Newbie info request

I've had my rescued limbless juvenile just two weeks. I'm trying to do everything right by him, so have a few questions for you lovely experienced axolotl folk.

Fin disease. He is golden boy but has while mottles on his fin. Please see the photo. Is that a disease?

Feed. He LOVES his earthworms. is it OK to feed him exclusively on those, or does he need variety? (I've got frozen bloodworm and axolotl pellets [whatever they are] but it's worms that he loves.) To save digging them up every day, I've ordered some live "Dendros" online. Are they equivalent to earthworms dug up from my London garden?

Substrate. I asked the pet shop guy for aquarium sand and he sold me some some German stuff called Manado (see photo). It's porous and he told me it's great for the tank's microflora. My concern is that it is quite light and it flies around when Jesus is eating his worm and I worry if he's eating a pile of this Manado stuff at the same time. I have a growing hunch that some pet shop people just make stuff up as they go along.

So those are my questions. Any information will be gratefully received. I am going to be a very responsible axolotl owner.

richardj said:

I've had my rescued limbless juvenile just two weeks. I'm trying to do everything right by him, so have a few questions for you lovely experienced axolotl folk.

Fin disease. He is golden boy but has while mottles on his fin. Please see the photo. Is that a disease?

Feed. He LOVES his earthworms. is it OK to feed him exclusively on those, or does he need variety? (I've got frozen bloodworm and axolotl pellets [whatever they are] but it's worms that he loves.) To save digging them up every day, I've ordered some live "Dendros" online. Are they equivalent to earthworms dug up from my London garden?

Substrate. I asked the pet shop guy for aquarium sand and he sold me some some German stuff called Manado (see photo). It's porous and he told me it's great for the tank's microflora. My concern is that it is quite light and it flies around when Jesus is eating his worm and I worry if he's eating a pile of this Manado stuff at the same time. I have a growing hunch that some pet shop people just make stuff up as they go along.

So those are my questions. Any information will be gratefully received. I am going to be a very responsible axolotl owner.

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Firstly congrats on your new axie (welcome to their wonderful world) and well done you for rescuing him

In answer to your questions..

This is not fin disease but the markings of a golden albino axolotl (see below for pic of mine)



Earthworms are by far the best diet for your axie so yes feed those primarily but if you want to off pellets and bloodworm to vary the diet do, I do for my 3

Substrate - ok have never heard of or seen this stuff so hopefully someone else can step in on this as not sure what its made up of but the best substrate for an axie is sand, barebottom or a slate bottom, can you post on here what is in this Manando?? Have googled it but cant find the ingredients as such on it. Also how big are the pieces as it looks like small bits of gravel in some places and if so this could cause your axie to become impacted as they hoover their food up and anything else along the way as you say so in my opinion I would get rid of it.

As for a lot of the pet shops that sell axies sadly you are right they have no clue

Last peace of advice I would offer is to make sure you keen an eye on the axies limbs for fungus. Hopefully your axie will be fine but if you see any cotton wool like growths you will need to do salt baths but if this happens please feel free to ask on here how to go about this!

Do you have pics of the whole set up that we could look at??

Hope this helps & any other questions fire away. Zoe

Thanks for getting back to me again Zoe. Much appreciated. Your fella is BEAUTIFUL. I'll be so proud if mine grows up like that. I'm reassured about the markings. I was getting really worried.

I'll ditch the substrate immediately and get some sand this week. Thanks for the advice.

I've only had the fella two weeks but I have already noted growth of little buds on three of his limb stumps. I so hope he gets the limbs back. Anyway, there is no sign of anything cotton wool like there.

You recommended me to post a photo of the whole setup. Well here it is. FYI the tank is 60cm wide Comments are welcome (I think!)

wow that is a nice tank, your sure to have a happy axie.

richardj said:

Thanks for getting back to me again Zoe. Much appreciated. Your fella is BEAUTIFUL. I'll be so proud if mine grows up like that. I'm reassured about the markings. I was getting really worried.

I'll ditch the substrate immediately and get some sand this week. Thanks for the advice.

I've only had the fella two weeks but I have already noted growth of little buds on three of his limb stumps. I so hope he gets the limbs back. Anyway, there is no sign of anything cotton wool like there.

You recommended me to post a photo of the whole setup. Well here it is. FYI the tank is 60cm wide Comments are welcome (I think!)

Click to expand...

