worried about axel :(

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wreckgar

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Hi all, I have had axel just under a week now, but he is very timid still, spends most of his time in the cave thing I bought him. He is juvenile (under 10 cm) I thought they were supposed to be active? He barely moves at all. I tried to feed him a prawn, and a bloodworm pellet yesterday which he showed no interest in. I waggled the prawn around on the end of some chopsticks, he moved towards it and definately reacted to it but would not eat. I even touched his mouth with it but no joy. Same story with the pellet.

He ate a prawn the night before, using the chopstick method so maybe he's just not hungry? I thought axies were supposed to be more energetic when young, could he be ill? Water temp as around 20 degrees, I got an aquarium fan yesterday which gets the temp to 18, I don't want to leave it on all day though. Other water parameters are:

PH 7.8
Ammonia .25
Nitrite <.25
Nitrate 10

Thanks!
 
feed him an earth worm, wash it well, hold it and let it wiggle near his mouth,:tongue:
 
I agree. Try live foods.

Also, from your parameter readings, can I assume you didn't cycle your tank? Ammonia and nitrite readings should be 0. Anything above 0 can be dangerous, and should be dealt with by changing 20% of the water daily until the levels are down. It may be suffering from poisoning from the water levels.

That being said, it's still settling in, getting used to his new environment. Give it a few days, and continue to offer food once a day. Eventually it will get used to you, and come out of its shell.
 
The first mission as Kaysie suggests is getting the ammonia and nitrate levels down. You need to change 20-30% of the water on a daily basis while your tank is cycling ( building up healthy bacteria) this can take upto 10 weeks but nominally 5-6 weeks.

As Kassie says try live food earthworms or slaters are good.

It takes a few days for an axie to settle in new water new environment etc but don't worry before long it will be settled and not spending all its time hiding.

Good Luck
 
I used mature filter media, I was hoping that would negate the need to cycle the tank, guess I was wrong! I have been water changing to keep the levels down as much as I can. I made the mistake of leaving a bloodworm pellet in the tank overnight - he wasnt eating from me so I thought i'd leave it to see if it disappeared. Big mistake.

Ammonia went up to 2ppm in less than 24 hours :( I did a 75% water change in 2 stages which bought the ammonia back down to <.25 again, hope he's ok :(
 
Mature filter media can help with speeding you tank cycle but won't negate the need to cycle. Just try and avoid doing too big a waterchange (ie like the 75%). Obviously you've realised you need to remove food that hasn't been eaten within a couple of hours, so other than that just keep to the regular water testing and then partial waterchanges (20-30%) daily. It may be a bit time consuming, but the eventual outcome (cycled tank) is worth the time/effort.
 
Thanks Kapo, I was just shocked by the ammonia spike, so I did 50% change, then waited 1 hour and did the other. I was just worried about Axels immediate health. I have goldfish but I think the fact they have substrate encourages more bacteria growth/helps to trap poo etc. I have never encountered an ammonia spike like that before with them!

I will keep monitoring the water quality daily for now. I have noticed that the very tips of axel's toes are black - could this be ammonia burns? He's been eating every other day, and has started to 'engage' me a bit more. Other than the water problem I encountered, he does seem to be improving a bit :)
 
I just had a potentially really stupid idea. Would transferring some cycled fish water help to cycle axel's tank? I was just thinking that I get rid of lots of potentially useful water doing water changes from my fish tank. Would the prospect of disease make this too risky?

Thanks :)
 
The toes mean he is growing up (mature) it's a good thing. Dose the other water have any meds in it.
 
*sorry, just re-read this first para, there are no meds in either the axolotl tank or fish tank :)* no I've had no meds in there yet (touch wood) Both my fancies are nice and healthy. Water conditions are:

PH 7.8
Amm 0
NitrI 0
NitrA 10

It actually 'smells' mature, if you know what I mean. My axies water smells vaguely like the brine hot dog sausages are kept in :(
 
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I'am not shure I would think it would be ok/help. I would wait and see what some one else say. The water should not smell that bad. In my tanks if they smell bad seems to be a problem with ammonia. Do you have live plants in the tank. What kind of test do you have? Are those reading from today?
 
Regarding the water, no don't transfer it, transferring the water over won't cycle it any faster, just any items/decos that have come from a cycled tank (decos/filter media but needs to be kept wet during transfers so the bacteria doesn't die). The cycling, is establishing good bacteria on substrate, if any, decorations, filter media and tank area (glass sides etc...). Have you done a waterchange today, were the readings you posted above before or after the waterchange?
 
kapo said:
Regarding the water, no don't transfer it, transferring the water over won't cycle it any faster, just any items/decos that have come from a cycled tank (decos/filter media but needs to be kept wet during transfers so the bacteria doesn't die). The cycling, is establishing good bacteria on substrate, if any, decorations, filter media and tank area (glass sides etc...). Have you done a waterchange today, were the readings you posted above before or after the waterchange?
Click to expand...

Sorry the readings I posted were for my fish. The readings of the axies tank prior to the change yesterday were:

PH 7.8
Amm 1.0
NitrI .25
NitrA 10

I did a 30% change after this, I'd expect the ammonia to be between .5 and 1 after it. Axel was more active yesterday and less timid, hopefully he's adjusting to his new home a bit.

Should I not be washing the glass sides at the moment then? Normally I clean the front and side glass panel with a scourer sponge to stop watermarks and slime buildup. Do you suggest I don't do this?
 
Ah! I was going to say it sounds like it's nearly cycled!

Even with a 30% waterchange, sometimes you may only notice a minimal drop but it's still enough to keep for it to keep cycling. I usually find the nitrites take the longest to drop when cycling and in the last stages.

You could clean the front I suppose, we never bothered till our tanks were cycled and then only fortnightly. What do you mean by slime buildup?
 
kapo said:
Ah! I was going to say it sounds like it's nearly cycled!

Even with a 30% waterchange, sometimes you may only notice a minimal drop but it's still enough to keep for it to keep cycling. I usually find the nitrites take the longest to drop when cycling and in the last stages.

You could clean the front I suppose, we never bothered till our tanks were cycled and then only fortnightly. What do you mean by slime buildup?
Click to expand...

Sometimes there is a thin slimy film on the walls, I really only remove it to improve my visibility of the tank! It will help when Axel is in a bigger tank, this should be in about a month or so now. I'll re-test tonight, hopefully ammonia will drop and I can use aquarium salts to minimise stress from Nitrite. Is aquarium salt ok for an axie?
 
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