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Illness/Sickness: Filmy Substance on My Axie

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AlissaMae

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Overnight, my axolotl has developed a white filmy substance over it's entire body and has been floating a lot. Here are some facts, please help me out:

I have sand in the bottom of my tank, so it's not impaction

I do use tap water. It is safe for people to drink, which I read somewhere means that it is safe for axolotls. Guess I'm not too sure anymore.
I can do a reading tonight.. I forgot what nitrate stuff usually is. Sorry about that.

I did get one of those sucker fish things that clean the cages. I read somewhere that they aren't harmful for axolotls so I figured it would be okay. It was dead in the tank last evening, and I got it out immediately. My axie still looked okay. It had an appetite and everything.

So..I'm not too sure where to go from here. My little guy looked pretty bad so I moved him to the fridge this morning. I read the Axolotl Sanctuary, so I'm pretty sure I did that correctly, but how warm should the fridge be in Fahrenheit? I've only found Celsius temperatures on the computer.. and I think it said 5-8 C. Is that like 40-46 F?


Also, should I completely clean out the main tank?
And if my tap water isn't safe... should I started using like distilled water from the store or something? I have no idea what to do..


Any tips would be awesome. Thank you!
 
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smily sam

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I would think it would have somthing to do with the death of your sucker fish. About the the tap water, just because we can drink it dosn't meen its safe for axies, because there is clorine in it, you really should iver add decloranater or use bottled water.
Need a bit more info, can you post pics of your axie,
Sam
 
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Shizeric

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Where did you read all of this information? Tap water isn't safe, neither are tank companions like plecos or other bottom feeding fish.

When using tap water you either need to let the water sit out for at least 24 hrs to allow chlorine to evaporate out, or use water conditioner to remove the chlorine.

What size is your tank and what type of filtration do you use? How often do you do water changes and what do you feed it?
 
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AlissaMae

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I'm not really sure where I read that information, sorry.

But!

My tank is a 20 gallon. I have the triangular sponge filter for it. I do about 20 percent water changes every week in a half or so.

I've been feeding the little guy blood worms. Seems to be liking them. Won't eat pellets..


Would bottled water be a safe change from the tap water? I do have some de-chlorinator, but it's for fish and I'm not sure how much to use...
 
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smily sam

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AlissaMae said:
I'm not really sure where I read that information, sorry.

But!

My tank is a 20 gallon. I have the triangular sponge filter for it. I do about 20 percent water changes every week in a half or so.

I've been feeding the little guy blood worms. Seems to be liking them. Won't eat pellets..


Would bottled water be a safe change from the tap water? I do have some de-chlorinator, but it's for fish and I'm not sure how much to use...
Click to expand...
The de-chlorinater which you have should be fine, add the same amount for fish, it should say on the back.
Please can you post pics of your axie.
Sam
 
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AlissaMae

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Alright, thanks for the help you guys.

Should I keep him in the fridge until he looks better?

And what about floating... is that just a part of him being sick?

And sam, I'll try to get some pictures up. It'll have to be tomorrow.
And I usually just use my phone which sucks at pictures.
I'll try to get a good camera and upload some.
 
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AlissaMae

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Tank temperature is usually from 60-64.

Also, the pictures I got didn't really show anything.. So i'm not going to upload them until I can get a better one.


It's a pretty small axie. Only like 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. Should I just be giving it one salt bath a day? Or how does that work..?
 
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