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blackie now has white eyes

dancas

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we have 3 in our 2ft tank (yes we are upgrading to a 3 footer next week)
our local fish shop recommended to take out our gravel and change the water which we have done, and now my blackie (snape) has developed white eyes. Is there a reason for this? our other two are looking very very healthy, a severe cut from when one escaped the tank (courtesy of my oldest boy breaking the tank and her slithering out under the bookcase and getting sliced on the way out) has healed up perfectly and apart from the extreme heat the other day are all eating 1/3 cube meat each., the other whitey we rescued from the pet shop and has now just started to flourish under the love we give our babies..
This eye thing just started this morning..
please help
 

kapo

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It may very well be fungus, which develops when an axolotl's immune system is lowered due to temperature and/or water quality. Are you able to post a photo at all?

How much water did you change and how often since them, and how much, water have you been changing? It's important as the size of the tank with 3 axolotls in it and warming summer temperatures will

a) cause the tankwater to foul quite quickly (leading to ammonia toxins building up in the water - this can be fixed by daily partial 20% waterchanges - don't add chemicals apart from a water ager/dechlorinater);

b) warmer water also has less oxygen and can become stressful to your axolotls.

Have you tested the tankwater for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates? And what is your tank temperature?

You need to remove the one with the eye problem. Keep it in a bucket of dechlorinated water or alternatively some other sort of container, that will need to be regularly changed daily. If your tankwater temperature, not room temperature, has been higher than 20C you need to cool it down and maintain the tank temperature below 20C. see: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cooling.shtml

Don't be tempted to add any quick fixes or medicines to the tank, as advised by the petshop. The quick fixes, ie ammolock etc, will only be a temporary fix and most fish medicines are toxic to an axolotl.

Make sure to clean up any uneaten or regurgitated food and waste regularly/daily using a turkey baster if you have one.

If it is fungus as suspected, then you need to do saltbaths twice a day until a few days after the fungus has dropped of.

Saltbaths are:

Add 2-3 teaspoons of salt per litre or 2 pints of dechlorinated water (uniodised table salt, sea salt or aquarium/tonic salt) to a container that fits your axolotl lengthwise. Stir the salt till it dissolves. If using aquarium/tonic salt - crush the salt chunks.

Place axolotl in the saltbath and cover with lid or something so he doesn't jump out. Leave him in for 10-15 minutes maximum, no longer.

When saltbath is finished, return to tank/other container and toss out the saltbath water.
 

dancas

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cool, I did the unthinkable, i called my local shop and I did half dose of recommended fix EEEk i feel soo bad
I normally do a 2 litre change as i suck up the waste, but this time i did a 3/4 change (yesterday)

my levels on my kit have been a steady GH between 0-30 KH bout 40 pH 6.5 NO2 0 NO3 0

i dont have a thermometer to check the temp but i can say it is cool on my hand now, for a couple of days it was lukewarm and we added a small ice block and the temp went slowly to cooler.
It has been constant since then, they are in a dark hallway with no direct sunlight at all and the light goes on for about 2 lots of 3 hours, I cant post a photo right now. i will get one as soon as my camera is charged.
They have a bridge which has hidey hole tunnel and a barrel for hiding, one of our whiteys had gone dark pink 2 days ago, but since the change of water she has gone nearly back to normal. we have one 200L/hr filter with carbon on a water arm, and also a 250Lhr we turn on occasionally to get the water moving and the filtration effect.

We only use rainwater seeings how we dont have scheme and the bore water is atrcious, an i put the treatment in the water that gets out chemicals and the like..

Can i change a fair bit of the water to get out the AHEM treatment AHEM that i foolishly put in? how much if i can?
 

kapo

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With the nitrite and nitrate readings you've given, your tank sounds like it is cycling again, - see http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtm you will also need to test your ammonia levels NH3, this is really important. pH sounds fine.

