Need some advice.

I'm not sure if this goes in the sick axolotl board or not, so I'm posting it here.

I've had my axolotls for a little under six weeks and up until now things have been fine.

They're a little under four inches each, and I started them on the pellets that were sent with them and I switched them to earthworms maybe three or four weeks ago.

They're also in an uncycled tank since I didn't get my substrate until after they arrived, but the tank is a twenty gallon long tank. There might be over ten gallons of water in the tank, I added more after last night when things started going wrong.

I will admit that I haven't been the most fastidious about changing the water. Maybe every other day I'll take out two gallons and replace it, sometimes a little more if it looks like a lot of evaporation has been going on. I've been feeding them every other day. Between the two of them they will eat maybe a quarter of a big Canadian earthworm. I haven't actually had to buy more worms from when I started them on worms a month ago.

I also haven't been that great about cleaning out the waste on a really regular basis. I do it when I think about it, which might be a couple times a week, but I'm a senior in college with a big senior project going on and i have exams to study for a lot of the time so I don't remember to clean it out on a regular basis.

I've been checking the water parameters irregularly, since I'm not sure if I should check them right after a water change or right before or what. I'm not exactly sure how much water to take out and replace and how often, but I've been trying.

Last night I tried to feed them. It had been a couple days since they'd last eaten. Another day had slipped by since I've had exams and quizzes back to back this week, but they don't look like they're losing weight. They came for the food readily enough, but my golden albino kept spitting his food out. Every single time he'd take a bit of worm, he'd spit it right back out again so I decided not to try and feed him anymore. The leucistic, who'd always looked the healthier of the two ate a piece or two of worm before he wouldn't eat anymore. Even this is odd since he usually eats a lot more.

Also, last night when I changed out the water, I put more back than I usually would have and my filter completely stopped running. I don't know why it would have stopped running. I didn't do anything to it...but it still hasn't started back up. I'm in a financial pinch at the moment, and I'd rather not spend money on a new filter until I'm sure I can't get this one to start working again. I haven't actually looked at it yet, so I'm not sure what can be done to fix it. I figure I should get opinions and advice first before I screwed anything up.

And when I came home from class, My golden albino was swimming around erratically and bending in half and just frantically swimming at the glass of the tank, which I've come to learn is a water quality issue.

Anyway. I just took the parameters of the tank, and here's what I got.

pH: 8.2
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ammonia: .5

I know I've been slacking and this is my fault, but I want to know what I can do to fix it before I lose one of these guys, I will follow to the letter what it is I need to do, as long as I'm told exactly what I need to do.

Thanks. <3

I wish there was a way to edit, but here are some pictures.

Here's the golden albino.

http://i50.tinypic.com/mif6fq.png
http://i49.tinypic.com/2d0n9k7.png

He isn't floating, but he's hanging around near the top, probably so he can gulp at the air. I'm pretty sure what I need to do is change the water more often, especially with the filter not working, but I need to know how often and how much to change.

And here's the leucistic. Now a great picture, but he seems mostly fine except for having less appetite.

http://i46.tinypic.com/a3ox7m.png

Hi, it sounds like you need to be changing your water more often. Especially if you don't have a filter running at the moment! My tank is currently cycling and I change the water once a day to keep the ammonia levels down. If the ammonia is particularly high it might be best to take more water out. I change around 20 - 25%, if it's high I take out around 50% of the water. Don't forget to allow the water to sit for a while, I think the normal suggestion is leave it 24 - 48 hours to dechlorinate in a bucket before you add it to the tank.
I thought you had written ammonia as level 5 at first was like :O but 0.5 is still quite high.

I know life can get a bit hectic sometimes and it's hard to find the time. You really need to find a few minutes each day to quickly change their water. Maybe look at your schedule and take a look at the times you know you're at home. How about setting up a reminder on your phone each day to ensure you remember to quickly check them? I've done this in the past with some medication I had to take. I knew I would forget so set up a reminder to make sure I didn't forget.

Can you find a cheap filter from somewhere, or know anyone who can give/lend you one until you have the cash to buy one?

I'm not entirely confident on PH but it should be around 7 - 7.6 I think, with 8 being OK. What's the temperature of your tank?

Hope this helps

P.S is that purple sand? I love purple

Yes. I thought so, just wasn't completely sure. I'm not exactly sure how much water is in the tank, so I don't know exactly if I'm taking out 25% or 50%. Do you just eyeball it? And I don't have enough containers to let any water sit out, but I use water dechlorinator in it. It's called Reptisafe It removes chlorine and chloramines. I have amquel plus, but the breeder told me to go buy reptisafe, so i did. XD

And yeah, I'm going to set an alarm so i remember to change the water once a day. Do you think 50% per day is good enough? And should I test the parameters every day?

I'll look at the filter tomorrow when I have some time to see if I can get it running, if not, I'll run by the aquarium store sometime next week to pick one up.

The temperature of the tank is about 72F, if I'm reading the thermometer right. I might not be. It's a little strange. But I find it odd that the water's warm since I like it cold in here.

