HELP PLEASE ThERE DYING

NEED HELP MY FIVE AXOLOTLS ARE DyING. I put them in a new tank. And now the gills are looking good and the tanks are curling. HELP PLEASE

sarrah said:

NEED HELP MY FIVE AXOLOTLS ARE DyING. I put them in a new tank. And now the gills are looking good and the tanks are curling. HELP PLEASE

Click to expand...

First off, you need to give context. Have you cycled your tank? How long have you had these axolotls?

Please let us know your water parameters so we may further assist these axies.

Are they dying or are the stressed?

I dont know what cycling means. I left the water for 24 hours ... I dont have strips to test water. I've had these babies since they were days old. They are about three months now. About two inches long. Have both front and back legs. I'm pretty sure two have died. And now the rest are still stressed and barely moving . the gills are forward and the tails are band at th back. I took them out and now they are in small containers that I've had them in for months now. Please help.

How long ago did you place them in the new tank before they started showing signs? Did you acclimatise them?

I would suggest purchasing a liquid test kit for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and PH (test strips can be inaccurate). It is important to be testing the water regularly to ensure good water quality. Read up on the nitrogen cycle and aquarium cycling as while your tank cycles, there are likely to be spikes in ammonia and nitrite which are toxic to axolotls.

For the moment though I would keep the remaining axolotls in a tub of cool clean dechlorinated water.

Also you mentioned you leave the water out for 24 hours? Do you use dechlorinator?

I have them in small containers right now two have died I just bought the declorinator in the big tank. And some good germs things in there. There not looking too good in the containor though. I'm so heart broken. I've been raising these babies since they were days old there not three months. The gills are looking bad on them

What size is the tank? Like said above you need to invest in a test kit for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. How long ago were they put in? If it was more then a few days and if the tank is small, ammonia would definitely be the likely culprit. If you just added them today then its probably something else.
If you want to help the rest you need to figure out all of this and see what's off:
What is the temperature? should be about 18C
Ammonia? should be 0.0ppm
nitrite? should be 0.0ppm
nitrate? can be at most 40ppm
Was the water dechlorinated? if not, chlorine can be pretty nasty to amphibians.

I'm editing my above statement. Chlorine can be irritating but is not a death sentence for axolotls unless in high quantities. It instead would kill any beneficial bacteria you need if you add enough untreated water to the tank at once.

I just bought the declorination liquid and the germ liquid. Its in my ten gallon tank I have my two remanlining axies inba small containor I'm hoping they survive the night. They aren't moving and there gills are forward. And tails curled. How do I unstress them

sarrah said:

I just bought the declorination liquid and the germ liquid. Its in my ten gallon tank I have my two remanlining axies inba small containor I'm hoping they survive the night. They aren't moving and there gills are forward. And tails curled. How do I unstress them

Click to expand...

You need to do your research NOW rather than later - you really should have before getting the animals.

Here's an article on tank cycling: Scales Tails Wings and Things, What is Aquarium Cycling? How to Cycle your Tank

Echoing what everyone else said, the best thing you can do for them right now is keep them in small containers with 100% water changes daily with clean, cool dechlorianted water. Axies need temperatures of under 20 degrees C - are you keeping them cool?

The 'good germs' you keep mentioning I'm guessing are a bottled cycling product - it will NOT I repeat, NOT instantly cycle the tank and you can't assume it will be safe. Again I suggest you read the article on cycling.

Calm down and listen to what you're being told. Boomsloth gave some very good advice.

Their skin would be likely irritated from chlorine or ammonia. You could try a tea bath or Indian almond leaves to help soothe the skin. Make sure the temperature of the containers they are in is below 20 (16 to 18 degrees celcius is ideal)

As Boomsloth said, it would be beneficial in solving the problem by getting all the details as asked. Without these details it is difficult to narrow down what could be going on.

When i first got my 2, they were tiny 3cm and 4cm. Their tails were curled and one was missing limbs and gills. They were really stressed. I put them in a small container with floating plants and i fed them blood worms and live brine shrimp just untill they were stronger. I fed them 3 times a day being careful not to leave any uneaten food in there but i left the live brine shrimp in for an hr or so. I also did 100% water change every day.
Fingers crossed your last 2 survive.

