Just a few q's

C

cameron

Guest
Hey all,

Im pretty new to this just got an Axolotl about a week ago Kaleigh - A Golden Pearl Axolotl.

Anyways first question is about the tank and water. When i first got her i had her in a 20L corner tank but upgraded within the next couple days to a 2ft 60L tank i have the water ager and conditioner the little blue water conditioning crystals and accu-clear, i also have a ph tester which i use maybe 2-3 times a week so far and a Cascade 150 biological filter but my water is still slightly cloudy any ideas please? Also i have the mid sized gravel in there and should i disperse of that and get some sand, wolud sand from the beach do if i washed it thouroughly or do u have to get special sand?

The next question is about Kaleigh since i got her apart from the first night i had her she has been floating on the surface not like one end up and the other down but an even float every so often she will stick her head out and gulp some air then duck her head back just under the water but stay floating, i have tried lightly patting her under the belly to get her to burp from what i have read but this didnt work, the temperature of the tank is sitting about 23-24 degrees celciusand atm i have 2 fans facing the surface of the water to try to keep it cool, but considering that i live in melbourne and that it has been above 37 degrees every day this week i think i am doing ok, what should i do though should i take some water out or should i take her out and put her in a bucket in the fridge with a little bit of water to try to get her to stay on the bottom???

My last question is about her feeding so far we have been trying to give her 4-5 blocks a day of the dried tubifex worms we put a live little fish in her tank to try to get her to eat that too but nothing atm yet she only seems to be eatin a at least 1 of the blocks a day and wont take it from me only my girlfriend, i am an auto elec so most of the time my hands a dirty which is why i get my girlfriend to feed her anyway but i had a few days off over xmas where they were clean and nothing. i have read that people heve been giving them worms and beef heart etc if so can u use ur normal garden variety worms or do you have to get the ones from the pet shop???

Also she has a cut in her tail which i have been told isnt serious, i showed the guy at the pet shop a photo he told me to keep an eye on it and make sure it dosent get crusty but it seems to be healing good atm.

Anywayz any help that anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks and cheers Cameron and (Kaleigh)
 
The floating generally isnt anything to worry about. Benny spent 2 weeks floating around at the top and then decided that he'd had enough of it and went to the bottom again. I've heard people talking about bloat and thing in association with floating but i think its best if someone more experienced can give more information on that.

Cut in her tail is most likely a war wound from another axie. It should heal up in no time at all.

sand is (in my oppinion) the best substrate to use for axies but im not sure about the risks (if any) of using sand from the beach. You could boil the sand so that it kills off any nasties hiding in it.
 
Did you cycle your tank before you got your axie If not, what are your readings for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

See : http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

If you don't have the tests you can take a sample of water to your petshop and get them to test it and write down the results.

Another thing if your tank is uncycled?/not cycled the reason he may be gasping and floating could be a combination of the temperature and water quality (ammonia from any food waste/axie poo).

Don't use any chemicals to "fix" the problem especially if the petshop attempts to sell you something to help; the best way to do it is by doing regular daily waterchanges (20%) and test your water regularly till it is cycled.

You can use normal garden worms (they're cheap and easy to start a worm farm so you always have a stash handy and) if you can find any or I've heard of live crickets can be fed to them also. The tubifex worms probably shouldn't be used solely if you can help it. My sister tossed out a container she was given for her new axies and just started feeding them with worms.
 
i havnt had the amonia, nitrite and nitrate levels tested yet i will get them tested today, what do you mean by cycling too is it like doing a 20% water change until the tevels in the tank premantly stay at what they should be. i have also read that if i put a live plant in the tank it will help with nitrate or nitrite levels is this true and does any sort of aquarium plant matter.

also this morning i noticed she is still floating but every now and the wobbles from side to side is this ok or is she bloated?

thanks for the help too gfetting sand later today and also gonna dig up some worms might wait till it rains a little tho they should come to the surface then.

