkward to install--had to rearrange things--and I was concerned about the water output. I took the regulator off entirely and the water feels weaker as it comes out. I think we are going to fine now (I hope). Thanks for the help. I am so glad to have found this forum.
 
Just out of interest, what part of the fluval 2+ is the regulator? I have one and it has no removable parts. Only 1 moving part, the flow control "valve"
 
Without actually looking at my filter, I think there's a small turnable knob stuck in the top of the "water output tube" (for lack of a better description.) On mine, it's blue. Then there's also the flow control valve/switch.

Tory, if you want to slow the flow even more, I find a few strategically placed plants and tunnels does the trick. My tank has so many plants in it I've turned the filter back to the max. setting because I was worried there wasn't enough circulation!
 
I just point the water coming out of the filter at the wall, haven't altered it in any way and have had no problems. I was told somewhere along the line a good water depth is the level the axolotls nose would be at if it were standing on it's back legs straight up. (The length of your axolotl should be the depth of your water).
 
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