Do a 20-30% waterchanges daily and just keep an eye on your axolotls, this should eliminate the medicine but not cause too much of a swing in your water parameters. Too large a waterchange can usually muck up any established bacteria (as can inadvertently adding medicine - this isn't your fault and most petshops aren't knowledgeable about axolotl care so don't beat yourself up about it). Anything you're unsure about, or if the petshop suggests, just pop in here and ask and someone will be around to help out, albeit maybe not necessarily straight away, but.... :D The daily partial waterchanges also need to be done to keep any toxins down (ie ammonia/nitrite) which is normal in a cycling tank.

You can freeze plastic bottles of rainwater and add them to the tank (when it gets over 20C - try and get a thermometer if you can - as this will be crucial during your hot weather) - just before it completely melts swap for a icebottle. You can also pack the polystyrene round the sides and back of the tank - this will also help maintain cooling temperatures longer while the bottle melts.
 
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dancas

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UPDATE:
already Snape is looking chirpier, the fungus on his eyes looks like it is detaching slowly, and after his bath this morning there was a lot of left over gunk in his bath.. Should I be giving molly and weasly salt baths as a precautionary measure?
have done a 20% water change this morning after my girls had their brekky.(snape still turns his nose up at food) am getting an earthworm farm on friday so hopefully they will like the wormies...also a question about absences.. What can i leave in the tank if we go away for a week? we dont have anyone who can come and feed them regularily.. I heard a mention of feeder fish? what are they. i know my babies like the water snails... i bought some a month ago and they gobbled them down like they were axie nip.
 

Saspotato

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Good news about snape! :)

Generally a week absence is ok if they are adults as you can get away with feeding them once a week. The main thing is though, is your tank set up so that if it there is hot weather the temperature won't go above 24C? That seems to be the main worry and also the fact that your tank is cycling... as you don't want the ammonia to get too high as that will stress them as well. If your tank is cycled I am sure a week away is fine, just do a clean before you go and when you come back.

With feeder fish, you have to be careful. Firstly, if you buy them from a petstore/aquarium you will need to quarantine them for 30 days before putting them in your tank. Also, if the feeder fish are too big they can nibble at the axolotl and stress it out. I use baby guppies frequently as feeder fish as I have a friend I can trust to breed them disease free and they are too small to bother my axolotl. Guppies are also quite resilient and are happy at temperatures that my axolotl likes.
 

dancas

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we are looking at going to denamark in janurary for a week(hot weater...), bali for a week next june then NZ for 2 weeks in september... both cooler months so the temp shouldnt be a problem, all three babies are about 20cm long with black fingernails (red wine NOT) wouldnt the baby guppies grow to big within the 30 days to feed them to bubs?
 

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kapo

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Hi, regarding the trip away in January, are you able to get someone in you can rely on to keep an eye on their tankwater temperature and if need be use the cooling methods?

Any guppies/feeder fish or any new axolotl companions should always be quarantined for the 30 days for the simple reason you need to ensure they're healthy enough so they don't make your axolotls sick. Too many people are too eager to drop in something that's quick and simple to feed and then wonder why they may be having problems because they haven't bothered about quarantining.

After the quarantine period for fish - it is better to try and then breed them in a separate tank, so their offspring can be fed to your axolotls. This will ensure you have an ongoing trusted fish source for your axies.
 

dancas

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i am currently looking at the price of a chiller to cope with the heat over summer.. any ideas on best place to get one in WA?
 

Saspotato

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Chillers are pretty expensive... I bought one from America for $200 (inc postage) called an Ice Probe (thermoelectric cooler). It lowers the temp by about 5-6C which is enough for me. I keep it steady on 18C and when it gets hot (35-40C), it can get to about 21-22C. Also with that chiller, I needed a transformer to convert the US power too which cost me another $35 off ebay.

