Illness/Sickness: Help! Mysterious Death, concerned for others!

[licerbob]

I came home from school today and one of my Axolotls was DEAD!!!
I fed them the night before at like 1 am but that's not odd for them (generally feed them a little when I get home and a larger meal befor I go to sleep (anywhere from 11 to 1) he ate 3 crickets.

I did not notice any symptoms.

I am posting because I have no clue at all what killed him and I am extremely concerned for my other Axolotl in the tank with him.

I (had) 2 axolotls in a slightly larger than 20 gallon tank.
The one that died was about 7 inches long and Leucistic and the other is a Melanoid and is about 5 to 6 inches long, I got them both from a very credible breeder on April 20th and they were maybe 3 and 3 1/5 inches long.

In the tank are 2 half log decoration hides, a Live Water sprite plant, Water Lilly, and Penny Wort (may be chinese penny wort), and 2 large pingpong sized snails (do not know what kind). The snails are both still there so he didn't eat one and die, The substrate is sand, the filter poors out onto the water lillies to defuse the flow, and the Temperature of the tank is 20 Celsius at highest but generally more around 16-18. I have a light I use during the day that is designed for plants. I use a Fan to keep the temperature down

I try to feed them warbley's reptile and amphibian sticks and some off brand frog and newt pellets but they don't always take them. I regularly feed them part of a canadian nightcrawler OR a red worm from Walmart that are sold as bite during the day (around 3 ish) and some crickets from the pet store before I go to bed. The smaller one eats one or two and the bigger would eat 2 or 3.

I just took a water test, Nitrites are a little high at .5 and Ammonia is at .5 as well, could not get an accurate pH test.

I remember reading somewhere that Axolotls are social and should be kept with other Axolotls?

I am going to do a 5 gallon/25% water change to be safe

PLEASE HELP???? What do you think could have happened? and will my other one be safe? + any tips

 

[licerbob]

Sorry forgot there are 4 or 5 fresh water clams that are buried in the sand. they are micro filter feeders and help keep the tank water cleen

 

[HayleyK]

Having a reading of ammonia and nitrites means your tank isn't cycled yet, or you have really inaccurate tests. Although they're at a low level, I doubt that's the main cause of death but prolonged exposure is surely detrimental to their health.

A diet of crickets really isn't the best nutritional option. I've heard crickets can be hard to digest too.

Did you quarantine any of the plants or snails before adding them to the main tank?

Sometimes the only way to know what killed them is an autopsy that can be performed at the vets.

 

[licerbob]

My tank was set up with the plants and everything over a month before I got the Axolotls and the snails were put in about 2 weeks before.

I feed them worms and pellets too

 

[Skudo09]

What type of testing kit do you use? I would avoid feeding crickets as often as they can be difficult to digest with the exoskeleton and as Hayley mentioned, they are not the most nutritious. They are ok as a treat occasionally but I would cut back on them so it is occasionally rather than every day.

Have you changed anything recently or have you washed the filter?

 

[licerbob]

Dr.wellfish Ph test but it is like 20 years old (yes I know I need a new one)
Do not know the ammonia test brand but its a 2 part test, 8 drops of bottle one than 8 drops bottle of 2
Nitrite test is API I bought it recently online from pond discounts or something like that.
those are the only tests I have

all right Thank you for the crickets tip I will use them less

the filter pad got clogged up at one point so I rinsed off the blue pad (there is a blue one with carbon and a black one that is supposed to be bio mesh) but that was at least a week ago probably closer to a week and a half.

 

[licerbob]

a few days before (not sure how many sorry 3+) the fan fell into the tank (not enough to electrocute the tank) I had to take it off for a few hours so it could dry off but then I put it back

Might have ben a bit of a temperature spike while the fan was off?

Some one gave me a small (about 4") Chanel cat fish as a graduation gift (yea my friends are kinda weird) and I looked them up Google says they were cold water Scavengers and ate debris like dead plants off the tank bottom. He was really fast and to big for the lols to eat and a cleaner from what I found so I acclimated him to the tank and put him in (temp 15 min, 50 50 water 15 min) I DID NOT PUT ANY STORE WATER IN THE TANK. But the tank was defiantly way to small for him and he kept darting and bashing his head into the glass... he only lasted like 2 days.

 

[AnnaBingham]

Dr.wellfish Ph test but it is like 20 years old (yes I know I need a new one)
Do not know the ammonia test brand but its a 2 part test, 8 drops of bottle one than 8 drops bottle of 2
Nitrite test is API I bought it recently online from pond discounts or something like that.
those are the only tests I have

all right Thank you for the crickets tip I will use them less

the filter pad got clogged up at one point so I rinsed off the blue pad (there is a blue one with carbon and a black one that is supposed to be bio mesh) but that was at least a week ago probably closer to a week and a half.

Have you got a nitrate testing kit? Nitrates are important to test for as well as ammonia and nitrite. Also how did you wash your filter pad? Was it washed in some tank water or clean water?
I made the mistake of replacing all my filter pads and my whole cycle crashed. Cleaning it in clean water can get rid of good bacteria.
Sorry about your axie, one of mine is ill at the moment and its horrible

 

[licerbob]

No I do not have that kit yet, My oceanography teacher said that the basic 2 are ammonia and Ph, I know nitrates can harm fish too but they build up slowly over time +plants use them as a fertilizer which should naturally remove them. I have the nitrite test because that can kill fish and things much much quicker so I bought that one first. Nitrite Dynamite

I pulled it out the pad and immediately put it into a little container to collect all the drip off then I had to scrub a bunch of dirt/potting soil out of it and I did that in the sink, we have well water if that matters (some times the axolotls would swim thru the penny wort which still had some soil around it that I tried to bury in sand, it just gets stered up sometimes and collects in the filter) After the sink i squished out as much sink water as I could and then poured the tank water that dripped out into the bucket all over the filter. I did not touch the black "bio mesh" at all. This is how I clean it every time...

