One Axie dead, one refusing to eat...help!

Ok so I've had a bit of an ammonia problem with the tank which I posted about but it's nearly fully under control. Every other aspect of the tank is fine. I had one axolotl in the fridge for a few weeks because he was obviously sick in the tank. Two days in a row he ate an earthworm and then I warmed him/her up and put him/her back in the tank. S/he seems happy enough in the tank but won't eat...it's been nearly a week. I even put her in a container of tank water with a worm, incase s/he wasn't keen on the hand feeding but it made no difference.

Two weeks ago we went away for the weekend, leaving two happy and healthy axolotls in the tank. My mum came to feed them on the 2nd day but I assumed she knew you had to hand feed but she thought they would swim to the top and take the food out of her hand. The day we left neither of had them eating so by the time we got back it had been three days since food. Our albino Axie took to the food no problems but our black one didn't and the next day looked like she was struggling to get to the top to get air. I fridged her and did daily water changes etc. Last night, as I was changing her over I noticed there was a red blob in her tank and some of her gills were missing. I also noticed she had white fungus on her feet and on her tail wound (albino mistook her food the Thursday before we left and injured her tail). We went out for dinner last night and when we got home we had three kids to put to bed + two beeping smoke alarms so I didn't get the chance to look up salt baths. I did that early this morning but when I took the axie out of the fridge I noticed how lifeless she looked...I touched her gently and she didn't move, poked her around etc. and she's died.

What did I do wrong and how do I encourage the other axie to eat?

I'm sorry for your loss, and unfortunately I don't have any advice or suggestions for you.

I do however have a question for you:

Areca said:

Last night, as I was changing her over I noticed there was a red blob in her tank and some of her gills were missing.

Click to expand...

Did it look like this?

Yes that's exactly what it looked like but she had the same red blob on her missing gills. This morning, lots of those red blobs and all her gills gone

The other two look fine, quiet, one not eating and my albino has a kink at the end of his tail but no other signs of stress...still eating...oh actually none of them have pooped for days and the albino one eats every couple of days but has no signs of constipation. The other one I assume isn't pooping because s/he isn't eating.

Ok so I went to feed the other two last night and they both refused to eat and then I noticed that my albino axie looked a bit blue on his head and up to his gills (like bruising but no signs of injury) and his tail was still kinked. He never refuses food, ever, so in the fridge they have both gone.

I would really appreciate some advice on this.

Unfortunately, still no help, but I hope everything works out for you and your li'l guys!

Just out of curiosity, how hard is your water (GH)?

What exactly are your water parameter readings? How often do you check?

Sorry for the late reply, husband been away, first week at uni and 3 kids = hectic.

I don't know what the hardness of the water is...I have managed to keep three goldfish alive for a year now in the exact same water and until the tank parameters crashed they were fine.
PH is neutral (checked weekly), Ammonia levels are almost yellow in colouring (I'm sorry, my brain is so fried I can't even find the chart I use online to check the levels...I don't have a chart here) and are checked every day or every second day and the nitrate (that's the other one yeah?) levels are fine...no chart but to give you the exact level. I don't check that one as often.

My albino in the fridge has pooped and he is quite active in there but his tail is still kinked and he still has a bit of blueness to him (like bruises but I've never seen them fight and he has no injuries as such) and the wild type is behaving exactly how s/he was the first time s/he was in the fridge but still waiting for him/her to poo.

They are pretty happy in the fridge so I'm going to keep cycling the tank for at least the next week (another full week of uni with no husband around) because changing their water daily in the fridge is less time consuming. I don't plan on putting them back in the tank until the water levels are at a perfect reading again.

This is what I wanted to ask...I had a glass thermometer in the tank and when I was doing a water change and rinsing the filter my 2 year old smashed the thermometer on top of the tank and some of the black balls had gone in the tank. I cleaned them out straight away and my axies don't eat off the bottom of the tank so I highly doubt any balls were consumed but could they have poisoned the water in some way?

The other thing you might want to check is nitrite. Ammonia is converted to nitrite by your beneficial bacteria before being converted to nitrate. Nitrite is less toxic than ammonia, but can still be harmful at high levels.

I have smashed glass thermometers with the little black balls in my tanks before and have had no harm come from it, just make sure you get all the little balls out. If you have carbon in your filter it should remove any trace chemicals which could cause harm.

I just wanted to come and say thanks to everyone who tried to help me. In the end two axies died and one was refusing to eat and getting skinnier by the day. My water levels were perfect in the end and I checked, double checked and triple checked them and then waited a bit longer and checked them again before putting the axies back in the tank. It was too upsetting watching them die and me clueless as to what to do. Our last survivor was not a juvie and he was the picture of perfect health when we got him and for the first few weeks that we owned him.
So I re-homed him to an axie owner who had two happy and healthy axies in her tank. I have not seen her to find out if he pulled through or not yet but ultimately the decision was made. I did quite a bit of research on the axolotl before bringing three home and then put in a lot of time, effort, and money trying to keep them alive and healthy. As much as I enjoyed having them I'm not prepared to keep buying them and to have them get sick and die because it's far too cruel to the axolotl and it is very upsetting for me so we won't be owning any more axolotls.