Is my axolotl stressed by water temp?

[jodi]

Hi there, I'm a brand new member who has two axoltol's I bought for my daughter (guess who has now claimed them for her own!)in April this year. After coming home one day to discover Diego's tail sticking out of Don Juan's mouth we had to get a bigger one so it didn't happen again!
Anyway, Don Juan has always been easy to look after - hand feeds and swims up to say hello. This new guy (names anyone??) who we've had since about June has been harder. For a really long time it didn't eat - or not that I had seen anyway.
We've finally moved them into a 4ft tank that's filled to about 40cm and they've both been so much happier in there. The new guy is much more active and has finally started hand feeding!

PROBLEM: i noticed yesterday it's gills are much more forward than usual and it is slightly less active. It's coming into summer here now and I wonder if it's the water temp - it was 26C yesterday. I've got the ceiling fan on now and will leave it on while I'm at work but I'm really concerned. How can I cool the water down while I'm out all day? And what on earth do I do when I go on holiday over christmas? Does anyone in Brisbane know where I can get a water cooling device or similar? HELP!!!

 

[karrie]

You could look on Ebay. Maybe when you leave for christmas some one can watch them for you. Mine get stressed when they get to hot.

 

[nya]

When it was warm here in the summer, I used to put an old 2 litre bottle of coke full of tap water in the freezer over night and pop it in the tank in the morning when i left for work. This seemed to help, but I don't know what any axo experts would think of this?

 

[karrie]

I do that also but I use filter water in case the bottle breaks.

 

[jodi]

Thanks guys. I will do that. In the end this morning I put a pedestal fan on a chair and have it blowing across the tank. The water seems cooler but the axie still has it's gills forward. However, it did eat this morning without any fuss. Our bigger one (Don Juan) seems to be just fine.
I will fill a coke bottle now and put it in tomorrow.
My next door neighbours will feed them while we're away and I'm sure they will do the bottle thing if i ask.
Thanks again. If anyone has any more advice I'm all ears. It's so hard to find any info and I'm so glad I found this site.

 

[kapo]

Make sure the water is dechlorinated water, one of the aussie owners last year used tap water in his frozen bottle, it burst his axie died. We use pedestal fans too.

 

[nya]

I didn't think of that, I will make sure I use dechlorinated water next summer!