Thanks Anna, I hope yours gets better...

Do Axolotls need to live with others? I don't want my other one to die of loneliness... I believe I saw somewhere that they do better with friends.

Toothless is the name of the one that is still alive.

 

[Sweetie]

No, they do not need to live with other axolotls.

 

[Skudo09]

Plants do consume nitrates but may not necessarily consume nitrates fast enough to keep nitrate within a safe level depending on your bioload, how often to perform water changes and how many plants you have. It is best to be testing for nitrates regularly as well as ammonia, nitrite and PH so you can be sure that nitrate is in a safe level also.

 

[EmbryH]

What condition was the body in? Did you notice any hard lumps in the stomach? Any strange discoloration? Were the crickets dead when he ate them? It's possible one was still alive and could have chewed his insides up or something.

Axolotls do not need to be kept with each other, and they absolutely should not be kept with other species. Snails, clams, catfish?? Other species, even if they don't physically harm the axolotl, can carry diseases.

Personally I'd get those clams and snails out of there. They're too much of a wildcard for the condition of your tank.

 

[licerbob]

I didn't check for any lumps in the stomach I never thought to do that. I saw him and the other in the corner behind the water sprite were they like to hang out during the day except he was upside down... I kind of started freaking out a little and reached my hand in, the black one darted away and I kinda nudged the white one and nothing happened. I picked him up (still in the tank) and kinda wiggled him and bounced him a little to see if he would respond but nothing... There were no marks on the body at all and the gills were still red. It looked like he had just died like within the past few minutes. his body was still soft... (at this point I was crying my eyes out so my mom came in and messed with it and checked it and stuff) he had seemed perfectly normal happy and healthy then suddenly bam dead .

the snails are in there to clean the algae, what do you use for that?

 

[licerbob]

The water sprite is really big, reaches the top of tank and covers about1/3 of the way across
the penny wort is roughly in a 4x4in square and avg 2.5 in tall (snail in pic)
lilly pad has about 18 1.5 in leaves, some are on the surface
the red and yellow leaves are fake, part of the log hides

There is a picture of them taken the night before around 1 am

 

[Sweetie]

Wow - to digress slightly - speaking of purple axies (see current thread in the General Discussion section), your wildtype is absolutely beautiful!
On the issue at hand, I would worry about water quality. I'm wondering whether the frantic behaviour of the short-lived catfish was a warning of water problems. Some people have found wildtypes to be hardier and less sensitive to water problems than albinos or leucistics (though I believe this is purely anecdotal), so perhaps this explains why one is still apparently ok.

 

[Skudo09]

The sand to me in the photos looks like it has small pebbles through it. I am concerned this might be a potential risk of impaction. It might be best to remove the sand and replace it with fine silica based sand.

Nitrates encourage algae growth so if you have lots of algae, it suggests a potentially high level of nitrate. To clean algae off I usuy just wipe it off with a clean chux cloth (brand new never used, don't use one that has already been used especially one used with chemicals).

 

[licerbob]

Thanks Sweetie, it's actually a melanoid tho it was lighter when it was smaller.
got a new pH kit and AAAH tested out at 6.6! added some pH up that came with the kit. Ammonia is at a beautiful yellow 0ppm an nitrite is in between.25 and .5. I ordered a nitrate test kit because my store only sells them in deluxe kits that are $40+

I think the catfish was meant for rivers not axolotls slow moving/ still water an thats why he was darting, but you definitely have a very good point. Maybe when the catfish died the ammonia spiked up? I didn't test the water then but I should have :/

there are some larger sand grains but no larger than 1/2 a centimeter, are those too big? I will go thru and pick them all out if I have to!

the algae is not terrible, just gives the class a little foggyness in spots. the fake leaves have a bit of a brown layer on them. I think I am going to take the snails out anyways because they hardly seem to move at all

lots off dead bugs and moths keep falling into the tank and I change at least a gallon every 2 days trying to get them out. Maybe he ate a poisoned bug??? but that would require him simming to the top and eating which I have never gotten him to do ( tried feeding floating pellets with no success, he would sometimes swim up to within an inch of the surface than just float back down)

 

[Skudo09]

I would probably remove the sand completely and replace it with fine silica based sand but if you would prefer to pick all the large grains out, it is up to you but be sure to get all the large grains. It looks like gravel size to me in the photos so I would not risk keeping it in the tank.

Do you or anyone in your household use any pesticides? Is there any chance of contamination from aerosols sprayed near their tank? Given that your tank appears to be in the process of cycling, there could have been spikes in ammonia or nitrite which may have been the culprit. If your other two seem to be ok, I would continue to monitor ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and do water changes if the levels get any higher than 0.5ppm (nitrate is ok up to 40ppm).

I would avoid using chemical PH alterations as the fluctuations could be stressful. Do you know what the PH is of your tap water? There may be something in your tank affecting the PH?

 

[Gail24]

So sorry you lost an Axie
as the others said i would do a tank clean and change the water too, i feed my 3 Axies Earthworms,for a treat they get meal worms with the heads removed maybe once a month ,
they are mysterious little creatures ,which we all do our best to look after ,but sometimes its not enough ,hopefully the others will be fine ..good luck

 

[Sweetie]

So sorry you lost an Axie
as the others said i would do a tank clean and change the water too,

Obviously, don't change all the water at once or you may crash your tank's cycle. About 20-30% is usually plenty per water change, unless you have a major spike of ammonia, nitrites or nitrates.