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Is it possible that I am just this unlucky with axolotl keeping or could it be the pet store?

Sherleelee

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Hey everyone.

I posted a few weeks back regarding the health of 2 of my axolotls Yuki and Alby.
I did what I could for Yuki but sadly he lost his battle to what ever was making him sick 2 days ago. I did water changes weekly, monitored the water parameters ( all were perfect) and was just at a loss. He would not eat and became very skinny,when he would eat he would vomit it back up. The day he died i found a pool of blood near on the sand near where his gill was and a very white patch on his head, almost as if he had been bitten ( i dont feel that was what happened tho). I was very upset about this and noticed that Alby had once again contracted a fungus ( after i got rid of it the 1st time) she then started to present the same things Yuki had been doing over the course of a week which was wriggling on the out skirts of the tank frantically and gulping for air a lot. But aside from the lil black patch of fungus she seemed otherwise fine. She ate like a pig and was a lil chubby bubba. As the day went on i noticed her gills started collecting a TON of white cotten/fungus on it and wasnt sure what was going on as it seemed that weeks worth of illness was hitting her in the span of just 4 hours. I wasnt able to get to the shop to get more sea salt for her till the morning so right before bed I checked on her only to find she had passed away.. her skin was a little bit red patchy but otherwise looked fine. Upon closely looking at her I found that her gills didnt have any fungus on it so what I could only assume was that they had lost blood in them as she was slowly dieing. I was going to fridge her in the morning and salt bath treatment her but she couldnt wait.... I am beyond devastated with having 2 losses in the same day and not to mention alby was very special to me. She had this personalty that was just amazing and she had 6 toes on one foot that I just loved. Now what my queston is, is what are the chances of this happening.
Both alby and yuki were bought from the same pet store about a year ago ( at the same time and from the same litter im assuming as well) and die within the same day.
IF and thats a big if, i decided to continue this hobby of fish keeping ( the loss of a fish is very very hard on me as i dont look at them as just "fish: ) I will not be purchasing fish from said pet shop anymore as it seems each time i buy an axolotl from there they die within the year. Now keep in mind its Australia and in victoria our weather is pretty eh most of the time, but we did get into the high 30s close to 40 for a couple days ( when i lost bost axies) and it seems around summer is when i lose an axie so that could def be contributing to this. But I need some help is this just a freak coincidence or am I not the greatest axie keeper.. or what could I do more. My husband and I found an old chiller a friend gave us ages ago and we will try and get that up n going to help the water temp.. but I only have one axie left and im really worried if im going to lose him to.

I am sorry for the long post, its just I am very close to giving up on the hobby and i just dont know what to do. :sad:
 

auntiejude

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but we did get into the high 30s close to 40 for a couple days ( when i lost bost axies) and it seems around summer is when i lose an axie so that could def be contributing to this.

There is your problem. It's well known that Autralian keepers lose a lot of axies in their hot summers, if your temp was running at over 22C for a long time it will adversely affect any axies you have, any fungus that takes hold will really make an axie sick very quickly at that temp.

You really need a chiller.

It is also possible that the axies you have had come from weak stock, I would find a new supplier too.
 
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