Babies dying !!!!

Hi just wondering if anyone can help to answer the question as to why ALL of my hatched axies has died??

they hatched approx 4 weeks ago, and seemed healthy they had a very big appetite feeding twice a day on live daphnia, there growth was average and had doubled in size from hatching, the water is 22 degrees constant, they seemed to be growing well untill they started to grow their legs, once the limb buds came through and started growing i started loosing the babies one by one, they seemed to swim very erratically and in very fast tight circles !!

the babies were housed in plastic tubs and 8-10 babies per tub, plenty of room and hiding places so i dont think its down to overcrowding, i did a 50 % water change every 3 days without fail from them hatching out of their eggs this was due to feeding live food as i felt this was adequate by reading other posts.

and just to add this is the first time Ive experienced raising axies, and also this is the first time both male and female have had babies, i know this as i got them from juvies, i also got from different places so i know they aren't related to one another.

im just really disappointed to have all of them die on me so long after hatching, if anyone has any ideas or answers as to why they have all died would be very helpful and appreciated.

if there's any other aspects Ive missed out i would be happy to give any further info.

im just concerned as my axies have decided to lay more eggs and not sure whether to try and hatch and raise more!!!

thanx

It sounds like poor water quality. 50% every 3 days probably wasn't adequate in small containers. At that high of a temperature, they would be producing a lot of waste, and need probably daily water changes to keep ammonia levels in check.

Yes, the two main enemy's are less food and water polution. I have copper eggs now and *** usual i ceep 6 to 7 larvae in one chinees box. I feed them a small cloud of artemia evry day.. next day when i come home i change the water compleet with fresh axolotl-aquariumwater. Than feed them agian and so one.

All the best,

i appreciate your comments however i wouldn't say the containers i have are small, they are roughly 20" by 10" and 6" deep, i only had 8-10 in each tub, i did also did a partial water change every day (used a siphon tube to suck any debris from the bottom of the tubs)

if it was the water quality why didnt they die sooner????

it only starting happening as they started to grow their legs!!!!

What you have is a 5 gallon tub, probably not filled fully, with 8-10 larvae inside. Seems a little on the small side to me.

The erratic swimming does indicate a water problem, from chlorine, ammonia, ph spikes, to temperature. Your daily siphoning does put a crux in the ammonia theory however. Can you rule out all of the other possibilities?

Stacey87 said:

i appreciate your comments however i wouldn't say the containers i have are small, they are roughly 20" by 10" and 6" deep, i only had 8-10 in each tub, i did also did a partial water change every day (used a siphon tube to suck any debris from the bottom of the tubs)

if it was the water quality why didnt they die sooner????

it only starting happening as they started to grow their legs!!!!

Click to expand...

I would say water quality is the most obvious reason for the deaths. As the larvae increased in size they would make more waste and have a larger impact on the water quality. When i use bbs I generally do a daily water changes, in a heavily planted tank (and i mean rammed with plants) I wouldnt do it less than every other day.

Thanx for your replies ive checked all aspects of the water quality you mentioned and its deffo not the chlorine, the temp is 20-22 never above or below, and the ph i'm not sure what is normal to be used for larvea but the ph is currently 7.2 and i use brita filtered water, not sure if thats acceptable or not but i just thought that way the water would be purified. Any further answers or feedback would be greatly appreciated

The problem with the water quality would be ammonia, nitrate and nitrite, in uncycled tanks it would probably be ammonia that caused the problems

So could i solve that by doing more water changes? Would that be the answer if so how much more often?

Just the second lot of eggs are starting to hatch now, and i want to make sure i do everything rite this time, dont want to loose anymore babies!!

This time im going to reduce the numbers and only keep 5-6 per tub, in the hope that that will also help reduce the levels of ammonia as they get bigger.

The second batch of eggs look completely different to the forst ones and are alot bigger in size, not sure if this has anything to do with this being a second batch and the first ones were literally the first time both male and female had produce young!

But hopefully this time i will get it right

Thanx for all your help guys.

You should be doing 50% if not 100% changes daily i think depending on the stages of eggs, feeding etc. any uneaten food will foul the water quicker meaning higher ammonia etc. Good luck!

By 4 weeks my babies are in tanks with gentle filtration PLUS water changes every other day (I alternate - half the tanks one day, half the next) - have lost one baby which I removed when it started to show signs of not being healthy (couldnt swim properly) to reduce risk to others.

Mine were "first time" eggs as well.

Good luck with the new babies

Okie dokie thanx alot.

Also one problem that I have had is the plastic containers (for some reason I don't fully understand) can harbor and grow bacteria a lot better then glass aquariums. I would consider washing the plastic containers frequently with 2-1 baking soda salt solution and then rinsing HEAVILY before putting your babies back in. This will get rid of the bacteria with out the use of harsh chemicals that could harm your babies if not fully rinsed out.

This would make sense in your case because the bacteria would have needed time to grow. So it just took the few weeks that the babies were growing for the bacteria to build up. Once again, it's water quality but just one more thing to be aware of. I have also lost a batch of babies once and it is really no fun!

Good luck in the future!

Hmm,,, thanx very much for that, it makes alot of sense, i will purchase a few glass aquariums and see if that helps the second batch as i really DO NOT want to loose any more babies.

Also what are peoples views on aeration? Shoul i hve an airatone in from hatching or just once they get bigger??

Thanx for your all your help so far

When they're just hatchlings, an airstone can be too powerful.

Thats what i thought, just wanted to make sure. At what age/size should i introduce gentle areation?

When they look big/strong enough to swim away from it. Usually by the time they've gotten their back legs in fully.

ok thanx again for your help, don't know what i would do without this site :-/.