Dying babies help??

[salamandergod]

I recently got 8 baby axolotls and they looked strong for a long time but all of a sudden they stopped eating just last night. I had one die already and the other seven are close to death. For the first two to three weeks they were fed twice a day on brine shrimp and then I started doing it about every twenty four hours. Please help. They are my only ones because someone shipped them to me as eggs and they mean a lot to me.

 

[Kaysie]

Can you tell us more about your feeding and cleaning regime? What kind of setup are you keeping them in?

 

[salamandergod]

I make sure the brine shrimp I feed them are rinsed out well and when their stomachs look empty I make sure to give them more. They only had two delayed feedings and they were only by a few hours. I keep them in a one gallon critter cage with about an inch of water and an air stone going at all times. When I clean their setup which is every two or three days I put them in a Tupperware container and after I put the Tupperware container in the critter cage to even out the temp and then I slowly pour them in the new water.

 

[Kaysie]

Do you scrub off the biofilm? Are you offering adequate amounts of food? When they're that young, they should be swimming in food 24/7.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

I would bet it's all water issues. That little bit of water can go bad very fast and all the water changes that are needed to keep it clean are very stressful. They end up riding a Ph roller coaster. You should have them set up in a full gallon of water that is from a cycled tank with a ton of plants like elodea and java moss. Small water changes should be done every couple days. Plus if they can eat adult brine shrimp they should be moved on to chopped black worms, daphnia, and white worms.

 

[salamandergod]

Yes I try to get most of the biofilm off and I offer them food most of the day except when I'm at school. Summer vacation is right around the corner so that won't be a problem. I haven't gotten around to getting plants yet because they don't have a substrate yet. I believe it must have been a difference in the water chemistry because they all of a sudden crashed. I got frightened and put them slowly back in their old water and they started recovering. Also when and how is the best way to lean them to dead food because I am starting to run low on brine shrimp. If it is a long time before they don't need living food anymore I will order more.

 

[salamandergod]

I can only see three bellies that are full the rest do not seem to be taking the food even after I stared offering them food more often. ?

 

[Alkylhalide]

You should be doing 100% water changes AT LEAST once a day and rinsin the tub out. Brine shrimp foul the water very quickly and every few days would be way to much stress even with an adult if it was in a tub.

Usin tank water everyday is great and all but i really honestly prefer knowing that every 24hours or less there is 100% fresh dechlorinated room temperature water in with the babies. They are more sensiive then adults are and adults are still sensitive to water quality.

Also do you let your water age before using?

Alsoo2: hehe how old are the babies? And roughy how big are they? This may help also if you could provide it. But almost garantee its water quality.

 

[Alkylhalide]

I can only see three bellies that are full the rest do not seem to be taking the food even after I stared offering them food more often. ?

If your lotls are stressed due to water quality it is normal for them to not want to eat. But it is extremely important that a baby eats because they cant go as long as a adult can without food.

Get them in fresh water asap. Declorinated and room temperature. Even if you dont have any aged right now not aged clean water is 100times better then them in the water they currently are in

 

[karipatra]

Re: Dying babies help����

When I hatched mine, I did a partial water change then a full, every other day switching.

Watch the temp too. 70 and above will stress them and can easily kill them if it gets above that. I lost 3 because my room got too hot. 1 died that night, 2 others were gone the next day, even though I had gotten the temp back down to 64. Good luck!

 

[salamandergod]

I do not let my water age but I use declorinator and let it sit for a few minutes before I add my axies. They are about five weeks old an are about a inch long. They have their front legs but no sign of back legs. The water temp got close but it didn't get above 70 and that was last week.

 

[Alkylhalide]

I do not let my water age but I use declorinator and let it sit for a few minutes before I add my axies. They are about five weeks old an are about a inch long. They have their front legs but no sign of back legs. The water temp got close but it didn't get above 70 and that was last week.

with babies it is VERY important to age your water for them, it is important at any age group however babies are the most sensitive.
It should be aged at least 24hours.
You should also clean the water our daily, not every other day. brine shrimp foul the water TERRIBLY bad. I was even changing the water twice a day (right before each feeding)