New Axie, need some help!

Hey guys!
Well, I've just got home from my local markets, where (After three quarters of an hour uhm-ming and ah-ing between her and the morphs- Sadly the lines he keeps are INCREDIBLY susceptible for morphs, and SO many people in Sydney are demanding them at the moment ): ) I chose a new axie from my fish guy. I was rather interested to hear about his set ups for them at the moment- think 20000L lightly filtered swimming pool, not cooled, but these axies are the fourth gen raised in these conditions- So as someone was saying in a thread ages ago, breeding more towards heat resistance-YAY!, but this season he's had a problem with the March Of The Yabbies, where a whole lot of the nasty buggers have left their own dam, marched across the complex, and taken up residency with the axolotl population...
As to my new baby, Gizmo (isn't she CUTE?!!!!!), the yabbie invasion force to a bit of a liking to her... Her topmost gills look to have a bit of damage/infection (See the closeup- they look a pale white, though not really fuzzy...) and her caudal fin has been nipped through in a couple of places.

So, my questions are this:
1) Would I be better off leaving them to heal or would intervention be a good idea?

2) If I should intervene, would tea-bathing her be a good option or should I go salt baths?

3) (related to my other guys) As she's so big-around 18cms compared to my other guys' 12-14cms, are there any tips for when they (eventually) are all in my 4 ft tank? Also, any thoughts on lengthening the other guys up?- They'd be at least the same age, if not slightly older, so I'm rather worried as to why they're not massive as she...

HI there are welcome to the wonderful world of axies

Poor axie and ouch, naughty yabbies! Hope the guy manages to sort that problem out quickly! I cant see the injuries that well so its hard to comment properly on this.

In answer to your questions...

1 & 2) Leave them to heal for now as long as she is in clean cool water and there is no redness/fungus growing (cotton wool like growth) she should hopefully heal on her own (axies have amazing healing powers) BUT if there is any soreness / red thats not healing yes tea baths may be helpful but salt baths should only be used if there is fungus.

3) In terms of size I have 3 myself, 2 from the same place and one has grown to a nice 8 inches in less than a year and the other one is still only just over 6 inches, my 3rd one is just behind the bigger one, I dont stress about it though as they all get the same diet and eat equal amounts (hand fed) so they all take there own time and maybe some grow big, others not so much Glad to hear your new girl is in her own tank as its not advisable to put different sized axies in with each other but hopefully when they are all around the same length you can add your new axie in. You cant lengthen axies but you can make sure they get a good diet, what do you feed your guys on?

Wish you luck.

I'm not sure if keeping axolotl's in heated enclosures would be breeding for heat resistance. Over many many generations the axolotl's who were more resistant to high temps might survive more, and have more opportunities to breed because they're not dead, but I'm sure the ideal temp for the axolotls would still be the same.

carsona246 said:

I'm not sure if keeping axolotl's in heated enclosures would be breeding for heat resistance. Over many many generations the axolotl's who were more resistant to high temps might survive more, and have more opportunities to breed because they're not dead, but I'm sure the ideal temp for the axolotls would still be the same.

Click to expand...

*nods* technically, not heated, just massive an outdoors in Australia. But personally, and from experience, i'm kinda with you as my other babies, who came from the same place (probably same breeding season, but i got them last july) were whinging their little heads off last night (the temp in their summer tank, which is set up with a heat sink cooler hit just over 23... It's damn near impossible to keep cool anything around here atm!) but ironically izzy(gizmo- i know it's such a common name!) was incredibly relaxed in the warmer quarantine tub (hooray for chunky's ears!) and if there IS a component in their genetic material that happens to be slightly more heat resistant, i'll be beyond grateful (it was 46c outside our living room the first weekend in Febuary, and barely cooler in my room where they usually live, but they were lucky enough to be positioned straight in the line of the air con)

Zoe, yup, fingers crossed he gets the buggers out (and makes an obscene profit to use for spoiling his axie colony!)! I'll try and get some better photos when i get home tonight and do her water change. To describe, it looks a little bit like the difference in colour between healthy and scar tissue... (as far as i understand though, they don't scar...?)

As to what i'm feeding? Mainly Hikari bloodworms, and in the past few weeks, i tried them once with earthworms from the garden (were unceremoniously spat back in my face!), blackworms- freddie and izzy both don't mind them, but the other two rarely touch them, and as of last night, the pellets they were weaned onto back at the ranch- george kinda liked (to the point where he nipped my fingers investigating! But the other three quite firmly glared at me going: "ya expect us to eat THAT???" so i'm kinda stuck as to where to go next, especially considering the original trio are a full 3cm smaller than izzy.

As to tanks, the trio's summer tank is 45x20 cms, which is right now just the right size for them, and not to mention a full 5c cooler than the 4ft-er out in my room, so waiting impatiently for autumn to arrive so they can all go back in... Can't say the guppies will be happy...(i established a guppy colony when the axies moved house so I wouldn't lose the bacterial media, and now i've gone and got myself attached to them *facepalm*, worse coz mum's promised to take a hammer to any new tank through the front door...)

So to summarize my ramblings:
1) heat resistance- has anyone found/done any research?

2) food for very fussy eaters-suggestions that might combine the picky-ness of the quartet?

3) does anyone have a list/ ramble about factors impacting growth? (which reminds me: does the arrival of the caudal ridges signify the encroachment of maturity/ slowing of the rate of growth?)

Anyways, thank you guys so much for your thoughts so far!!

carsona246 said:

I'm not sure if keeping axolotl's in heated enclosures would be breeding for heat resistance. Over many many generations the axolotl's who were more resistant to high temps might survive more, and have more opportunities to breed because they're not dead, but I'm sure the ideal temp for the axolotls would still be the same.

Click to expand...

I agree. From their post stating that his lines are susceptible to morphing, it seems more that likely that the heat is causing stress and causing them to morph instead(probably along with water quality factors). I've heard that some believe you can breed for heat resistance, and I'm sure there likely is some genetic component, but the species evolved in a fairly cool lake and with the lack of diversity in the captive gene pool, I don't know if there are enough random mutations to really make a big difference in their heat tolerance and it would involve breeding on a massive scale(which it sounds like he's doing). In addition, even if the axie itself can tolerate a higher temperature, those temperatures also make small amounts of ammonia more toxic to them AND also increase the growth for fungus, so water quality would be even more paramount to keeping them healthy.

Hey all,
Well Izzy ate a worm *YAY!!*,
And not to be a worry wart, but her gills aren't looking their original rosy colour-Is this normal for golden albinos? I've posted pics (in order: when I brought her home on Sunday, the white patch tuesday night (Two photos), and then two from just now (friday afternoon) of the white patch and her gills...You can also see where the yabbies took a chunk out of her tail!).

She was moved into a 13L quarantine tank yesterday afternoon- washed sand bottom, running on a small filter thing I found at the pet shop to aerate the water, Water's slightly warm-Getting it down's near impossible, and all other parameters should be right considering it's less than 24 hrs since the water change (I'll be raiding the plants at the shop tomorrow-speaking of which- anyone know anything about Australian native aquarium plants?). I'm going to add in some tea (at the very least it should help her heal!)...
Any thoughts/ additional steps/ suggestions would be much appreciated!
Caitie/Minnie

When my goldens got upgraded from a 2ft tank, to a 3ft tank, their filter went from being an air pump powered sponge filter, to a Fluval U3 filter plus seperate air stone - I've heard people (well, read what people have written) on here about gills shrinking when there is plenty of oxygen available, suspecting that it's because the axies don't need to try as much when breathing. Also, aparently, the colour drains from the gills when they are asleep - both happened to mine when they were upgraded + I suspect that's the case with yours too.
I currently have a golden in isolation, due to a nasty broken leg + her gills have fluffed up more in the 2 days she has been in there (no filter or air pump, so doing daily water changes instead). They were looking a fair bit redder than usual too, though this morning they're quite pale again.

I'd like to say that yup, okay, everything turned out all right, but things have gone dreadfully wrong:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...lotl/74829-gill-filaments-gone-overnight.html

To sum up, after moving into her new tank, having a bit of a teabath, and getting some nice frozen water bottles, ALL Izzie's gills fell off. Water tests had pH at 8.0, so trying to lower that (after apocalyptic breakdown wonder what the HECK I'd done wrong), and getting water tested/testing kit of my own today.
Also wondering if some residue left (unintentionally) in:

A) the tank itself (It was in storage nearly a decade, but I gave it a good scrub down before I put
ANYTHING in there),
B) the little rock sculpture I made (rocks with silicon, cured for a month, washed thoroughly before it went in),
C) The worm she had for dinner friday afternoon (but she was looking an itty bit peaky before the worm, so pretty sure that's out...)

So Izzy's chilling in the fridge (1.6c this morning- I know it's cold but the fridge won't go any higher (Both practically and in terms of parents not wanting to lose food in the first place), and was happy to see me this morning (No comatose axies here...), and I'm wondering:
-Have you've got any suggestions to help her heal a bit quicker (She'd be just over 8 months old, give or take)?
- Should I do a knock-down-rebuild on the tank (Which is small in the first place so not much of a hassle to KDR)?
-Should I be putting a mineral supplement into all the water (We currently use our rainwater tank for the aquatic family members)?

Many thanks in advance, Minne and Izzie