Mass dying with old youngs. Please help me...

Please halp me to solve this problem but it could be too late.
4 hours ago, I made a water change to my axies (3 months, back limbs growing) as usual. At first, I noticed they floated and seemed weird, but I let them stay.
Now I'm back at my place and ALL are dying.
Curved tails (hardcore level), no apparent sign of funfgus or anything, seem really bad, a bit moving but not so much at all.
Not a single one seems ok.
I proceeded with a water change again, this time with bottled water. We'll see what happens tomorrow... But I fear my efforts to make them grow had been pointless...
I dont use cycled water, but NO pb at all till now.
They were just eating savagely some minutes before the water change, and seemed to be stunned by the new water.
The thing is that I usually use tap water passed through a water purifier, all seemed ok, but we changed the cartridge in the carafe the other day.
Could it be it? It is safe for humans after all, and it is used to retain bad elements of the water, right?
But I think it may be it. So intoxication? What could I do?
Thanks for your answers...

Britta / Reverse Osmosmis isn't recommended because it can demineralize the water completely meaning it will not be nutritious it will just be devoid of all the goodness. Dechlorinators only neutralise the chlorine & chloramines leaving other minerals in the water.

Try adding the dechlorinator & leave the water for an hour then try that for your little ones.

Be vigilant & keep changing the water regularly (non filtered) its a good thing they were eating so they should have the strength to recover.

I hope things improve - please let us know how it goes or if you have any other questions.



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Thanks for your reply.
Okay then, we all must do mistakes to be in the end a good breeder...
I suppose the change of Britta cartridge was the thing.
But I am still startled by the power of the water to almost 'stun' the babies as they touched the water.
This morning, i suppose 2 or 3 of the 10 are presumably dead, other shaking desperately when touched, the bigger one may recover, but they are all in pain...
If only I knew...
Thx

Have you got water ager drops on hand? Good luck, I hope your little bubs pull through. Perhaps the old cartridge was not filtering all the minerals properly . These things happen so don't be hard on yourself, I'm sure others have had this experience too.

You mentioned cycled water. There is no such thing. A cycled system has a beneficial bacterial population that processes the waste (ammonia) produced by your livestock. The bacteria live in 'biofilms', that is, mostly in the filter sponge or ceramic media, and also on the glass, on ornaments, plants etc. Water taken from this system does not have magical properties. It will contain beneficial bacteria but only in very small amounts and may contain a high concentration of nitrate, which is not desirable. If your system does not contain a filter with a substantial bacterial population you will need to remove ammonia contaminated water and replace it with fresh clean water before the ammonia can build up to a dangerous concentration. This is what you are doing with your larvae.
As the previous post says, your clean water from the tap needs to have the harmful chlorine and chloramine removed but needs to contain the natural dissolved minerals - for axolotls ( there are many tropical fish that need to be in water without the minerals and that is why reverse osmosis water is used)
Phew! Hope that all makes sense.


Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for all your replies.
I totally know that my technique to use direct tap water is flawed, but I maintained them from hatching up to now without a single problem.
Thanks for the tip with the cycling stuff, indeed.
But I did not know that water that went through reversed osmosis would be capable of killing them in a few hours...
I now only have some healthy axies left, from another tub.
Another question that I could ask myself is the following: As I separated the slow growing one, I only have them left; are they biologically or genetically flawed to be proper to have them in a colony? They're much more smaller, but with no apparent pb.
Sorry for the questions, but, everyone would agree that it is damn frustrating...

But, a holy sign of the Axolotl God came to me yesterday night, and my female started laying again. Not totally desperate.

Yes I really didnt know what the best way to do water changes was but i figured that the best/easiest thing i could do was what someone post above. I make sure i always have at least 4liters of already dechlorinated water(just tap water with a drop of dechlorinator, probably sits on the counter for a couple of days before used). The water is always the same temperature as their containers(still have juvies) and it gets to sit before the axies touch if. I dont know if thats the best way but with my 0 knowledge that im starting with it seemed like it would work.

As far as a brita, i was at the petstore last week getting my last things for my arrival of my juvies, and the fish guy was explaining that brita water or bottled water was the best way to go because of how soft the water was, helps ph levels, soft water=good can help keep them from going into shock and dying etc. i decided not to listen to the bs because i THOUGHT i read here somewhere that axies dont like to hard of water but the water needs to be a bit hard for them, i forget te reasoning and maybe i didnt read it and i dreamed it i dont know!

I hope your little ones snap back! I would be devastated and sad good luck!

Another thing with Britta Filters when you change the filter you need to rinse the cartridge very well, then run 3 full jugs of water through it disposing the first 3 jugs as they are not drinkable.

If the water you used was from a fresh cartridge was the filter rinsed according to instructions. My naturopath doesn't recommend RO / britta water as he says drinking a mineral water is far more beneficial for the human bodies system.

The size difference means you'll be raising the weaker ones but that doesn't mean they won't grow up to be big & strong.

Is the female laying eggs the same one who layed the batch of hatchlings? Breeding back to back can affect the quality of eggs & separating the female from the males after initial lay is recommended to give the female a break & to encourage strong healthy eggs. A dog for instance shouldn't be bred on every season nor should it be bred until its at least 2 years old so breeding doesn't affect the health of the mother. Just because axolotls can lay lots of eggs doesn't mean all those eggs should be raised from every batch.



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I totally agree with you. It is interesting to know that britta system is controversial. I know that adults need to be separated to prevent laying and destroying the female's health. Indeed, it was the very one female that laid on october. I know that it is a bit soon, but, this, too, is my fault again, as I dropped the water temperature again, but I used to keep axies long before and I know how I can manage not to provoke another laying. As it is very cool outside, I should have known that it would trigger it more easily... But I assure you, this will be the very final batch for her of this year. I will provide mass pellets and some meat to stabilize her. But, you know, it is better to have another chance to rear some others.
Thanks for all your replies, cheering up.
Up to now, some have died, some remained in their initial illness stage, and some may seem to recover. Anyways, keep cool I must.
Good luck for your projects.
Will

Lotl said:

But, you know, it is better to have another chance to rear some others.

Click to expand...

That sounds like it's better for you...
Not really anything to benefit your axolotl!

The quality of the eggs will be affected given it was back to back breeding.

It's not compulsory to try raising every egg.. Perhaps just leave them be until next time when you can be more prepared to look after the babies. Having enough tubs / methods to clean them daily / foods ready to go BBS etc

Given that you still have some survivors from the original batch - concentrating on their welfare should be 1st priority



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