FYI: Brine shrimp killed larvae

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shella

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hi
i did my research then i had hatched them worried about them and stressed about not having there appropriate food. i had trouble hatching the brine shrimp could not get my hands on daphnia
then at last the brine shrimp hatched fed them a small amount and woke up to find them all dead. the brine shrimp was all over there heads and gills and suffocated them all
I AM GUTTED
will never use brine shrimp again
 
Well... there's a couple of issues here.

Did you rinse the brine shrimp first? If not, the salt probably killed your axolotls, not the shrimp.

Brine shrimp die in fresh water within a few hours. If you left them in the container over night (brine shrimp should be cleaned out within a few hours of feeding, followed by a good water change), they should have died and fouled your water, and then ammonia probably killed your axolotls.

If you left them in over night and they didn't die, then they weren't brine shrimp, or your water was far too salty to support axolotl osmoregulation.
 
I am in the middle of raising 30 larvae. When they were just hatched and ate brine shrimp I would syphon off only a small amount for the feed from the hatch container, rinse several times in clean cool well water then add them to the larvae. I would not clean the container till the next feeding. I lost exactly zero larvae. They now are eating many many bloodworms every feeding.

I would guess you are feeding way too many at one time and that is what caused the death of your larvae. As Kaysie stated if you did not rinse them good the salt could also be the culprit as could many other things like a contaminat in the water, chlorine, something on your hands got in the water, fungus, etc.

Hope you have better luck next time.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. This is certainly heartbreaking.

I agree with the other replies here. Just because you found brine shrimp on the carcasses after death doesn't mean that the BBS killed the larvae. (Similarly, people often find fungus growing on dead larvae and immediately jump to the conclusion that the fungus killed them - but usually this is not the case.)

As far as I know, it is physically impossible for BBS to kill larvae directly, they just don't have any mouth parts that can do damage. They can kill larvae by introducing too much salt or by messing up the water quality in other ways. Also, having a large excess of ANY kind of food can also be deadly.
 
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thank you all for your quick reply
now i am evan more confused.
i did rinse the water but i did leave them over night so why was the brine shrimp huddles in clumps around all of their heads and gills?
i have ordered more eggs i will not be using brine shrimp again
i will keep reading on this forum untill i find whats best for me
thanks for your help can anyone suggest different foods i can try next time
 
reading on here you will find that BBS **is** the best food for the larve.

I think that the dead matter just "clumped" in your rearing container. The brineshrimp probably just got stuck to whatever they were near
 
Jennewt said:
I'm sorry to hear about your loss. This is certainly heartbreaking.

I agree with the other replies here. Just because you found brine shrimp on the carcasses after death doesn't mean that the BBS killed the larvae. (Similarly, people often find fungus growing on dead larvae and immediately jump to the conclusion that the fungus killed them - but usually this is not the case.)

As far as I know, it is physically impossible for BBS to kill larvae directly, they just don't have any mouth parts that can do damage. They can kill larvae by introducing too much salt or by messing up the water quality in other ways. Also, having a larve excess of ANY kind of food can also be deadly.
Click to expand...


Jen nailed it, Artemia are filter feeders for the first four instars. No mouth parts other than those designed to consume phytoplakton. In fact, the two instars do not even have digestive tracts.
 
hi all
i am not saying the brine shrimp was eating the axolotls i am saying they killed them by suffocation it could be that i put too much and did not take them out soon enough
i should have taken a picture
but i found that the brine shrimp took too long to hatch and to me seems more truble than its worth so will be trying different methods of feeding
just wanted to know if there was anything other than bbs i would like to get hold of some daphnia
 
Daphnia can be a lot more trouble than brine shrimp, unless you have a steady source that you can buy or harvest locally. Good luck!
 
Brine shrimp do not attach themselves to larvae and suffocate them. That just does not happen.
 
Basically what everyone's trying to tell you is that the BBS did not suffocate your larvae. It's not possible.
 
I'm so sorry for your loss Shella :(. know that youre feeling cautious about BBS after this episode but everyone has nailed it with the advice here, it wasn't the BBS that killed your larvae! Most likely if you rinsed the BBS as you said you've simply put too much in for the larvae to consume and leaving them overnight has allowed the dead shrimp to contaminate the water. If you try again (I really think you should, dont give up! :happy:) the key is to feed SMALL AMOUNTS and REMOVE WASTE soon after. I raised my larvae solely on BBS in tubs and fed twice a day with no problems, even though after the second feed ing the water wasn't changed until next morning there was never much more BBS added than the larvae could eat. Water quality is of the utmost importance with larvae and problems can and will still occur if left unchecked, this is always going to be the case no matter what your food choice may be.
 
binkiesbuns said:
... there was never much more BBS added than the larvae could eat.
Click to expand...
That's the key! Start with really really tiny amounts of food (ANY food) until you get a feel for how much they can eat.
 
binkiesbuns said:
I'm so sorry for your loss Shella :(. know that youre feeling cautious about BBS after this episode but everyone has nailed it with the advice here, it wasn't the BBS that killed your larvae! Most likely if you rinsed the BBS as you said you've simply put too much in for the larvae to consume and leaving them overnight has allowed the dead shrimp to contaminate the water. If you try again (I really think you should, dont give up! :happy:) the key is to feed SMALL AMOUNTS and REMOVE WASTE soon after. I raised my larvae solely on BBS in tubs and fed twice a day with no problems, even though after the second feed ing the water wasn't changed until next morning there was never much more BBS added than the larvae could eat. Water quality is of the utmost importance with larvae and problems can and will still occur if left unchecked, this is always going to be the case no matter what your food choice may be.
Click to expand...
thank you i will be trying again
everyone makes mistakes and i won't be making that one again
what people have to remember is that i am new to axolotls and will ask question make wrong decisions help me along the right path instead of slating me you have given me the answer i needed to move forword
thank you again
 
shella said:
thank you i will be trying again
everyone makes mistakes and i won't be making that one again
what people have to remember is that i am new to axolotls and will ask question make wrong decisions help me along the right path instead of slating me you have given me the answer i needed to move forword
thank you again
Click to expand...

I understand Shella, theres so much to learn about these wonderful creatures, this time last year I'd never even heard of or set eyes on one!:eek: Keep doing what you're doing, research as much as you possibly can and ask for advice if you get stuck, I honestly don't know how I'd have coped without this forum! I know peoples replies sometimes can occasionally seem a bit abrupt but we've all beein in the same boat at some stage and made mistakes so never let it put you off, we're all here entirely for the same reason- we care and are passionate about axolotls! :happy: I'm so glad you're going to try again and with the right care you'll have happy healthy axy monsters at the end of it - its worth it ;)
 
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