Thanks Cameron and (Kaleigh)
 
hey well the water eventually cooled down over the weekend but today it is back around 20 degrees, also my axie is still floatin and now it is mostly on one side is there anything i can do as she is still eating 1 pellet a day as well pls any ideas
 
Live plants help with nitrate levels I think, don't have plants in my tank, just plastic floating ones which seem to get dug up and have left them floating on the surface as the babies like to float under them every so often.

Did you read the cycling article I posted before?

From the moment you added your axie to tank and started feeding it, your tank would have started cycling with from any waste (urine/poo/uneaten food residue) in the tank. With this happening and since you have your axie in the tank while it's cycling you have to watch that the levels don't get too toxic for him/her while it is cycling. You do this through testing the water every day or two days testing for the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels and keeping a record of them and if needbe , ammonia or nitrite levels get too high, you will need to do daily/every 2 day 20=30% waterchanges. That combined with the heat could be probably stressing your axie. As temperature rises, there is less oxygen in the water.

As your axie is still floating and now on one side, that isn't too good. Best thing to do is place it in a container of dechlorinated water, keep the water low enough to cover it so it's feet rest on the bottom and stops it from floating.
Cover with a lid, wrap with a teatowel and place in the fridge (minimum of 5 deg C).
Also, put either another container or bottle of dechlorinated water in at the same time as you will need to change the water completely once a day.
If you use a container then it is easy enough to transfer him from one to the other.
You can clean the containers with a mix of baking soda and water then rinse.
 
for the temperature you could try taking out a small amount only around 10- 20% and putting in pretty cold water (i have tried that and it worked for me) and just keep the blinds shut and i always (on warm days) have the fan running and my mum puts on the cooling 4 me.
 
Lana, then that would cause fluctuating temperatures, which may work for you, but can invariably stress your axie/s in the same way dropping icecubes in or frozen water bottles without rotating them consistently. I did that earlier in the year when I looked after my sister's axies, 20% cold every day, thinking I was being helpful keeping their tank cool too and 3 of hers got totally stressed. She wasn't too happy about it on her return.

My sister keeps some of her tanks in the spare bedroom, like you on warmer/hot days with curtains/blinds shut, fans running (not that we're having much of a summer at the moment, and sitting on the floor - 2 reasons/ no cabinets left to hold them (weight) and also it's cooler down low.
 
ok so i put her in the fridge for the night i really hope she is ok i know my fridge dont get too cold atm (needs new seals), but um yeah i read the article about the cycling too i think i understood it will have to read it again tho but yeah at present 2 fans on the tank water and one on the filter u would think that would keep the water cool also with my filter should i change how the water enters the tank as atm it is like a trickling waterfall should i put something in front of it to get it to hit the glass instead of the water.

well thanx so far i will update tomoz k
 
If you can leave her in the fridge until she improves would be better than overnight. Also, she may not eat as her metabolism will slow down while in fridge.

While she's in fridge also, don't change your tankwater. Is the trickling waterfall a strong current (if you feel it is than you could do something so it hits the glass or put something around the outlet (like plastic plants or something tied around it so the flow gets spread abit.
 
ok kool well she did improve overnight which is good i left her in there today at it is 38 degrees atm and the water is still too warm to put her into and yeah she didnt eat this morning but thats ok i understand that i did feed her last night b4 i put her in the fridge, also with the filter bit i will put something in the way of it to spread it some more which should help. thanks heaps cameron
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
  • Thorninmyside:
    Not necessarily but if you’re wanting to continue to grow your breeding capacity then yes. Breeding axolotls isn’t a cheap hobby nor is it a get rich quick scheme. It costs a lot of money and time and deditcation
     +1
    Unlike
  • stanleyc:
    @Thorninmyside, I Lauren chen
     +1
    Unlike
  • Clareclare:
    Would Chinese fire belly newts be more or less inclined towards an aquatic eft set up versus Japanese . I'm raising them and have abandoned the terrarium at about 5 months old and switched to the aquatic setups you describe. I'm wondering if I could do this as soon as they morph?
     +1
    Unlike
  • sera:
    @Clareclare,
     +1
    Unlike
    sera: @Clareclare, +1
    Back
    Top