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Illness/Sickness: Paranoid Axi Mommy Again: Wrinkled Tail?

LiliTi

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Hey y'all! Just yesterday I noticed a slight wavy sort of wrinkled way to the top of my 6 week old axi's tail. Also the tip of her tail has curled around and a curled tail was a sign of illness from what I had read.
So this is what happened, I did a 30% weekly water change like normal but what I think may have stressed her out is that the water temp change was a little more than usual. Her tank sits naturally at 20 C. When I do my weekly water change I try to take it down just a bit to 18 C so she has a few days with a better range temperature for her before the natural warmth of my apartment brings it back up. I think when I leveled out the temps in her Tupperware container and the 1.5 gallon tank she currently lives it, it was a bit of a shock for her. She was definitely a little sluggish for the rest of the afternoon and I noticed the slight waviness in her tail.
This morning her temp had regulated from 16 C right after the water change to 18 C which is where it will normally stay for a while before steadily creeping back up. My concern was there was a definitely dramatic increase in the wrinkled appearance of her tail and now the tip had curled up. In a bit of a panic, I tried to feed her to see what her energy and appetite were. She ate 3 little chopped bits of earthworm without much provoking so her appetite was good but she was still more sluggish than normal.
Any suggestions? Her water parameters were at this last night:
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
PH: 8.2
Just need to know if there is anything I should be thinking about doing right away since she is still so small. Just under 2 in. Sorry for writing an entire book here but I'm just a paranoid Axi mom!
(PS. Sorry for the quality of the pictures, took them with my phone first thing this morning. I can get better ones if she is any worse when I get home from work today.)
 

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LiliTi

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Update: I got home from work to no improvement over the day. Found a couple of bloodworms that had sunk into the corners of the tank and after suctioning them and some waste from the tank, I took the water levels again.
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0.25ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm
That is the highest her levels have ever been so I did a quick water change. This time the water temperatures matched each other at 20 C so there was no shock factor. Her tail is still curled on the end, she is laying flat on her stomach at the bottom of the tank and I'm not sure if there is anything I should do right now. Is it just a circumstantial thing? I did feed her frozen bloodworms for the first time in a week last night and then a couple earthworm bits this morning. Could the diet change have something to do with it as well?
 

qannp

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Have a look at the first picture here http://www.lotls-in-hamburg.de/html/lotls_in_hamburg_-_korpersprac.html

Does her tail look like this? That would be a signal of stress.

PH should be between 7 and 7,5. Your's is above 8, so this isn't ideal.

20° is acceptable, you could lower it by directing a fan at the water surface. The evaporation will cool the water.

Do you use a filter? If so, what type?
 

qannp

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Oh, I just noticed: Ammonia should be under 0,2mg/l!

Do you have Indian Almond Leeves? These can lower the PH a little.
 

LiliTi

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I don't have any almond leaves and the filter type we have for her 1.5 gallon is a Whisper 3i. She's having some floating issues, turning onto her side and even on her back when I startled her by reaching in to suction out some new waste. I'm uncertain what to do from here. Should I go ahead and move her to a separate container just in case the water is what's continuing her symptoms or would that worsen her stress and be more dangerous?
 

LiliTi

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Oh and yes! The picture is exactly what the tip of her tail is doing. Now that I look really closely, it is a little veiny too and she seems pretty reluctant to move around.
 

birdsong

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I would suggest a bigger tank to dilute any ammonia spikes. Did you cycle your tank? And a ten gallon costs like $15 around me . What type of filter do you use
 

charleybambino

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Six weeks is still very young....and at this stage hatchlings seem to suddenly die off for often no apparent reason....probably nothing you've done wrong......just how it seems to be...could be a genetic issue......rooting for your little one!
 

rachel1

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I think its most likely unstable water chemistry from your 1.5 gallon cycling. I would move her into a small tub and do 100% water changes twice daily. It will not be stressful for her. They are very tolerant of large water changes. Just use new water that is around the same temperature. I raise all my babies up to 3" or 4" in shoebox sized Tupperware containers. In the meantime, start looking for a tank she can live in as an adult and get that tank cycled. Good luck- I hope she is back to normal quickly.
 

LiliTi

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Thank you all for your replies! She has improved quite a bit. Her tail is no longer wrinkled or curled up but her lethargy continues. I'm newly concerned because she is having floating issues, often ending up on her side when she snaps at food. She can right herself and still has a good appetite so I'm taking it as improvement.
Still as a precaution I have moved her to a smaller container with fresh water and have moved her just a few minutes ago to the bedroom with an open container with the overhead fan on to keep her temp a little cooler. I'm even sacrificing my warmer apartment temperature so it's a little chillier in here than usual just for my little axi. lol
As for the tank being completely cycled, it's hard for me to tell. I haven't monitored the process on past tanks enough but this is the first spike I have seen in 2 weeks of it running and have been taking daily to every other day water samples. I'm going to take the parameters on both container and the tank tomorrow when I can get tubes that my cat hasn't chewed the top off of (I'll never leave them in his reach again :eek: ). I'll have those tomorrow and keep you guys updated.
Anything I can do for her floating in the meantime? She's at the bottom of her container/tank but seems unstable.
 
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