Anyway, that was the absolute cheapest I could find at the time (spent many hours on google! :p). At the aquarium I go to they told me they could order a marine cooler in (those are more effective than a thermoelectic cooler as they are refrigerated coolers ) and for my 60L tank it would cost about $400 for a suitable cooler. So yea, it is up to you how efficient you want as there is a big trade off between efficiency and expense. I certainly wouldn't recommend the IceProbe if your tank is any bigger than mine.
 

dancas

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Quarantine

do you have to quarintene live plants for 30 days before you put it in the tank like the feeder fish or is it okay to put it in straght away? and wat kind of plants do you guys recommend?
 
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dancas

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My Babies update n more info

Ammonia tested at 2.0
temp 21 and going down..
ph 6.6
nitrate n nitrite 0
and my son put a baby axie in there with them (we are now upgrading to a 4ft deep bugger) who is a living vacuum cleaner
Im doing 30%water changes every day
snape is having salt baths bidaily and we can now see his eyes (still a wee bit cloudy but much better)
no he didnt quaranteen the baby but then we know very well the supplier now and their supplier aswell......his mistake, im watcing the babies carefully as always.
Bloodworms are messy but seem to be enjoyed, snape actually sucked one in so mayhaps he will get the taste and eat properly soon.
Weasley and Molly werent fussed yet but they are sulking about snape getting more attention than them. The (yet to be named) vacuum cleaner ate a whole block to itself plus a 1/4 of beef heart and a mealworm.. Its a tiny little thing.

Ive put a bottle with froxzen rainwater into the tank to lower temp, tis going down very slowly.... when i do the water change in 5 mins it should go down more.
Gosh chillers are expensive!!!! im looking at 500$ to get one i know will handle a bigger tank, hmm i think my chrissy present is going bye byes this year, money towards chiller is more important by a long shot....
My oldest son who is homeschooled is at the moment designing me a chiller, if it works well i will let u know how it goes, he is getting n apprentiship next year for electrician so hes been looking up different things..... heres me praying!!!!
 

kapo

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With your new tank what is the width/length? Axies do prefer floor length as they may swim up and float amongst plants but they do tend to use more floor space than height.

Some people quarantine plants, and there's no harm in it as some plants bought from petshop may contain snail eggs or worms etc...

How tiny is "vacuum" compared to your others? As long as he doesn't get mistaken for fodder himself!

Petshops also do not have the time to quarantine properly and to ensure the pets they receive are 100%. If you know the breeder and have visited or seen his other animals (not at the petshop) and they all look healthy then you may be okay.

We still quarantine axies despite the fact that I get from breeders/people I know and know they're healthy. This also ensures the new one is settling in and won't in turn get stressed from the move/new surroundings and we can get to know its habits/oddities before introducing it to our older ones tanks.

Don't forget to crush/decapitate the mealworm head - they can be nasty and will bite/nip your axies insides.

Search this forum, there has been a number of owners that have improvised and designed home made chillers.
 

dancas

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Believe me the "vacuum" (now known as LONGBOTTOM, following our harry potter theme) is very resilient... within 5 mnutes of being in the tank it was eating ferociously, and within an hour our two other whities were cuddling it, they are all hanging out together in a little cave atm.. soooo cute..
 

dancas

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Snape finally has started eating.... he was a bit snappy at me so i offered him a 1/3 piece of bloodworm cube and he snapped it and gulped it down... he wouldnt take any more than that, but its a start....tomorrow i will try again...., he may have had some earlier this morning when i fed the others, i let a pool of tem accumulate at his head and wen i looked in there not 2 mins later they had all gone, and none of the others were around him....
 

Daniel

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Concerning your white-eyed - axolotl: I had a similar problem now and then. I found out that it was some kind of protozoons at the eyes instead of fungus. Best results I had with a tea bath - you can look it up at CC: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness2.shtml

As for your new axolotl babie: In this case size really matters ;) Axolotls may snap at each other when in search for food. Thats natural and not out of bad intentions. If the baby is too small compared to its companions it may severely get hurt (young axolotls skin is not as durable and bones are smaller and weaker than in adult axolotls).
 

dancas

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thanks

thanks for that i will try it as soon as i can.
 
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