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Hello, axie unknown death reason...

purplepaj

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Hi im new to Axolotls and I've just bought my first one. It was a young female that i bought home. I acclimatised her in her own tank for an hour, like i usually do with my other fish (in a separate tank). When I bought her from the shop, the man who sold me it told me she probably wouldn't be a good idea to feed her for a couple of days. On the third day i started feeding her on what I'd been told to give her. However, on the fourth day she sadly died.

Can anyone help, or possibly have any more axolotls for sale?

Thanks a lot.

Purplepaj
 

Bellabelloo

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A few questions for you, these may help reach an answer.
How long was the tank set up before you got your axolotl ?
What do you have inside the tank?
What was the temperature of the water?
Finally what did you feed your axolotl?
How big was your axolotl?
 

purplepaj

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I have a large tank of tropical fish set up already, i moved about two thirds of the water from that into her tank, and a third from how i would usually top up a water change. Even then I had it running for two weeks.

In the tank, there is a block of white rock, a few smaller rocks about the size of ping pong balls, a slab of quartz, two real plant types and one fake plant. along the bottom are a tiny handful of sand grains, they are no larger than two millimeters across.

I fed her on: firstly prawns - as i was recommended, then i turned to bloodworm.

The temperature of the water was and is 18 degrees Celsius.

She was four inches from nose to tail.
 

Jennewt

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I don't know why you were told not to feed her for 3 days. That's odd. The setup all sounds fine. There is a phenomenon called "refeeding syndrome". If an animal is starved for a period of time and then suddenly given a large amount of food, it can actually overwhelm the animal's system and kill it. However, this is rare, and it would take more than 3 days of non-feeding before this would be possible (i.e., this could only happen if the animal had been unfed by shop for a while).

I'm not in AU, but I hear that axolotls are widely available. You might want to consider getting one from a private breeder rather than a pet shop.
 

Erzs

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Hey PurplePaj, I'm sorry for your loss. =[

Is this the little axolotl that was going for air every 40-60 seconds?
 

smily sam

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sorry for your loss:( how old was the axie:confused:
i have some lavae wich in a few months if you hav'nt got an another axie by then i could sell to you
sam:eek:
 

purplepaj

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Yes, she was, do you know why?
The shop didn't tell me how old, but i'm guessing mid juvenile - because she was about four inches long.
... and thanks for the support.
 
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Erzs

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With the parameters in check, (which I'm assuming they were since you already have another tank set up so know the cycling process), unless there was some form of infection brought from the fish tank over to the new tank, I honestly can't think why she would be reacting that way. =[ I'm presuming her gills were in good condition?

Like Jennewt, I can't understand why you would be told not to feed her for three days. From experience of bringing home axolotls from the petshop they've all been ravenous! Also prawns aren't really suggested for an axolotl diet so I'm glad you switched to bloodworms. Did she eat well when you offered her the food? Was she always going for air 40-60 seconds since you got her home? Or did it start at any significant point?

Do you have a picture of her? Axolotls from petshops aren't always in the healthiest of states. So it's possible she was unfortunately unwell to begin with and there was nothing you did to cause this and nothing you could have done to prevent it. =[
 

Crysta

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There's also the off chance that this was a genetic matter, axolotls have been known to have random deaths of which the causes are defects in their genetics, such as organs collapsing etc.

However I feel the most likely reasoning behind it is that the axolotl was having immensely poor care in that pet shop, judging from the information we have on them in this thread, they're obviously very mis-informed about the care of axolotls. With such a short amount of time between the pet shop and her death, I think it's highly probable that there was nothing you could have done to help, Hopefully the shop gave you some sort of guarantee? The only reason I can think of for them telling you not to feed her for 3 days, is that they may have fed her that day, not that it makes a difference as long as you watch their weight. In pet shops they tend to keep all of the tanks (minus cold water - marine - tropical) on the same filtration system (with the same water) so it's possible - if this was the case, that the axolotl could have had a disease for some time.

You seem like an enthusiastic and caring owner, i'm sure an axolotl will be glad to have you looking after them. Your best bet is to have a look in the "for sale" section of this site, there's often axolotls for sale.

I'm sorry that you had such a bad experience on starting with Lotls, I'm glad however that it doesn't seem to have put you off.
 
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