Hi Tay,
I've actually been using rain water. Do you think it would be better to use tap water with de coordinator instead? I live in samford, northern outskirts of Brisbane and I know the tap water here has changed fairly resently but im not sure how.
Tap water treated with a de-chlorinater would mean less headaches for you for sure. The problem with rain water is that it can be acidic and lacking in minerals. This thread contains a lot of great information on the problems of using rainwater:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...t-ups-filters-substrate/52592-rain-water.html
The change made to the tap water may be that your Water Works is using chloromine rather than chlorine. The problem with chloromine is that it doesn't evaporate over time like chlorine does, and
the only way to get rid of it is to treat it with a de-chlorinater.
Check with your Water Works, and they should be able to tell you if they are using either chlorine or chloromine. Then, have a look at the label on your de-chlorinater to make sure that the de-chlorinater treats the water for whichever is being utilized by the water board.
You can test the water yourself to determine which chemical is in your tap water, but you will need an ammonia test kit for this. If you test the tap water and it has ammonia in it, it's chloromine, and will need to be treated with the appropriate water conditioner (dechlorinater).
More information can be found here:
Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality
As Lea advised, please do not use a salt bath on the axolotls unless there is fungus present. Axolotls find salt baths to be quite irritating, and this can cause unnecessary further stress on them.
Tea baths are great for treating minor skin problems.
Tea bath for axolotls
Contributed by Daniel Weiner, August 2007.
I mainly use teabaths for minor skin problems. It may also be used with fungal problems but on that account I prefer salt baths. Tea has a slightly antifungal and antibacterial effect (resulting from tannins) and additionally it closes the pores in the skin a little bit (mainly resulting from tannin and caffeine). The skin tightens and gets some kind of protective layer, making it harder for fungi and bacteria to intrude the body. On the other hand it makes it harder for salt or medicine to reach pathogens which are already inside the body - that is the reason I do not use it on fungal infections, although a tea bath is sometimes recommended as a cure for fungal infections by some people.
The medication is as follows: I take one bag of black tea without any additional aroma (it is important to use black tea because this kind of tea is fermented and so it has tannins) for every 10 litres of water (preferably used in a quarantine tank). This tea gets dashed with boiling water in a seperate bowl - I leave it there for at least 10 to 15 minutes so the tannins are resolved into the water. The tea has to cool down and is finally added to the quarantine water. After a week I make a bigger change of water (60% at least), the rest of the tea is removed over time by normal water changes. If you have to make more regular water changes (f.i. in a small bowl or tank) the tea concentration can be refilled. As far as I know there are no negative effects even for long term treatment.
A similar effect (although not as strong) may have the addition of dried oak or beech leafs now and then as a precaution.
Are you able to post some photos of the axolotl that is having the skin problems? Also, if you could give us a rundown on your tank maintenance procedure, that would be helpful. Such as:
How often do you do partial water changes? How much water do you change out each time?
How large is the tank?
What is the tank water temperature?
Do the two axolotls have any other tank mates (fish, sea clams, salt water critters, etc)?
