Sudden Axolotl deaths?!

Fullmoonnight

Fullmoonnight

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Last night I changed my Axolotl water as I normally did and fed them their blood worms. I had 7 Axolotls all kept in seperate but similar bins. Today I went to feed them and two of them are dead! They died very soon after I changed the water because I can see that there are still blood worms floating around. The bucket I use to dechloronate the water only holds a certain amount of water so I have to mix the water two seperate times. The first bucket is for the 3 top axolotls and the second is for the other 4. Sometimes the first bucket is for the top 4 and the second is for the rest. I can't remember how it worked last night but now the three I keep on the bottom are dead and dying. 2 of them are dead and the one on the very bottom is showing weird signs. He's a bit slow and his nose has weird red bumps where nostrils would be and his fluffy gills are white. Please help me save him because he didn't eat last night either and an axolotl that doesn't eat is one that is very sick.

Sorry for the horrible spelling and typos. I'm a bit shaken up right now.
 
It seems like something has either contaminated the water or the food.
 
Do you measure the dechlorinator very accurately? It's especially important in smaller quantities to not add too much.

Do you scrub out the containers as well as change the water? Bacteria builds up fast in an uncycled tub & can be quite nasty.





<3 >o_o< <3
 
I'm probably not going to help here, but I had a similar occurence in my larvae tank (chinese fire belloes, not axolotls). I fed them some live daphnia, and the next day 90% were dead. I presume it was contamination of the daphnia that did it, as I had not water changed for 5 days previously (they are all in a larger tank with sponge filter, not in little cups like yours). No ammonia or nitrite spike, very low nitrates, water was perfect.

Sometimes unexplainable contaminants can kill off our larvae. I would suggest a contaminant in your tap water (regardless of whether you dechlorinated it), or in that particular batch of food.
 
The food was the same as what I fed all the other bloodworm eaters in the house. So it must have been the water. I did a water change already but today he has dark curled up gills and his body is kinda grayish. He's not moving very much either but he's still alive. I got him to eat a few worms last night but it did take him quite some time before it was all gone.

-edit-
Now he's wiggling from side to side. As if he's trying to screw him self into the side of his bin. Then he gave up and lay down again. What can I do for him?
 
Where in Canada are your from? Do you receive well water in your house?
 
He's moving a little more now but he's refusing food tonight :( His gills are still dark curled and bent. What can I do for him?
 
Fullmoonnight said:
He's moving a little more now but he's refusing food tonight :( His gills are still dark curled and bent. What can I do for him?
Click to expand...

Poor little guy.

Keep the container in a nice cool, dark, quiet place and keep the water very, very clean, make sure you dechlorinate it correctly (I have had problems in the past with our heavily-chlorinated water here in Glasgow, the bottle instructions don't cover it!) and change it regularly - while keeping him as calm as you possibly can. Perhaps a local vet could take a look, but I suspect that could be a stressful experience for your axolotl.

I'd keep offering food (from a different source perhaps) but remove it promptly if he doesn't eat.

In the meantime, you need to try your best to find out what caused this, but it can be very difficult to pin these things down.
 
Also if you suspect it is the water from your tap which caused the problem don't use it maybe they are treating the water because the seasons are switching and a lot of bacteria and matter is in the lakes where we filter our water from, buy jugs of natural spring water to change your axolotls water for a little bit. I do this for all my tanks when the snow melts in the spring and the leaves fall in the fall.
 
I'm so sorry to read this, i just had a sudden death on monday and am heartbroken.
 
Thanks everyone. I haven't pinpointed what caused the death of the other two but the little guy is doing well now. He's snapping up everything in front of his face :D

Including his poop. :rofl:

I changed his water everyday as usual and sometimes twice a day if I saw that the water had anything in it or if I just thought it would be nice to relax in some nice new water.
 
Gahhhh

I did a water change and now ALL my axies have shriveled up gills. Right before I changed the water I held up one of my axolotl's bins to my mom and showed her his pretty long and fluffy gills (they are shiny too!) and today their gills are all flat and mangeled looking. Fortunately, nobody died but nobody is looking too great either. everyone has their gills flat to their heads and look like guilty dogs with their heads down and backs arched. One of them is just floating at the top.

I was super accurate with the measurement of the water conditioner I even used a syringe with measurements. The only thing I did different was a a different water conditioner but I did all the math to make sure my dose was correct

5ml treats 10 gallons. My bucket is two gallons so 5 /10 = 0.5. So 1ml=2 gallons. I just changed the water again using the old conditioner but I can't tell if they are feeling better. I don't know what's going on anymore. Is there something wrong with the tap water?
 
I measured it out to the drop and it's 20 drops per gallon for my dechlorinator, which is also 5 mls per 10 gallons, but I always add a few extra drops to make absolutely sure it's taken care of.

It could be your chlorine is higher than usual and you need to add some extra drops to your water.

Good luck!
 
Looks like your tap water is contaminated. Have you checked with your supplier whether they have put anything extra in it? Here in the UK they do that when they have been working on exposed pipes or if there has been contamination in the reservoirs.

Unless its your bucket or measuring thingy.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
 
I heard there was an ammonia leak a month ago but since then it has been declared safe. It killed alot of my fish back then and I couldn't figure out why. My axolotls were okay through the whole ordeal though and my other fish are doing okay now too. I recently did a change with the bucket for a goldfish and it was all okay for them so I don't think it's the bucket.
 
Oh god. I think one of them is dead. He's lying in what appears to be a puddle of blood. I tried poking him and moving him but there is no response at all. He's been lying flat on his stomach all day but I figured it was because he was stressed and I didn't want to bother him too much. Then he made a very large poop. It looks like it's full of undigested blood worms. Half of it looks like regular lumpy poop and the other half is full worms.

He won't respond what do I do? Is he gone? Why did this happen? Why is there a pile of red blood under him in the water?

UGGGH WHYYYYY. I was just marveling at how cute they were last night how could this happen?!

Help? I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do anymore. I'm so useless to my poor babies I don't know what to do.
 
I think he's still alive. The blood keeps pooling under him. He must still be alive if the blood keeps coming right? It's coming from behind his gills. (you know that area where food sometimes slips through?) I thnk that's where it's coming from at least.

He's not moving but he's not floating up yet eiher and it's been awhile. I think he's still alive.

HELP. He's gonna bleed to death at this rate! The vets are closed I don't know how to help him
 
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