Hi guys, I've had my axolotl for about 5 months now and up until a recent series of unfortunate events my 20 gallon long tank was fully cycled and my Axolotl who is about 5 inches long now was doing really well.
First off seemingly out of no where a fungus outbreak happened in the tank. Which seemed odd to me because I had being doing water changes about once a week 20%-30%. This outbreak was bad I mean the stuff was everywhere. Long story short I had to empty the tank and steralize. I should have done more research but I panicked and cleaned my air-stone and filter using the bleaching method. (big mistake). After thoroughly rinsing and dechlorinator I introduced him back to the tank and he was flapping his gills very profusely. I immediately took him out and fridged him with some fresh water and dechlorinator of course and left the tank overnight. In the morning I emptied the tank again and re-filled it with fresh clean water. I also tossed the air-stone as it is a porous material. Soaked the filter in more decholirnater and hot water and thoroughly rinsed it. Nothing smells like bleach and I tested the water parameters. I put him back in the tank and same thing. He's not doing well in the fridge he seems VERY stressed and wont eat today. I am a new axolotl owner and I'm realizing that even with all the research I've done I'm still not well equipped. I always take very good care of my pets. I'm worried and I want him to be okay.
First off seemingly out of no where a fungus outbreak happened in the tank. Which seemed odd to me because I had being doing water changes about once a week 20%-30%. This outbreak was bad I mean the stuff was everywhere. Long story short I had to empty the tank and steralize. I should have done more research but I panicked and cleaned my air-stone and filter using the bleaching method. (big mistake). After thoroughly rinsing and dechlorinator I introduced him back to the tank and he was flapping his gills very profusely. I immediately took him out and fridged him with some fresh water and dechlorinator of course and left the tank overnight. In the morning I emptied the tank again and re-filled it with fresh clean water. I also tossed the air-stone as it is a porous material. Soaked the filter in more decholirnater and hot water and thoroughly rinsed it. Nothing smells like bleach and I tested the water parameters. I put him back in the tank and same thing. He's not doing well in the fridge he seems VERY stressed and wont eat today. I am a new axolotl owner and I'm realizing that even with all the research I've done I'm still not well equipped. I always take very good care of my pets. I'm worried and I want him to be okay.