And yesss. I love the sand too. It was a pain to get it though. XD

I've been checking my water every other day while cycling. I think people normally recommend to check at least once per week. I just take more out if the ammonia is high, if it's fairly low then I only do 25%.
I've found that my tap water already has 0.25 ammonia in it, so that's kept it at 0.25, if it reaches 0.5 i take more water out. It might be worth reading your tap water to see if there's any traces in that.

72F is a little high, but if the room is cool maybe the thermometer isn't right. I've seen people recommend an air pump to keep water cool. If you don't have one maybe look into buying one of those in the future? I don't have heat problems, it's hardly warm here lol!

Hope the new routine works out

I got the filter to work! I just needed to clean some sand out of it. It says on the paper that it's best not to use it in aquariums with sand, but the guys at the fish store didn't tell me that >>

Anyway. That's taken care of, and I changed fifty percent of the water too.

I haven't tried to feed them, but should I or should I wait for a while?

Yay, well done! Pet shops never seem to give the best advise. I'd try feeding them and see if they will take some food. Mine's refusing pellets at the moment and I've run out of earthworms >.<

Well. I got the albino to eat one piece of worm without him spitting it back up, but he wouldn't take anymore and the leucistic only took a couple. I hope that once I start to do water changes every day that they'll be more enthusiastic about taking the food.

The albino isn't swimming around erratically anymore, but I think he may have done something to his leg because his foot was bending weird last night.

And the albino is back to eating nothing.

If someone could help me out, that'd be lovely.

I feed them with tongs and sometimes they'll snap at the food but can't the bit of worm because i have to hold the tongs tight enough that the worm doesn't just fall into the sand, because they won't eat it if I don't put it right in their faces.

It's like if he can't get it on the first try, he just sorta gives up and doesn't try anymore.

It's frustrating and i'm getting worried.

snuggly time said:

I've been checking my water every other day while cycling. I think people normally recommend to check at least once per week. I just take more out if the ammonia is high, if it's fairly low then I only do 25%.
I've found that my tap water already has 0.25 ammonia in it, so that's kept it at 0.25, if it reaches 0.5 i take more water out. It might be worth reading your tap water to see if there's any traces in that.

72F is a little high, but if the room is cool maybe the thermometer isn't right. I've seen people recommend an air pump to keep water cool. If you don't have one maybe look into buying one of those in the future? I don't have heat problems, it's hardly warm here lol!

Hope the new routine works out

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72 is way too high. You should be sitting at 60-62, that amongst the ammonia issues are definitely why they are acting up. I would get the temperature down, and test the GH of your water as well- I know water hardness was a huge issue for my boy when I first brought him home as I was using R/O water.

Get the filter going, keep doing daily water changes (especially as you will now be cycling a filter and the tank) of no more than 50% (25% per day as ammonia levels fluctuate may even be best during the cycling process) and you may or may not choose to fridge them during this process if they continue to be lethargic and/or show signs of ammonia poisoning. .50ppm is way too high for them, and you will soon notice ammonia burns as well as the deteriorating condition and livelihood of your axies.

sugarkandii said:

72 is way too high. You should be sitting at 60-62, that amongst the ammonia issues are definitely why they are acting up. I would get the temperature down, and test the GH of your water as well- I know water hardness was a huge issue for my boy when I first brought him home as I was using R/O water.

Get the filter going, keep doing daily water changes (especially as you will now be cycling a filter and the tank) of no more than 50% (25% per day as ammonia levels fluctuate may even be best during the cycling process) and you may or may not choose to fridge them during this process if they continue to be lethargic and/or show signs of ammonia poisoning. .50ppm is way too high for them, and you will soon notice ammonia burns as well as the deteriorating condition and livelihood of your axies.

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I got the filter going! C:

Okay. I've been doing 25% water changes every day since I posted this.

And as for the temperature thing. If I freeze a couple bottles of water and stick one of those in there and keep alternating them, will this work? I don't really have a fan or anything I can use at the moment.

I disagree. If they're used to being at 72, it's not terribly out of range of acceptable. I wouldn't start messing with that unless you can be consistent. Constant swings in temperature are much more stressful than a slightly sub-optimal temperature.

The temperature seems to be at a constant of 74 now. It hasn't gone up or down.

Is 74 high enough to try the water bottles, because I have two I'm freezing now and I think I can keep the temperature constant if I keep alternating them.

Or I can try to.

I'm also keeping up on daily water changes.

You'll need a lot more than 2 water bottles. They melt much faster than they refreeze. I would get 6 or 8 and rotate them 2 at a time.

Kaysie said:

You'll need a lot more than 2 water bottles. They melt much faster than they refreeze. I would get 6 or 8 and rotate them 2 at a time.

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Okayyy

I dunno if the bottles are working. How often do I have to switch them out? I think the ice melts too fast for it to make a difference in the temperature.

Is there anything else I can do to cool the water down? The albino is still not eating and I think he looks like he might be losing weight.