Question: URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE - 2 adopted axolotls

Hi there,

This is not the way I had planned my introduction! I have been wanting axolotls for ages. I've really done my research and was planning to get my first set up started shortly. When I saw that an old friend who I haven't seen for a long long time, who I understood to be an experienced hobbyist, had two axolotls that he needed to rehome quickly as he was moving away, couldn't accomodate them anymore and couldn't find anyone to take care of them I thought I'd offer a temporary home.

I collected them this evening and am quite concerned about the condition of the tank. I was told they were in a fully cycled tank and that he would dismantle the set up (transferring the water to two containers and a bit for transporting the axies) ready for us to collect. None of that happened, he already left yesterday apparently and a housemate let us in to collect them. The tank water is filthy. We weren't quite sure what to do but decided that they clearly aren't being looked after so we took our chance to get them out of that situation. There was even a layer of decomposing bloodworms on the substrate free floor of the tank.

I currently have them in a plastic tank that I had, in some water from the tank with a couple of hide spots transferred. I have syphoned a lot of the debris up (the water in the bucket was completely black) but am not sure how to handle the situation. It is still really quite dirty. The filter does not work at all. There were tiny dead flies on the inside of the tank lid (could this be from the bloodworms?).

One of the axolotls is an albino male (I think), about 15cm in length and quite chunky. He looks remarkably healthy!

The other is a wild type, and by comparison I think probably female. She is a bit shorter 12ish cms I think, generally smaller built and is missing one of her front feet.

They seem to be staying quite separate but might they be too young to share a tank? I was told they were two years old but now realise I cannot trust anything I was told by the previous owner.

Having no idea when they were last fed, I thought I should give them a little bit of food each just in case so they have had two defrosted, rinsed and drained cubes of frozen bloodworm each - gobbled them up quite readily. I'm not sure if I should give them more as I don't know what damage I could do through over feeding?

Sorry, that was a long explanation. I just want to provide as much information as possible. I don't know what to do! How much of the water can I safely remove? Can I return them to the tank as it is? The worst thing is, he also told us he had a testing kit I could have to keep an eye on things and we couldn't find it anywhere. I wish we had bought one anyway, feel so stupid now. I'm sure it must be terrible water quality.

I have enough water prepared for a 50% (at least I was a little bit cautious) water change. What is my best solution? We thought we were so prepared but this is taking us way out of our depth! I'm going to contact our local specialist, who we have already got quite a good relationship with through our research, first thing in the morning to get her advice but thought here would be a great place to start for the immediate situation.

We really appreciate any advice you might be able to give. Sorry axies for not being as prepared as we thought

Hi and welcome to the forums

Shame that your first post is such a distressing one (mine was too) !
From the sounds of it you've done a good thing by rescuing those axies. If their tank water was black then something is definitely VERY wrong.

It sounds like you're aware that the tank needs to be cycled but bear with me:
The nitrogen cycle is what needs to take place for fish tank to be safe for aquatic animals. Essentially, bacteria cultures form on the surfaces of the tank (and in the filter) that feed on fish waste (ammonia) and convert the ammonia into nitrites. Other bacteria cultures then form and feed on these nitrites converting them into nitrates.
Ammonia and nitrites are poisonous to fish and amphibians, such as axolotls. Nitrates are also harmful in high levels, which is why you should keep up with regular water changes.

Decaying food (such as the bloodworms) also result in an increase in ammonia. So I assume the water you are keeping them in from the tank might have high levels of ammonia.
What you need to know is that these bacteria cultures DO NOT live in the water, they live on the surfaces of things in the tank. This means that if the filter isn't working (and who knows how long it's been since it did) and you are keeping them in a different tank to the one they were previously in then having them in the old tank water isn't really benefitting them in any way. Also, if you have drained the tank to move it then the bacteria cultures in the tank would have already died from not being in the water.

My recommendation would be: get rid of the old tank water and put them in clean, dechlorinated water. Clean everything out of the tank and start again. That is, you will need to get a new filter (or try and get the old filter to work, but you might need to clean it) and cycle your tank. This can be a lengthy process taking around a month, maybe longer. You can keep your axolotls in the tank while you cycle it as long as you keep up to date with regular DAILY water changes of around 20%. Otherwise you can keep your axies in plastic tubs and change their water everyday to stop ammonia build up; this way might work best as you are not subjecting the axies to ammonia and you can let the ammonia levels rise to higher levels in your tank which could allow bacteria cultures to form at a faster rate (I might be wrong about this!)
You might want to explore the axolotl housing page (Axolotls - Housing in Captivity) for more info about cycling.

You sound like you've done everything right so far and you are committed to helping these axies out It's a very good sign that they're happy to eat, if they don't look underfed (an axies body should be roughly the same width as it's head) then I wouldn't worry too much about trying to feed them anymore right now.
As for their sizes, I would think they'd be fine to be in a tank together...other members might have different ideas though?

Sorry for the essay! I hope this makes sense and gives you an idea of how to proceed... I just think that in this case it might be better to start anew than to attempt to salvage what might remain of the tanks cycle (especially if the filter isn't working).

Also, some pictures of them would be nice to see!