Question: I am murdering my poor axy's

Hi all

Firstly I have a confession.
I have scrubbed my tank to shining perfect cleaness every time I noticed any kind of slime build up. I now know this to be wrong
This morning an axy that I have had for 2 years died and this evening her tank mate also passed on.
We have been having terrible hot weather but over the past couple of days it has cooled down and the tank has sat at around 22. I know it would be better cooler and have been icing the water with water bottles over the past 2 years and not had too much trouble.
I am perplexed as to why these axys have died as I cannot find any reason.

2 years of the same care (even though I have overcleaned the tank I have always done this)

Last water change and frantic cleaning of tank was 3 weeks ago.
They both looked well although a little skinnier than usual.
Water params as follows

ph 7/5
nitrate 0
nitright 0
amonia .25

water filtered and I always use Stress coat when doing water changes.


Any advice welcome as I have 2 other axys that shared the tank , they appear well are eating well.
As a precautionary measure I took them both out the usual tank and rehoused them, I was too worried that they become ill.
The tank is approx 1.2 metres in length .5 wide and approx .5 depth.
No gravel in tank just large river stones much large than their heads and impossible to even get close to fitting in their mouths (approx 3 times larger than their heads)

please help

Lorraine

pictures of my gorgeous girls

the wildtype black is Juliette passed this morn
The white sweetheart is Lilly passed this evening.

Had they been eating, and if yes, what have they been fed? How high did the temps get before it sat at 22?

Hi Lorraine,

it´s so sad, I´m sorry for your loss

Do you have the readings of the water parameters correctly written? Ammonia .25 and no nitrite, no nitrate?

I think, that your tank has never been fully cycled. By cleaning your tank you scrubed all the good bacteria, which are necessary for a stable biological sysem, away. So the cycling process has always started from the beginning. Ammonia is high toxic and I think, that might be the the reason why the poor axies died.

Another suspect: Do you use any cleaning supplies for cleaning the tank? They can be toxic, too.

I would put the axies in the fridge (daily water changes) while cycling the tank.

Tina

Callina thanks for your kind condolence, yes the parameters are correct I did them all twice. The Ammonia was between 0 and .25 , I am very careful to remove overfeed and any poop. No nitrate or nitrite so I have definately been scrubbing away all the good bacteria. I did think the idea was to have a crystal clean tank and panicked if there was any sign or slime.
I only ever use tap water and elbow grease to clean the tanks out.
Shizeric the water temps had been as high as 24 in the weeks before death, however they I always made sure to get it down by way of ice bottles. There was no sign of any fungus infection , actually other then being a bit thinner than usual they looked ok.The weather has been kinder to us and the tank had been cooler for about a week.
I feed them on a variety of food including bloodworm, beefheart, liver, steak, garden worm and the occasional live fish that I quarantine for a few weeks then feed to them.

Thank you for your help I do appreciate any input as I do still have another 8 axys in other tanks. (Juliette was a mummy last year and we have a few babies that we couldnt part with, now 9 months of age)

Sorry to hear about your loss, always sad to say goodbye to beloved pets.

I suspect the high temperature fluctuation could be a possible cause, even 22 is too warm and if it spiked way up to 24-26, that could be a cause of death i reckon, but its hard to say for sure, i am no vet and there could probably be numerous causes, but two deaths in one day suggest something is amiss in their living space.

Keeping a well cleaned tank should not cause problems ( i dont suppose you clean out every piece of rock/decoration in there on a regular basis?), you can obviously have a fully cycled clean tank, i clean mine regularly as well since i dont like viewing my Axies through a slimy brown window. I dont believe this has anything to do with their deaths, if that was the case you would most probably have had issues earlier during the 2 years.

I hope you figure it out!
Regards Bjorn

it pains me to hear that...
but i am intreged to how you cleaned it so much.
i am sloppy compared to u!
i clean my spanish ribbed once every month.
not including partial water changes and cleaning the sides.
am i doing something wrong? it seems clear to me that u are a great pet owner.
your surviving axolotls are very lucky.

I am so sorry for your loss. Juliete and Lilly were very cute little axies

I know that you were trying to do the right thing for your pets, but I suspect that aggressively cleaning your tank caused it to never properly cycle (your water parameters support this hypothesis- the presence of ammonia and no nitrites or nitrates coincide with an uncycled tank). I am certain the high temperatures (and temperature fluctuations from using the frozen water bottles) compounded the issue. Plus, ammonia becomes increasingly more toxic at higher water temperatures.

I wish you the best of luck with your other axies. Resist the urge to aggressively scrub your tank. You can have a cycled tank that is clean & aesthetically pleasing as well. Just do partial water changes and regular tank maintenance. Also, you may want to consider investing in a mini-chiller for your tank. They can be a bit pricey ($170 USD), but you will not have to worry when the hot summer months arrive.

You obviously care a great deal about your pets, and they are lucky to have you as their owner. : )

hi llekias
im sorry to hear about your axies. i know how tuff it is.hang in there.
lea

shoegal...we cant get mini chillers, ice probes over here......i have looked for everything(they dont import them for you either, wrong power connection or something) and the only thing available is a chiller and they are between the $400 and $500(that is the cheap end)......lea

Aussies, have a look through the sell-and-trade papers and on ebay for a small bar fridge second hand, We can buy them New here from the warehouse for $160 NZ.

Once you have that, a small low flow, aquarium water pump for $20 to $30 and several meters of air hose pumping water out of the tank, through a hole drilled in the door of the fridge, into loops of hose in a pan or bucket in the fridge and then out the door and into the tank.

Or id you have a filter with integrated pump, send the outlet into the hose and through the fridge. With the fridge set around 5 to 10 degrees that should cool the water sufficient to keep the main tank down to livable temps for the axies, bigger and clunkier than a proper tank chiller, but cheaper and easier to set up, and you can keep your drinks cool at the same time.

hi kiwi303

we can get bar fridges and stuff like that just not ice probes or mini chiller.......i have a set up something like that....i have a box freezer with extra hose running off the filter and it goes into the freezer and then back out the other side and then into the tank...it works ok.....i dont have a pump on it tho...i just let the filter push the water back into the tank.....i thought if i water in a container and then put the hose in it....it would freeze around the hose but it didnt...
lea

I've been told a cheaper/easier way to reduce the water temperature is to just have a fan angled onto the water surface. It increases evaporative cooling and makes a BIG difference. It's much more effective than ice and easier than mutilating a bar fridge.

hi biance
that helps a little but as you know the temps here are hot and humid...i found the fan wasnt doing enough.....the freezer thing is ok...the ice thing works really well but i was changing the ice up to 3 times a day(in the middle of summer with 35oC temps) and that gets expensive ($2 a bag).........
lea