gravel v sand

[sheila robinson]

Have an axololt, Moreton, who is hopefully on the mend from a bacterial infection. Should I change the substrate now from large gravel to sand or wait until he has totally recovered?

 

[Lisa]

I'd do it now. Rinse the sand thoroughly a few times before putting it in, and only to a depth of a couple of cm to make cleaning it easier. Put him in a bucket of tank water while you do it and keep him there until most of it has settled as the sand will make the water cloudy. That may take a day or two, so change the water in the bucket for dechlorinated water daily if he needs to be there that long. But do it now.

 

[sheila robinson]

Thanks Lisa
Have stripped the tank, no gravel or sand, will try just having a glass bottom. The tank looks pretty good, there area few places for Moreton to hide (castle and big flat rocks.) I cannot believe all the gunk that was in the gravel and I used to vac it out every couple of weeks but obvoiusly I wasn't doing a good enough job. I so hope Moreton will be ok.

 

[Jake]

If your axolotl is recovering from a bacterial infection, you might have the best luck keeping it in a cool tub of water with full water changes daily.

Also, if there was a lot of debris (uneaten food, feces, etc.) maybe you should check for ammonia, that could be the cause of it's illness.

 

[jodi]

Hi Sheila,

I got some really good advice the other day.

I wanted to get rid of the gravel in my tank and didn't want to leave the bottom of the tank bare, so someone from the local aquarium shop recommended that I replace it with stones (river stones) and suggested that I try Bunnings.

I did find a really good bag from Bunnings (had heaps of nice flat stones for lining the bottom of my tank and they were actually nice looking too for $11) and now have that in my tank instead of the gravel (and I think Axel and Ottell like it better).

 

[sherrisixxx]

Glad to hear your axie is on the mend. What symptoms did he have when he had bacterial infection?

And as for gravel, its good yo have removed it, so you won't have problems with your axies eating it and gravel getting stuck inside them. Good luck!