My baby died...

Can anybody help me figure out what I did wrong? I'm an absolute wreck, I've only had her for 2 months but I was really attached to her.

How fast can the heat kill an axolotl? It's crazy hot in Aus right now, and I've had all my chiller dramas - Jacq was nice enough to send me a new pump and I was supposed to try hooking the chiller up again today. I was late home from work this morning because I went via Bunnings to pick up a connector for the chiller, so I wasn't there to put a frozen bottle in the tank when the sun rose - when I arrived home at 6:45am the tank was at 27 degrees and my baby was obviously dead, lying on her side at the bottom with her mouth open. Ziggy was stressed out, I'm hoping just from the heat, but otherwise he seems fine and he is the one who has always been sickly. I put him in fresh dechlorinated water in the fridge, which I hate doing because it gets too cold in there - the reason I bought the chiller in the first place.

I turned a fan on the tank and put a bottle in before I went to work at 9pm (the temp was 25 before I did that - my bf is supposed to rotate it before bed but I think he crashed early) They both seemed fine - I chucked a pellet in and she didn't go for it straight away, but I figured she'd eat it while I was gone plus I fed them yesterday so I thought they might not be hungry. Other than that she was normal, though my bf said her tail was a bit pinker than normal. I had yesterday night off which is when I should have cleaned their tank, but I was going to do it today before I hooked up the chiller. I was watching them all night and they were fine.

While I was wailing and making a scene my boyfriend tested the water - ammonia is 0.25, which it shouldn't be but the water is due for a change, and nitrate is 40. I didn't test nitrite...

I'm religious about cleaning up waste and food before and after work every day, the filter has a spray bar, I rotate water bottles during the day and they've been eating well. What did I do wrong? The water only starts to heat up as the sun rises in the morning, and then after 2 hours it goes overhead so the room cools down again - I usually put in a water bottle as the sun is rising, but I was at Bunnings. I'm absolutely crushed, she was so gorgeous - I've finally calmed down a bit, so I want to at least make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to Ziggy. Thanks guys

Hi,

I'm very sorry to hear about your axie. I strongly suspect the heat was the cause. Some axolotls can handle heat better than others, but even short periods exposed to warm temperatures can kill others. I would recommend never having a tank above 24C for any period of time due to how badly it can affect axolotls.

My tank went up to 25C a few weeks ago in the heat wave. It was only at this temperature for a couple of hours whilst I was out (was at 23C when I left), but when I came home my axolotl was floating on the top and looked poorly. He's never ever floated before, but I've never had the temperature above 23C. Put him straight in the fridge and he recovered quickly.

I think for Ziggy, do your best to keep the temperature as low as possible. If I was in your position I would prefer to have my axolotl in a cold fridge, even if it is a little too cold, over a warm tank, if those were my only two options.

Also if ammonia is greater than 0, it would indicate your tank is cycling. So I would probably be doing water changes of 20% each day that the ammonia reads above 0.

Anyway, good luck with Ziggy! I can certainly sympathise with how hard it can be to keep axies in an Australian summer.

I'm really sorry to hear that Monique, we live in similar areas and have to deal with the heat together
I know it seems like a huge task to move an axolotl tank, but it sounds like the sun hits your tank directly at noonish?
Have you hooked up the chiller successfully now?
You can try earthworms with Ziggy too, they are live food and won't be as warm as pellets that soak up the water when they reach Ziggs.

PS - I had a dog named Ziggy

Oh, Neke I am so sorry to hear that you lost your baby. I wish you all the best with Ziggy.

I'm so very sorry Neke :sad:

I agree with Sarah, I think Ziggy will stand a better chance in a fridge that is a little too cold then in warm water. Warm water as well as presenting a great danger to the axolotl's health also increases the toxidity levels of Ammonia.

Some keepers on this forum have had their axolotl's home (pond or tank) ice over and the axies have been fine in this very cold water - as long as the water does not freeze solid the axie should be all right and the water certainly won't freeze solid in the fridge...at least I hope not!

Please keep us posted on Ziggy and I wish you both all the best.

I know it seems like a huge task to move an axolotl tank, but it sounds like the sun hits your tank directly at noonish?

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The sun hits it as it rises in the morning, then after an hour or 2 it gets high enough so that the balcony blocks off the light and it doesn't get any more sun during the day. Because I work nights I'm usually home before it's at its worst and I make sure the blinds are shut and the tank is cool, but I was late today. It usually doesn't get very hot during the night so I thought they'd be fine for one more night with a frozen bottle until I got the chiller running today. I haven't hooked it up yet - Ziggy's in the fridge and I'm too upset. I'm going to make the boy do it to make sure it's safe this time.

And Stef, I do feed them earthworms but I've run out and they didn't have any when I went to get them, so I've only got beef heart, pellets and some chicken liver until I can drive out to get more - I can only find 1 baitshop on the northside that stocks live worms and it's not nearby. I've been having food issues - they don't like blackworms and aren't overly fond of frozen bloodworms. I've got protein pellets as well, but I'm not sure how good they would be for them. I need to set up a tiny indoor wormery.

Also if ammonia is greater than 0, it would indicate your tank is cycling

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I cycled it before I got them, which is why I said there shouldn't be any ammonia in there. But there were due for a water change so I don't know. My banana lily started dying last week - I pulled it out a while ago, but could that have contributed to the ammonia? (I haven't been putting on any lights at all and I'm guessing that upset it - I don't need more heat sources!)

I've been so obsessive about keeping the temp down until I got the chiller fixed, I can't actually believe she died. I feel so terrible, I should have put them in the fridge or something but the tank usually stays at around 23 - 24 at night time with rotating frozen bottles and they weren't stressed last night. It can't have been excessively hot for that long seeing as the sun had only been up for around an hour - it was 25 in the afternoon so I doubt it would have gotten warmer during the night. It's the day that I worry about, which is why I wanted to hook up the chiller this morning. They were getting a nice big tank for xmas too! Thanks for the kind words guys, I'm amazed Ziggy is alright as he seems to always get upset or cranky first.

Neke said:

I cycled it before I got them, which is why I said there shouldn't be any ammonia in there. But there were due for a water change so I don't know. My banana lily started dying last week - I pulled it out a while ago, but could that have contributed to the ammonia? (I haven't been putting on any lights at all and I'm guessing that upset it - I don't need more heat sources!)

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Occassionally tanks can start to recycle or go through a mini-cycle. This can occur if you change the substrate, clean the filter and things like that. Also plants dying do contribute to ammonia so you're right, it could very well have contributed to the ammonia reading 0.25. I had a dying plant that would keep the ammonia levels at about 0.25.

Also some tanks that are very small (or big but with low water levels), but have lots of axies in them, can have consistent ammonia readings due to being overloaded. However, I am not sure that would be relevant to you! Seeing as you managed to successfully cycle it before.