No problem at all always a pleasure to help

Your axie is lovely aswell and sure will be just as striking, Finley is one of 3 I have and my sons he chose him for the colour. Glad some buds are showing my leucistic had a foot missing when I got him, took about a month for it to grow back.

Think you are well on your way with your axie he is lucky to have such a caring owner!

Loving the tank also, nice and spacious with a hide and some plants perfect!! Thanks for taking advice on the substrate its hard as not seen that one before but if it is the texture of gravel it needs to go. Not sure how local your shop is but I was ill advised on gravel when I purchased my guys and spent £20 on a big bag and was so annoyed when my axie ended up with a lumpy tummy because of it and spent months pooing it out so I phoned my shop and asked them to exchange the bag of used gravel for sand and refund the dfference as it was what they advised me to buy so could be worth a try!

Good luck and feel free to ask about anything else this is what were here for to help each other :happy:

richardj said:

Thanks for getting back to me again Zoe. Much appreciated. Your fella is BEAUTIFUL. I'll be so proud if mine grows up like that. I'm reassured about the markings. I was getting really worried.

I'll ditch the substrate immediately and get some sand this week. Thanks for the advice.

I've only had the fella two weeks but I have already noted growth of little buds on three of his limb stumps. I so hope he gets the limbs back. Anyway, there is no sign of anything cotton wool like there.

You recommended me to post a photo of the whole setup. Well here it is. FYI the tank is 60cm wide Comments are welcome (I think!)

Click to expand...

Your substrate looks like what's sold in the US as Flourite. It actually should be ok for axies, as many people here do use it. Here is a site about how to rinse it, which should be done if you want to keep it: How to Wash FLUORITE This will stop most of it from flying up as your axie moves around.

animalloversfb said:

Your substrate looks like what's sold in the US as Flourite. It actually should be ok for axies, as many people here do use it. Here is a site about how to rinse it, which should be done if you want to keep it: How to Wash FLUORITE This will stop most of it from flying up as your axie moves around.

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animalloversfb do you now how big the pieces are as cant tell from the piccy some bits look big other bits look (thats what worries me) sand like, really weird stuff have not seen it before Also dont know whats in it as designed for fish and reptiles???

Hi,

I am from Germany, but I´ve never heared of Manado as a substrate using for tanks - so I googled.

It is relatively new and made by JBL and at this time pretty unknown.
It is made of clay and it´s porous (including oxygene), that´s why it swims at the surface. You have to rinse it and fish out the swimming pieces.
It is a good stuff, because it absorbs chemicals.
It´s good for the plants - for the roots and plant growing.
It is harmless to fishes and it doesn´t change the Ph or the water hardness.

In a german fish forum Manado got best critics.

I personally wouldn´t change to sand.

Tina

Thanks for the feedback. Each grain is 1 to 2 millimetres. Photos attached.

callina said:

Hi,

I am from Germany, but I´ve never heared of Manado as a substrate using for tanks - so I googled.

It is relatively new and made by JBL and at this time pretty unknown.
It is made of clay and it´s porous (including oxygene), that´s why it swims at the surface. You have to rinse it and fish out the swimming pieces.
It is a good stuff, because it absorbs chemicals.
It´s good for the plants - for the roots and plant growing.
It is harmless to fishes and it doesn´t change the Ph or the water hardness.

In a german fish forum Manado got best critics.

I personally wouldn´t change to sand.

Tina

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Thanks for that Tina you had better luck with your searching than I did and with that and Richards picture all looks good so stick with it!! For some reason the close up made the pieces look bigger but your close up on your hand is perfect and 1-2mm is fine!

zoezakella said:

animalloversfb do you now how big the pieces are as cant tell from the piccy some bits look big other bits look (thats what worries me) sand like, really weird stuff have not seen it before Also dont know whats in it as designed for fish and reptiles???

Click to expand...

From looking at it in person at the store, the larger pieces are rarely bigger than the smallest aquarium gravel pieces. It's also clay based, so its not hard like gravel and easily breaks up. I imagine through rinsing, they could also sift out the larger pieces to absolutely sure, but I don't think there's a high impaction risk like with gravel. I haven't used it personally, but there are several posters on here that do for their axie tanks and it looks really nice.

I see what you mean about that Zoe, it looks like clumps? Richard, if it's clumping together you might have a problem, perhaps you could sift it, like you would with flour? Difficult to tell via the Internet!

Btw, it's really great to see photos of Jesus, keep em coming! He/she is looking fab

Thanks ever so much everyone. I really do appreciate your help. I'm learning so much.

Richard xxx

Its a pleasure :talker: