Xerxes Water Quality Update (pictures)

I just tested the water quality in Xerxes tank.

PH was shocking... the bluest shade or the highest 7. How do I change the PH?
There was absolutely no amonia It was the yellowest, even on the third go.
Same with the nitrate and nitrite.

He still hasnt eaten.

Please dont think of me as a bad mummy. I am honestly desperate to help my little guy and that is why I am here

what kind of test kit did you use? dip stick test kits arent very good and you may have got a false reading, if you use the test tube test kits then did you rinse the test tube out first? i didnt once and the chemicals that are in the nitrite, nitrate tests are very alkaline. making a false reading
try again, rinsing out the tube after every use and see if that helps

Blackhawk

Yes, I rinsed them out. They are brand new this afternoon because I wasn't satisfied with the kits I use in my tropical tank. They are the same brand Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. I am not sure if its familiar to you?
Anyway, they are the sort where to test the water in a glass tube. This seems to be a very good product as it showed up some ammonia in my tropical aquarium.

Is the best way to lower PH with the powder?

What's all that goop at the bottom of his tank in the last photo?

hi,
i went onto the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals website and i found a page with PH
http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=87
it tells you how adjust the PH and also what causes the PH to fluctuate in the first place

Blackhawk

The goop all over the tank is bloodworms and turtle food I am trying to feed him. I do the same thing every single night, but he never takes it and I jus end up having to clean it up. Would you have any suggestions for encouraging him to eat? As you can see he hasn't eaten for a very long time.

The temperature in there is 14 celcius and I have prepared a container for him to go into the fridge for a little while as that is what was suggested here earlier.

Thanks for that blackhawk.

That goop looks like uneaten worms.
- If he's not eating them then take them out.
He is also in the kitchen, does his tank have a lid? It will prevent nasty sprays from entering his water.
Also he is probably exposed to a lot of sunlight which is sometimes stressfull to axolotls.

Also some live food really brightens up axies, you could try getting some feeder fish or worms?

My initial thought when looking at the photo's is that your little axolotl is very skinny..so my question is what and how often are you feeding it ( can I see blood worm?) .
Regarding the water hardness, I had a ' problem' with this in my outside tank....it was very mysterious. I solved mine by doing alternate day 20 % water changes to reduce this..but do check that the replacement water is a little softer.

Hi there,

I am very new to the forum only having found in the last 10 minutes, and also quite new and inexperienced with Axolotls.

About two or three months ago, my boyfriend and I explored an opportunity to buy an Axolotl from my local pet shop. I have never had problems with this store, and buy my parrot, fish and reptile products quite contentedly from them. However, I am thinking now that they gave me unhelpful information about Axolotl care.

I have read some posts in your forum relevant to my suspicions and have since decided that I should be asking you as experienced Axolotl ‘lovers’, for advice.

I absolutely adore my little brown Xerxes, and I feel like I have done everything I was told to keep him healthy and happy. He is in a large, two foot tank with sand and so plants (which he adores playing under) and a cave. He has a filter and I change his water regularly. He eats black worm things (blood worms or tubifex?) and frozen turtle food. All of this was what I was told to do.

Poor little Xerxes has been getting progressively sicker and sicker over the last month and now he has completely stopped eating. His little hips protrude and he just looks terrible and emaciated. He also has a fungal infection (as a fish enthusiast I am very aware of what this looks like). I am treating him with a recommended product from the same shop.

I am going out this arvo to buy him completely new products. Here is my list:
Big Bucket (water change)
Thermometer
Ph test kit
Ammonia test kit
Nitrate test kit
Filter cartridge
Some lovely soft plants

This is a last resort, to save my smart little darling, and I am desperate for any advice you can offer. I am so terrified he is going to die. He is just like a dog to me and I am sure you will understand he has as much significance in my life, as my lizard and my bird.

Nat

and a very sick Xerxes



THAT WAS POSTED EARLIER. THE ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:

I feed Xerxes every single day by hand. He never eats anything, so I clean the muck out, every day. He doesn’t eat my lizards crickets, mealies or worms… He doesn’t want to eat. This is obviously why he is skinny.
I do not have a sunlit kitchen, so no he never gets sunlight.
I will check the hardness.

