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I think Alan is stressed but I don't know why

Ady

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Hey guys, i'm a regular reader but I rarely post. but i think something may be up with Alan but i don't know what may be causing it.
The reason i'm starting to suspect something is because his tail seems to be curled recently (about a week)

I've had him since the end of may, the tanks parameters are all good, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and about 10 nitrate. the temperature averages about 16 at the moment.

I do 20% water changes every 7-10 days.

I''l try to give as much info as possible:

I moved house in september and he hasn't quite been the same since. I moved him in a container and kept him in the fridge for about 3 days while i moved and set the tank up.

Before i moved he would eat a whole earthworm every other day. But since being in this house it's been hard to know when to feed him, he went over a week at one point without eating. at that time i had a browse on the forum for possible reasons. I came to the conclusion that he was at the point in his life where all he wanted to do was make babies. because instead of brown poo, he was doing white blobs of stuff with green bits inside (this is a spermatophore yes?) but its been a couple of months since then and he is still picky about when he eats. a few times he had vomited his earthworm later after eating it.

About a month ago, i added 5 red cherry shrimp, 2 of which he managed to eat in 2 days! and shortly after adding the shrimp i added a smallish peice of driftwood from my parents tropical tank, after giving it a good wash with water. the shrimp and wood are the only thing thats changed recently. he is quite often hunting the shrimp. i was wondering if he even has the mental ability to be frustrated at never catching the shrimp?

Last night i saw him get stuck while following a shrimp behind the wood. he got himself in a bit of a pickle and i had to move the wood so he could swim out. ive now moved the wood so he cant do that again. maybe he gets stuck there quite often and that could be stressing him?

I now feed him half a worm or a small worm at a time every 3-4 days because he tends to vomit if its a bigger meal.

A picture is attached showing his curled tail tip today. iS it anything to worry about?
Does he look a healthy weight?

Sorry for that being such a long post!
 

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Do you use a water conditioner? If not, it could be a change in the trace elements in the water since you moved and something is bothering him...

Does he have other places to hide?

Is his tank in a busier spot in the house? Near any appliances that has vibrations that could be upsetting him?

Also, the white blob with green doesn't sound like a spermatophore to me - you can search for pictures on here, and they're usually clear with a white packet on top. So its possible there is also a parasite causing this behavior, which could account for the vomiting.
 

Ady

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Thanks for your reply...

No i dont use water conditioner, i left the tank for a few days after the move to let any chlorine evapourate. And i leave water overnight before adding it to the tank. But i will now go and buy some conditioner, it makes sense actually!

He spends most of his time in his half flower pot where is is very dark.

The tank is in the corner of my bedroom, and no there are no appliances by it.

I did look up some pictures of spermatophores and what i saw did not match. Alan left (and occasionally still leaves) little pea sized blobs that look translucent white with one dark mint green blob inside. i cant really explain that very well!
 

daremo

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why not try using dechlorinator ? specially if you moved houses and don't know how's the water there, if the water has other chemicals leaving it to evaporate won't work
 

Ady

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good point. come to think of it, when i moved, i fridged him in a container of his tank water, and left some tap water from my new house in a container in the fridge, thinking it would be fine after 24 hours.

Maybe i shocked him moving him from established tank water to new water from a different place. (same temp though)

would it be harmful to put some water conditioner straight into his tank?
 

Ady

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There is a tiny blob of the afore mentioned green stuff in his tank.

Here are pictures, it is rather small though (about 4mm) so difficult to photograph:
 

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Crysta

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I would put it down to metals ect. in the water right now, use de-chlorination, and if you're still worried after a while try to explore new possibilities. It wouldn't be harmfull to put it straight in, but it's best to add it with a water change, as it 'mixes' it better.

Is the driftwood sharp in any places? did you give it a good boil before introducing it? do you isolate/quarantine the shrimps before putting them in the axie tank?

You're axie's not starving, but he could use a little more weight.

I'm thinking there could have been something else come in on either the driftwood, or with the shrimps, which is causing your axie to vomit, and I've never even heard of green spermatophores before, ever. - this seems most likely the cause to me.
 

Ady

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I bought some aquasafe today and mixed it up with a glass of water and carefully added it to the tank with my turkey baster.
The drift wood doesnt really have any sharp parts, ive now moved it to a position so its nearly impossible for him to get stuck behind it or hurt himself on it. The wood is from my parents tropical tank, i gave it a good wash under the tap, i didnt want to boil it or scrub it too hard because i wanted to preserve the algae for the shrimp to eat.
The shrimp stayed in a small tank for a week before i moved them into his tank.

But to be honest he vomited about a month before the shrimp or the wood were introduced.

I'm hoping it is just as simple as metals in the water.

What do you make of the pictures of the green stuff? i read on this forum that green poo can indicate a liver problem.
 

Ady

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a little update...

I think he is perking up a little bit now.

He seems to enjoy frozen bloodworm, which i hate feeding him because of the mess. but he seems to struggle with worms, spits them out unless i cut it into bitesize pieces. he used to just eat them whole if it was a fair sized one.

Maybe he's gone off worms? Does this happen? he gets very excited when i drop one in, but he makes a bit of fuss about actually eating it!

Also i should mention that my central heating was broken for 7 days during the coldest time!
The air temp in the room was 11 degrees at one point. no fun at all, but i guess this would have an effect on his eating?
 
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