Heat stress

Hi all,
I'm having a bit of trouble. It's mid summer here in australia and my axys are over heating. I have spent $700 on a new big tank setup to try & keep the temps down with a greater volume of water. Unfortunately this isn't helping the temp is up around 25 Celsius. My older axy who is just over a year old is showing signs of stress. He has white mucus and yesterday stopped eating (very rare for him) today as I tried to feed him (earth worms) he vomited. Not sure where to go from here do I fridge him?
He's not floating and is a good size. The ph stays on 7 and I use rainwater so chlorine isn't a problem.
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Thanks for any help

Ally

In Australia it is recommended that you invest in a chiller. Even a large tank will eventually reach ambient temperatures.
In the short term you can use ice bottles and fans to get the temperature down. You need to get the whole tank temperature down, fridging is indicated for constipation and extreme illness, and not to solve generic heat problems, as it is quite stressful itself.

Get yourself a foam chiller box (polystyrene) or a large esky.
Get a plastic tub that fits inside either, like a 20L tub from Kmart. There should be room on all 4 sides between the foam and the plastic.
Put your lottie in the plastic tub, if possible have a small filter in there. If not, make sure you have daily water changes.

Add ice in the gap between the tub and the foam - I make my own, by freezing water in tubs.
The ice will slowly melt, cooling the tubs water slow enough to not shock your lottie. You may need more ice in the initial cooling, but once it's melted and cool it will stay cool.

Place a thick towel over the top of the entire tub and box or esky, make sure it doesn't sag into the water. I use a piece of stiff fly wire to prevent this. Then put something thick like a blanket over the top - the woolier the better.

This keeps the heat out and the coolness in. The ave temp is 12-15c. Make sure you keep the temp constant - don't go poking your head in every 5 mins or the cold will escape. I feed mine twice a day, and change water during one of the feeds with chilled water from the fridge.

For the fridge water, it tends to be 4c, so i mix it with tap water until it is the same temp as the tub. Don't forget to declorinate it.

I add ice morning and night, draining out the icey water when the level is too high (you don't want this leaking in with your lottie).

During this summer, Chernobyl hasn't left his ice prison except for a short stint in his new tank with chiller - chillers are useless if the ambient temp in the room is high and there's no airflow. My room reaches temps of 36c, so I found that even with a fan aimed on the chiller inlet, it was useless.

Yes, it's inconvenient and you don't get to admire the beauty of your babies, but it will ensure there comfort during this insane heat.
I have photos of my setup if you'd like to see them and try it

This might be an unpopular opinion but if you are unable to lower your temperatures to a tolerable range, then I would fridge them. The white mucus you describe is probably a deteriorating slime coat. With signs of heat stress and a consistent temperature of 25C, I wouldn't be surprised if in the near future they develop an illness and you'd be forced to fridge them regardless.

That's brilliant! Could you post a photo? I have airflow in this room which is why I considered a chiller but I know they can be pricey hence going for the bigger tank. I've used ice bottles one after another but the temp hasn't moved I'm wondering if my thermometer is broken lol
Also has anyone heard of vomiting with heat stress? I've never seen an axy vomit... It's gross by the way.

NexSocius said:

Get yourself a foam chiller box (polystyrene) or a large esky.
Get a plastic tub that fits inside either, like a 20L tub from Kmart. There should be room on all 4 sides between the foam and the plastic.
)

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That sounds like I good idea. Please post photos!

Bit of an update. He's still not eating it's been 3 days now. No more vomiting. He's flicking his gills a lot. I put an air stone in incase this was the reason. Had a much cooler day today so I was able to get the tank down to 22 degrees. Still hot I know but it's better than 26. My vet told me to not get my hopes up ...

Sorry for the late photos! Hope these help. The ice in the pic is bagged ice from the local boozo, now I just freeze my own in plastic containers.

What a brilliant idea Nexsocius

This is a great idea!!. Your lotti looks just like mine
If my boy is still alive tomorrow I will set this up. But it's not looking good at the moment.

I hope he makes it

I'm doing that this summer!

So I've been packing ice cubes into zip lock bags and changing them every time I can and using frozen bottles if water to. Also I have managed to reduce the tank to 20c. We have had a few cooler days which has helped. So hopefully with the volume of water in the tank (175L) it will be easier to keep cool.

He's began eating again! I've been light on the good but he has had 1 small worm yesterday and 2 sinking axolotl disks so I'm taking that as a good sign. But he still seems disorientated he's swimming into the walls he almost seems drunk. Still has a white slime on him and his Cloaca is swollen.

sal10 said:

But he still seems disorientated he's swimming into the walls he almost seems drunk. Still has a white slime on him and his Cloaca is swollen.

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Axies swimming into walls is normal, unless he's thrashing.
If you can post a photo of the 'slime' and his swollen cloaca we may be able to assist.

It will only let me upload one pic so here's the mucus u can see the white

Here's his cloaca.

I had to euthanise sir axolot today thank you all for your help though.

sal10 said:

I had to euthanise sir axolot today thank you all for your help though.

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Why not at least fridge him until a chiller could be bought he didn't seem in too bad of condition.

I didn't really see a swollen cloaca.. Idk if this is true but would it be possible that the changes in temp might have triggered him to be more sexually active, ie swelling of his man-parts?

Boomsloth said:

I didn't really see a swollen cloaca.. Idk if this is true but would it be possible that the changes in temp might have triggered him to be more sexually active, ie swelling of his man-parts?

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It may have caused rapid maturation if he was just reaching maturity due to increased immune system and growth rate causing it to bulge even more than previously. Also his cloaca did look fine and the slime wasn't on his head like most heat stressed axies so does that mean it wasn't as bad as percieved either? also with treatment and temp lowering doesn't the slime on a heat stressed axis easily clear up and they start eating again?