Question: Oh no....

Quick question--when giving tea baths, does the tea need to be decaffeinated?

In the tea bath sticky, it says that caffeine helps close pores (or something), so I assumed caffeine would be tolerable. My guys don't look like they're doing well with the tea in there (and i put half the recommended amount). They're freaking out, and I'm thinking that that makes sense if they've absorbed caffeine. ****.

I made sure that the tea didn't have any fragrances or spices added. Should I get them out of there ASAP or wait it out a bit? The tea has been in there for about 15 minutes. They're definitely agitated looking....much more active, running into things, and one is randomly jerking around.

I don't have treated tap water aged yet, so I'm trying to figure out what to do....I hope I haven't hurt them....

It's OK to use un-aged tap water, as long as it's treated with dechlorinator.

Caffeine doesn't have the same effects on other animals that it has on humans, so that is unlikely to be a problem. But if the axies are freaking out, it's best to take them out.

I use tea all the time and have never had any issues.

What kind of tea did you use & did you just steep it for ten minutes? Did you use dechlorinated water for the tea?

Did you just add it to your tank? If so what are your tank parameters? Ammonia / Nitrite / Nitrate / Ph / temp

Why are you using the tea - what issues are you treating?

I agree that if they're freaking out then it's best to get them into fresh dechlorinated water - measure the dechlorinator accurately - aging the water is good but not essential!



<3 >o_o< <3

I don't want to be rude but was the tea cool when you added it? I was thinking it may have been warm and the temperature may have freaked them out a little.

Thanks for both of your responses. I'm not ignoring....just waiting to get to my computer. I have trouble writing long responses from my phone sometimes. :/

Hi,
I've put tea in the water just to try it out. Done it with tropical fish, too, to lower the pH. For the axies I basically made a pot of tea using one teabag in a jug. Waited for it to cool and added it to the fresh water (around 50 litres). This was when I was doing around 60% changes on my juveniles. Then it got diluted by the next change. It didn't seem to have any effect other than to colour the water. Ordinary black tea (probably PG Tips or ALDI's best). And I just boiled tap water, because it would get dechloramined when it mixed with the 50 litres of fresh water, which had the dechlorinator in it.


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Nikki71 said:

I use tea all the time and have never had any issues.

What kind of tea did you use & did you just steep it for ten minutes? Did you use dechlorinated water for the tea?

Did you just add it to your tank? If so what are your tank parameters? Ammonia / Nitrite / Nitrate / Ph / temp

Why are you using the tea - what issues are you treating?

I agree that if they're freaking out then it's best to get them into fresh dechlorinated water - measure the dechlorinator accurately - aging the water is good but not essential!



<3 >o_o< <3

Click to expand...

Hi Nikki, sorry it's taken me a while to respond. I used Lipton Black Tea "Black Pearl...quality black tea made with pure long-leaf"...it took me a while to find tea that didn't have any spices or additional flavoring. I did let it steep for 10 minutes, but I didn't use declorinated water. I figured that boiling it on the stove would take care of that, but maybe I wasn't thinking logically. I diluted the tea into several buckets and let them cool down to the same temperature as the tank....then I just did a water change with them.

The tank's parameters at the time (and now) were:
--Ammonia=0ppm
--Nitrite=0ppm
--Nitrate~20ppm
--pH=7.4
--Temp~66F (~65-67)

I'm really embarrassed to say what I was/am treating. I think I hurt Mortimer when I was rearranging things in the tank. A piece of driftwood fell when I was moving a piece of granite....I should have been more careful. I didn't think that anyone got hurt, but about an hour later, I noticed a huge rip in Mortimer's tail. (I'm guessing it's from what I did.) His skin was hanging there....it finally fell off, and now there's a huge piece missing from his tail. It looks horrible. I wanted to use the tea to try to prevent any kind of infection.

When I added the tea, they went absolutely bonkers. I stayed up half the night watching them....they seemed to gradually calm down. Now, they seem fine. I'm not sure what the freak-out was about, unless it was that the water was not dechorinated like I thought it would have been.

I hope that Mortimer's tail heals quickly and that it will regenerate, but I'm not too hopeful about the regeneration part. His gills on one side were really short when I got him, and they haven't grown at all. Maybe it's because he's older?

Attached are pictures from when the piece was still attached and now.

S

Petersgirl said:

I don't want to be rude but was the tea cool when you added it? I was thinking it may have been warm and the temperature may have freaked them out a little.

Click to expand...

That's not rude. It was the same temperature as the tank water, though....

Accidents happen. Einstein took a trip through the syphon tube when she was little. She was very nervous for a long time afterwards, but is now the one that comes to the top for a worm when she hears the fish room door open. I'm sure the tail will heal soon.

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A nice easy way to get some tannins into the water is to bung a Catappa/Almond leaf or two in. They gradually degrade over time and need replacing every month(ish), but they can be nice and soothing on their skin - very much like a weak tea bath, but while keeping them in their safe, familiar surroundings.

Nice suggestion with the almond/beech leaves, Mewsie I remember reading that somewhere. It's good if the axxies seem to have a problem with tea.

My post was because I thought my question was silly But it's always worth asking just in case!

I've accidentally scared my axolotls before and they've swam away so fast that they hit themselves on the tank glass or an ornament...I always felt really bad but like wandering said, accidents happen and the axolotl usually heals. As for the gills, I noticed that Tooth's gill fronds have never grown back on the top of her left hand side gill, which looks bare and nibbled, since I got her in May - and she's much bigger and chunkier than when I got her. I know the axolotl that lives with her hasn't nipped them, so it's a bit of a mystery. I think maybe if they're been badly damaged they don't grow back - I have a feeling they got infected at the store she was at, which has prevented regrowth. She has also never regrown the middle gill on her right hand side, which was also completely missing when I got her (though she has grown fronds on that side of her head >.<) I don't know...it either takes a very long time or, depending on how the fronds came off, they don't regrow...0.o Maybe he just has short gills? Gally's are tiny and haven't grown much even with two fat worms a day and good water conditions. I think maybe sometimes it's genetic.

The tail/caudal fin might grow back...I really can't say as mine have only really had problems with their gills.