I have these little dissolving tablets that i put in my axolotl's tank to clear off any fungus inside the tank, then when it has dissolved i put them back in and they are fine.
it has no bad ingredients in it like melafix
it's very safe and easy for me to use and it really helped with my axie's fungus

hi,
i understand the situation you are in. if he is not eating maybe you should try something different? in this link it shows some things to feed axolotls
http://www.axolotl.org/feeding.htm

hope this helps!

Blackhawk

Hi Nat,

If your PH is high 7's this is acceptable to an axolotl.

Fridging him will not encourage him to eat, it will however slow the metabolism right down and buy you time to figure what could be wrong - his weight loss rate will also slow in the fridge which will be good for him. Axies love the cold.

As advised by Saspotato in your previous thread, follow the procedure for salt baths to treat the fungus. Never use medicines used for treating fungus in fish on an axolotl, as most of these medicines are toxic to an axolotl - in particular if the medicine contains any malachite green.

To encourage him to eat...have you tried earthworm?

Are the food portion sizes you are feeding him fitting easily into the mouth? In general food parcel sizes should be about as long as the axies mouth is wide.

I don't know much about tropical fish test kits ...Are they for salt water or fresh water aquariums? For an axie, you will need the fresh water test kit.

Cheers Jacq.

Blackhawk, Jacq (everyone else),

Thank you for your understanding, I am so depressed as I love the little guy to death (and obviously he is fighting for me -wishful- so he is well worth my effort). I see that 'Tubifex can also carry parasites, dangerous bacteria, and other diseases'. I think after reading that diet page for Axolotls I am going to source brineshrimp. That seems to hold more nutritional value than the other.

Anyway, I am going to bed. I have learnt alot from this site and forum today, so I have alot of new ideas to consider for my little buddy. With luck he will be strong enough for me after a stint in the fridge while I get his water fixed up a little.

He was so healthy and got so big, and everything was so perfect until a few months back. Unsettles me enormously as you should realise. I am trying to do the right thing by him.

See you tomorrow. (I hope Sarah reads this because she is awesome and her help earlier in just giving me a new direction, means alot as well)
Natalie

Hi Natalie,

it sounds like your tank is cycled now if your ammonia, nitrate and nitrite are acceptable. Your PH is fine anywhere between 6.5-8 so don't worry about powders. They are quite bad to use as they cause the PH to swing a lot when it is better to have a stable PH. There are other methods you can use so if you are interested let me know and I can dig out an article on it I found a while ago.

Anyway, my theory is that you didn't cycle your tank before buying Xerxes? Here is an article on cycling if you are not sure what I mean: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml If you didn't, it just means that there has been a time in the past where your water quality has been bad due to high ammonia from the cycling process so this may have lead to the stress that caused your axolotl to develop fungus. So seeing as your water quality is ok now as well as your temperature keep treating the fungus with salt baths and hopefully that will clear it up. Axolotls rarely eat when they are sick so the fungus would be causing your axolotl to stop eating. I suspect once Xerxes's fungus clears up, he will start eating again *fingers crossed*.

Good luck with the salt baths and fridging and let us know how your axolotl goes Hope it all works out for you and Xerxes (cool name by the way)
~Sarah

With an axolotl that's already grown back legs, brine shrimp are probably too small to be considered food. I strongly encourage you to try chopped earthworms.

Thank you Kaysie, I actually have some for my lizard. I will fish them out and see what Xerx thinks before I fridge him. Now that I know how to properly care for him, I think he is going to have a much better life!

No, I did not cycle his tank when I got him But now, I will ALWAYS cycle it before I add ANY living creature. I cant thank everyone enough for helping.

Please don't feel too down about what's happened... until I found this site I thought I knew all there was to know about axolotl care, cycling the tank was a huge surprise to me and I am still learning. Earthworms are a great food for axolotl, if they seem too big cut them up.