Plant Food alright with axolotls?

Hi everyone,

I'm just a bit worried about my axolotls at the moment.

We put in some plant food to feed the live plants in our axolotl tank and as soon as we poured the plant food into the tank our axolotls started behaving strangely.

They appear to be agitated or stressed and are swimming around quite wildly, they also have lost their appetite and are not eating as much as they used to.

The plant food we put into the tank is:

Seachem Flourish excel
Organic Carbon for the planted aquarium

Have I hurt my axolotls?

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

I don't know much about plant food and axies, but if they are stressed after adding the plant food then it is probable that the plant food was not a good idea.

What are your water readings? It might have altered something there that is stressing them out. Perhaps put them in containers of fresh dechlorinated water until you can get your tank sorted?

subjonno said:

I'm just a bit worried about my axolotls at the moment.

We put in some plant food to feed the live plants in our axolotl tank and as soon as we poured the plant food into the tank our axolotls started behaving strangely.

They appear to be agitated or stressed and are swimming around quite wildly, they also have lost their appetite and are not eating as much as they used to.

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Hi Subjonno,

Chemicals and axolotls do not mix.

If you need chemicals to keep the plants healthy, then I would guess you have plants in the aquarium that do not tolerate the environment your axolotl needs for health and happiness.

Most plants need light to grow, axolotls do not like light.

If you have live plants in your tank, you need plants that are tolerant of little available light conditions - such as java moss. If you do opt for plants that need light however, just ensure the axolotl has plenty of hides so they can get away from the light if it is annoying them.

I happen to work with a guy who is a big fish person who likes to do planted tanks. Seachem Flourish is low concentration glutaraldehyde, which when concentrated, can be quite toxic and is sometimes used as a disinfectant or preservative. I think because of the permeable nature of amphibian skin I would completely avoid this product with your axolotls.

My understanding of feeding aquarium plants with axies, was that axie poo was quite sufficient to fertilise the plants??

Thank you all for your help, all answers were very informative.

I have taken all the axolotls out of the contaminated water and have cleaned the tank and put fresh water in.

They seem to be back to normal now, no more violent thrashing around and they appear to have settled now.

Hopefully everything is back to normal.

Thanks again for all your help, will keep you posted

Glad to here they are settled

If you've replaced the water fully, just remember it will start to cycle again, so keep an eye on the ammonia, nitrate and nitrite. Good luck!

Abrahm said:

I happen to work with a guy who is a big fish person who likes to do planted tanks. Seachem Flourish is low concentration glutaraldehyde, which when concentrated, can be quite toxic and is sometimes used as a disinfectant or preservative. I think because of the permeable nature of amphibian skin I would completely avoid this product with your axolotls.

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So then it's not good to use any seachem fertilizers? If so, then how do you fertilize the plants in your tank? Wouldn't other fertilizers contain the same ingredients?

Well, I don't know what the concentration is. It is probably quite low. Considering all the anecdotal evidence that fish do well in tanks where it is added I would say it is safe to use in tanks with most adult fish. I would personally worry about invertebrates, amphibians and scaleless fish with Flourish. I'm only talking about Flourish, I don't know what's in the other Seachem products or aquatic fertilizers.

I just looked at a journal article that found concentrations of 2ppm inhibited the hatching of trout eggs and 5ppm killed daphnia. Considering amphibian sensitivity to chemicals and their permeable skin I would be worried about the effect of the chemical on them and possible over-dosing accidents.

If so, then how do you fertilize the plants in your tank?

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For me, adding any kind of chemical fertilizer to a closed system like an aquatic newt tank is rather risky and potentially fatal to the inhabitants. Amphibians are extremely sensitive to chemicals and absorb toxins easily through their skins. When planning a tank, you should be balancing the waste output of the inhabitants with the needs of the plants. Under normal vivarium/aquarium conditions, there is likely little need to fertilize as the wastes excreted are sufficient fertilizer in and of themselves. By choosing plants with minimal light/nutrient needs (meeting the needs of the animal first), you can achieve lovely planted vivaria/aquaria without supplementary plant feeding/fertilizing.

I have used the tetra plant range at half strength with no negative side effects (used with my babie axie for the last month or so too with no ill effects) but if you want happy healthy plants for your aquarium without it here are a couple of hints;

Have an aquarium/bucket outside and put sickly plants in it for a while (taking out healthy ones) so you always have a supply of lush plants you can keep off sets here untill they get bigger too.

CO2 CO2 CO2 get a simple co2 system I cannot stress this enough for healthy plants or make your own it is easy. **ADDED BONUS* Is it just me or does this make axie gills bigger even with enough oxygen?

Invest in tetracomplete substrate I have had no problems with it and there are no big bits for axies to swallow. It is a pain in the butt though as it can clogg the filter to start with or when you disturb it.

Lighting - Get it or survive with mosses and java ferns.

Research your plants - It is cheaper in the end to research the plants right for your axies aquarium than to go by trial and error. Keep an eye out on ebay as there are a lot of mosses that are different easy and cheap also as its on ebay you are less likly to impulse by and can take time to research the plant. Some sellers give a good break down of the plants ease of care and needed light levels/ ph/ temperature and growth rate.