Baby Axolotl Died.....Please Help......Was it Sick????

V

victoria

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Hello, This morning I looked in my tank that has about 30 2cm axolotl babies in. One of them was dead between the tank glass and a bit of a plant.
It looked white with no gills, and looked like it had been chewed. They others that are in there are golden which is why being white it looked strange. I don’t have anything else in the tank with them.
My partner was netting out some dirt from the bottom last night???.
We look at them very often so I think we would of noticed if one looked sick before. We have been feeding them on wild caught daphnia since they hatched and they are doing fine. But 2 days ago I got some daphnia from the local fishery along with some tubifex worms (which I only put a couple in) did we do something wrong? Did it have some kind of disease? Will it affect the others? Was it just unlucky and destine to die? Any advice would be great!
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Hi ok thanks, have you done it yet because cant see it and I havent had any answers, also We have found 3 other dead ones from another tank? Whats happening?
 
I dont know about Axolotls, But for my Cynops larvae, once in a while I would notice a few of these. Maybe just weaker individuals that died overnight and the fungus take on to it right after it died. I have never noticed this spreading to other cynops larvae in the setup. I would assume that Axolotl larvae should be biological similar to Cynops'.
 
I have 2 that are looking ill at the moment we have seperated them into a tub of their own. They have a very small bit of white fuzz on their sides. Can anything be done to help? salt bath???
Thanks so much for your help.
 
Well best person to catch online would be kapo, i hope someone can help you out vicky,

Hopefully kapo or jen will help you they are very experianced in axies as they both have helped me with my problems

And iam sorry to hear some have died i fell upset for you, Hope they get better and someone can help you out vicky.
 
Victoria I bred axies a few months ago and some attrition at this stage is normal. But it sounds to me as if these deaths are out of the ordinary for your brood of axies. I agree with your plan to separate any with whitish fluff on them - sounds like fungus and the wee things may not survive it.

I would tend to change their food source as you suggest - have you thought of breeding some brine shrimp? This way you can be utterly sure of the quality of their food.

Water quality may be something to look at - do you have any filtration (sponge etc) with these juveniles? Or are you changing the water 80 - 100% each day? If you are doing daily changes, I'd do a really thorough clean out and start using a different food source. I hope someone more knowledgeable is online soon for you.
 
It may be the weaker ones that are dying off, could very well have missed out on food the others were getting; became weak and died. Fungus does tend to grow pretty fast, overnight on a dead one.

Rather than netting for cleaning, invest in a turkey baster they are great little cleaners. Can also be used to move them while small between tubs/containers

I tend to agree with Deb R on the waterchanging and brineshrimp (as a good backup). I loved using daphnia and mosquito larvae for feeding. Paul buys his daphnia from local petshop quite cheaply and seems to have no problems with them.

How many do you keep per tub/tank?
 
Hi everyone thanks for your help. I have 2 tanks about 2ft long by 1ft deep and high with about 15-20 babies that are between 2.5 - 3cm in each, we have changed the water once a week as well as having sponge filters in there, when doing a water change last night we took out all the plants and rinsed them just to be safe. I brought a really good siphon/gravel cleaner yesterday its battery powered and works great!! They seemed to be quite a lot o dead daphnia on the bottom from the stuff i brought, which i didnt expect as the wild caught stuff i was using before didnt die, it just got eaten. Could they have contaminated the tank? I have also brought 2 more tanks that are 8inches deep&high by 2ft deep and I will be seperating them further this week to keep them happy.
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Sorry bit confused, but are your tanks 8"w x8"high x 24"long is that what you mean?

Do you test your water parameters on these tanks? Even with the waterchanges weekly, since you have sponge filters, its always good idea to check daily if there is any dead/uneaten food or ailing/dead babies, they can foul the tank. Turkey basters come in handy as daily spot cleaners.
 
yes I have 2 tanks in use. And to new ones that are 8"h 8"w and 24" long. So I should be able to split them into 8 in a tank.
I am really worried as the 2 that were ill didnt make it through the night and i have found another ill one this morning that might be dead...Im so worried because i keep losing them and they all look so strong, happy and healthy
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How do you think they look?
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remove the ill one - it might be better to keep him separate, and any other ones that appear to be sick, keep them in even an icecream container and change almost completely daily.

What are the bits in the sand that are sticking out? You might need to test your tankwater, for ammonia/nitrite/nitrates. To be on safe side even if you have the sponge filter and until you find out test results change 20-30% daily on your two current baby tanks.
 
They look ok for now. I agree with Kapo you should remove the sick one.
 
Also, when you do invest in your turkey baster or even using your gravel siphon. Run it through the the sand as sometimes food/waste can get imbedded and cause pockets of gas. A friend uses a fork to do his sand, we use turkey baster every so often/siphon.

Do love the setup of your baby tanks though :D
 
cute aren't they!
 
Hi, just o you know, as soon as I saw any ill looking ones I took them straight out of the tank and put them in there own tubs, unfortunately they didn’t make it anyway.

The stuff on the bottom is partly poo and i can see a few broken plant bits, but fear not it, I clean this out daily, I will now do as you suggested with the fork. Thanks again. xxx
 
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