Very sad owner

Smdee · Jun 10, 2012

I have had bad luck raising my axolotl eggs. I take the blame for the most part; I was inexperienced and was not exactly sure how to raise the eggs. I lost all but 4 and I feel horrible about it

.

However, the 4 I had left were doing great! They are over a month old now. Grew their front legs and are growing the back ones as well, gobbled up their brine shrimp, became interested in frozen blood worms and recently (like within the last week and a half) I switched them fully to bloodworms and had really no problems, as long as I moved the worms around a bit to get them eating. I change their water every day.

I had one axie, Popo, who was much bigger than the rest of the crew. He had his front legs fully developed as well as his back. He started biting the others so a couple of weeks ago I moved him into his own container and he was just peachy. Last night I didn't get to change their water until late, but there really wasn't anything amiss other than that.

This morning he was dead.

I don't know what I did...was it the water change? I dechlorinate the water using the same stuff and same amount as I usually have. Should I have not switched to bloodworms completely? I tried tapering off and I didn't see any problems, so long as I got them started. I'm very worried because I have a small axie that doesn't seem to be doing as well as the others...he's in his own container but is often floating, sometimes on his side. I don't want to lose another.

Any advice? I feel so horrible right now...I know amphibians are touchy as a rule, but I feel like a horrible mother

Smdee · Jun 10, 2012

As a little update, the little axie seems to have an air bubble in him...I don't know if there's a way to fix this or not....

Mycenaean · Jun 10, 2012

Smdee said:
I have had bad luck raising my axolotl eggs. I take the blame for the most part; I was inexperienced and was not exactly sure how to raise the eggs. I lost all but 4 and I feel horrible about it .

However, the 4 I had left were doing great! They are over a month old now. Grew their front legs and are growing the back ones as well, gobbled up their brine shrimp, became interested in frozen blood worms and recently (like within the last week and a half) I switched them fully to bloodworms and had really no problems, as long as I moved the worms around a bit to get them eating. I change their water every day.

I had one axie, Popo, who was much bigger than the rest of the crew. He had his front legs fully developed as well as his back. He started biting the others so a couple of weeks ago I moved him into his own container and he was just peachy. Last night I didn't get to change their water until late, but there really wasn't anything amiss other than that.

This morning he was dead.

I don't know what I did...was it the water change? I dechlorinate the water using the same stuff and same amount as I usually have. Should I have not switched to bloodworms completely? I tried tapering off and I didn't see any problems, so long as I got them started. I'm very worried because I have a small axie that doesn't seem to be doing as well as the others...he's in his own container but is often floating, sometimes on his side. I don't want to lose another.

Any advice? I feel so horrible right now...I know amphibians are touchy as a rule, but I feel like a horrible mother

Based on this I'm not sure what the problem was. It shouldn't be the food. Perhaps someone could ask further questions to prompt the issue out? Do you let the water sit after dechlorinating it? I let my water sit out for about 24-36 hours before I use it.

The small axie should be fine. Keep the water changed and handfeed him bloodworms. The air bubble should clear out within the week. Sometimes they don't make it, just feed and clean well.

Smdee · Jun 10, 2012

Mycenaean said:
Based on this I'm not sure what the problem was. It shouldn't be the food. Perhaps someone could ask further questions to prompt the issue out? Do you let the water sit after dechlorinating it? I let my water sit out for about 24-36 hours before I use it.

The small axie should be fine. Keep the water changed and handfeed him bloodworms. The air bubble should clear out within the week. Sometimes they don't make it, just feed and clean well.

Thanks for the response! I let it sit for a little while, but not that long...the Aquasafe solution says within seconds, but... Maybe that could have been the problem? It hasn't been a problem in the past, but things can change.

He's not taking food at the moment, but I will keep trying. He seems interested but not eating. I lowered the water level in his container too, will that help? He seems a bit more comfortable and doesn't float as much.

memojo1979 · Jun 12, 2012

Lowering the water is probably the best thing. Difficult with little babies, but with adults when they float, you should lower the water so it only just covers their backs (usually done in a smaller tub, rather than doing the whole tank!). Axolotls stress out when they can't stay submerged or the right way round (though without panicking people, some axolotls enjoy floating at the surface too - the difference is whether they CAN stay at the bottom when they want to, or not)
Bubbles can be caused by snapping at food on the surface of the water, or from not eating enough, but in my opinion, they also seem to just form in baby axolotls without much explanation.
Doesn't sound like you've done anything wrong - I'm notoriously bad at raising babies too. Haven't managed to raise any from eggs yet, but have raised 20 from around 5cm, with no problems!
When using thawed bloodworm, try to use the reddest. I don't think it's been proven that there is any problem with the browner 1s, but they aren't as fresh + maybe that could be a cause of upets for little tummies?
Good luck with the remainder :happy:

Plc98 · Jun 13, 2012

the one that died, I dont think that you did anything wrong if that makes you feel better, it may have just been some sort of birth defect, or it may have just been his time, babies can sometimes die easily, but the ones that are left will almost definitely survive, so dont feel bad:happy:

AlienFirefox · Jun 24, 2012

If it was the axies first spawn it intends to not be very successful. I know mine was a disaster too. the second spawn will be much better I doubt you did anything wrong unless you forgot to use water ager or something.

Smdee · Jun 26, 2012

Thanks everyone. I have no idea if it was a first spawn or not as I got the eggs from the biology department at my college. Guess I am just sad that they died off so quickly. Hopefully I'll be able to try again someday.

The littlest axolotl did die, but I don't think it was from the air bubble as it was almost a week after...I think he was just sickly

.

I still have two babies left and they seem to be doing very very well. Eating up a storm, swimming to the side of their tank to watch me (and see if I'll feed them more haha) and they are growing like weeds. Almost have their back legs grown now.

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