It can be stressful when your pets get sick and you don't know what to do. The best thing to do is always provide the right environment which takes some research before getting them. We all have made mistakes in the past when it comes to animals but we are all here to help you save your remaining axolotls.
5 in a 10 gallon would have produced too much ammonia too fast. Has it been more than a day since you added them? The only axolotl I ever lost was one that was 1.5" and was moved to a 2.5gallon by itself due to too much size difference. I had to suddenly fly home to help my mom move and was gone 3 days. My gf fed all my axolotls on the second day but it had already died due to ammonia rising.

Ammonia burns their skin and gills and is super stressful and deadly if not removed. In a cycled tank you have bacteria that grow over all the surfaces (and inside the filter) that convert ammonia into nitrite.

Nitrite is just as bad as ammonia and requires another type of bacteria to convert it into nitrate.

Nitrates are the least harmful and can be tolerated if kept below 40ppm. They sit in your tank until you perform a water change to remove them. A test kit is important because your water changes rely on knowing how much needs to be changed to keep nitrates down. For example, a 10 gallon that has 40ppm nitrates needs at least a 50% water change to bring that to 20ppm. Usually its a 20-30% water change each week with a larger one a month.
Ammonia/nitrite should always be at 0 if you don't want a stressed axolotl. Any amount of ammonia or nitrite requires a water change large enough to bring it down to at most 0.25ppm.

When you add water to the tank you need to dechlorinate it, since tap water contains chlorine/chloramines as well as other heavy metals. practically all dechlorinaters remove these toxins as well. Adding too much untreated tap water will kill all the bacteria you need in you tank.
Establishing a cycled tank requires patience and close monitoring. Its best to do this without any pets in the tank. You need a test kit for this. Liquid test kits are the best and last for years.
first add an ammonia source, either pure ammonia or some food to get the ammonia over 1.0ppm
second keep monitoring until you notice the ammonia begins to go down. This can take a week or more. Make sure to always keep adding the ammonia source! When ammonia goes down nitrites should be going up which you should be checking for!
third After another week or more nitrites should be going down and the formation of nitrates should be present. Also ammonia should be reading 0.0ppm at this point. When nitrites read 0.0ppm and the only reading you get is nitrates,... congratulations! you cycled your tank!

You are waiting for two colonies of bacteria to form. Sometimes they colonize fast and sometimes it can take more than a month, but everyone has to do it otherwise they will be doing constant water changes.

Also if you have 2 axolols left you might want to think about going with a bigger tank. Its usually recommended to keep 1 adult in 10 gallons and 2 in 20g etc... You're creating more work if you overcrowd your tank (trust me I know about this) and unless you have time to keep up with maintenance, you will keep stressing the axolotls.

Sarrah pictures would help a lot
take some pics of your remaining axolotls and post them up here

no matter what happens you need to get a test kit for your water

to be sure they in the best possible water conditions you will want to keep them in cool dechlorinated water, since your tank is not cycled and theyre so small do at least 50 to 80 percent water changes every day (on a 10 gallon thank thats 5 to 8 gallons) until your test kit reads 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and has more than 0 on nitrates (less than 40 ppm as Boomsloth mentioned)

Have they eaten? when was the last time they ate?
How often do they defecate (poop)? when was the last time they pooped? Do you remove the poop?
What temperature is your water? Where does the water come from? how do you treat it?
Are there any other visible signs of stress like wounds, sores, inflammation, red irritation?
hopefully answering these will allow us to offer more advice on what to do next and what might be causing their stress

Thanks for everyones input I feel extremely bad. They have all died ...

Hopefully this is a good learning experience. It is never a good idea to get a pet that you haven't done proper research on. If you still feel like getting an axolotl, you will now have time to properly set up your tank. Read up on this site and others to understand the proper care and what can make them ill. Since they all died pretty quickly it was probably a water quality issue and they couldn't handle the stress. If you plan on still using that 10 gallon you should stick to only 1 axolotl.

Sarrah I am sorry they did not make it .